Graphic by Audrey Hanan '28
By Quinlan Cooke ’29
Staff Writer
The 68th annual Grammy Awards were held on Feb. 1. The ceremony featured many surprises, including underdog winners, presenter mishaps, and performances. This famous award ceremony is run by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, also known as the Recording Academy, and presents various awards to musicians in a variety of categories. The eligibility period for the most recent ceremony spanned from Aug. 31, 2024, through Aug. 30, 2025.
There are over 75 categories of awards to be given out, but only a select few are televised on primetime. The most coveted awards, known as the “big four,” are Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. These categories sum up the highest achievements of the eligibility period, and people are always eagerly awaiting the results.
Nominations for these categories are very prestigious. Record labels and members of the academy, months prior to the ceremony, submit who they think would be the best fit for certain categories. These suggestions are sifted through to just a few finalists to be nominated.
The first of these four categories to be announced was Best New Artist, and per recent Grammy tradition, the prior winner of this category announces the new winner. Chappell Roan opened this year’s envelope, announcing Olivia Dean as the winner. The other nominees were Katseye, The Marias, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. This was a shock to most. Dean has garnered a lot of attention on social media and a lot of play on the radio.
Some believed Addison Rae was going to win this category, as she was the most “pop-girlie”-esque of the nominees and has been building her image for years. However, my prediction had been Lola Young; she quickly rose to fame and has since been through a lot. In Sept., Young collapsed on stage while performing in New York. The blame for this was extreme stress from touring. Young did her first live performance since this unfortunate event at the Grammys during the “Best New Artist” medley performance.
I would say that all of the “Best New Artist” performers/nominees worked hard, and Dean was an underdog to me, but she earned the award and completed a stellar performance.
“Song of the Year” was a shock to just about everyone watching. The Grammy went to Billie Eilish for her song, “Wildflower,” which was released in May of 2024.It was open to Grammy eligibility because it was rereleased as a single in Feb. of 2025. Many were surprised to see this song nominated, let alone win. The other nominees were Lady Gaga with “Abracadabra,” Doechii with “Anxiety,” Rosé & Bruno Mars with “APT,” Bad Bunny with “DtMF,” Hunter/x with “Golden,” Kendrick Lamar — feat SZA — with “Luther,” and Sabrina Carpenter with “Manchild.”
Bad Bunny was the fan-favorite for this category, and many, including myself, were speculating Hunter/X to win. The sheer popularity of the animated movie made it such a strong contender, and it seems monumental to have a song from a children’s movie be nominated for such a prestigious award. I know I hear this song at least four times on the radio in a workday, and there were so many people of varying ages rallying for it to win.
“Record of the Year” differs from “Song of the Year” in the sense that “Record” refers to the production, engineering, and artistry of the song. “Song of the Year” is about the lyrics and composition. “Record of the Year” went to Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA for “Luther”. Their fellow nominees were Lady Gaga with “Abracadabra,” Doechii with “Anxiety,” Rosé & Bruno Mars with “APT,” Bad Bunny with “DtMF,” Chappell Roan with “The Subway,” Billie Eilish with “Wildflower,” and Sabrina Carpenter with “Manchild.”
I have yet to hear any opposition to this win; many garner it as well-deserved. There were so many nominees for this category that it was difficult to make predictions. My personal guess was Chappell Roan, but I may have a small bit of bias with this. There were so many strong contenders: Bad Bunny, Rosé & Bruno Mars and Sabrina Carpenter. It is important to note here that despite six nominations for the night, Sabrina Carpenter went home with zero awards. She arguably had the biggest snub of the night.
The most coveted award of the entire night is always saved for last: “Album of the Year” brings tears to the eyes of the contenders. The winner of this highly desired award was Bad Bunny for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” His competitors were Justin Bieber’s “Swag,” Sabrina Carpenter’s“Man’s Best Friend,” Clipse’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” Lady Gaga’s “Mayhem,” Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX,” Leon Thomas’s “Mutt,” and Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia.” When Bad Bunny was announced to accept his award, he appeared to be in shock and started to tear up. His album was also the first non-English album to ever win this category.
I have only seen people celebrating this win and saying they understand and sympathize with the topics of the album. Some are even saying his acceptance speech was the best they have ever seen, and that is exactly why they believed he deserved to win. This win was hard-earned; the charting speaks for itself. I thought Sabrina Carpenter was another strong album contender, partially because by this point in the ceremony, she had no wins, perhaps because of her intense radio play. I also thought that due to how much buzz there has been since the last Grammys when it comes to Kendrick Lamar, he also had a strong chance.
Overall, this year’s Grammy Award ceremony brought a lot of surprise wins and losses, especially considering the sort of last minute and precarious nature of some of the nominees. Nevertheless, many of the speeches for these awards made viewers feel that the winner truly deserved their award, even if they did not think that prior. I enjoyed the ceremony, even though none of my personal favorites went home with awards, and I think that many others can share that sentiment.
Eden Copeland ’27 contributed fact-checking.