On November 8, the nominations for the biggest musical awards were announced. Dozens of artists submitted their songs, albums, and records for the chance of winning a highly coveted Grammy. Established in 1959, the Recording Academy’s Voting membership includes music producers, artists, songwriters, and engineers who vote and decide which artists will be awarded the privilege of a nomination or grammy. Some of the most anticipated awards include Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Pop Vocal Album, Rap Song, and Rap Album. But what would happen if Pace students voted on the award? The winners will be announced on February 4, 2025.
The nominations for Album of the Year include, Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter”, “New Blue Sun” by André 3000, Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4”, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet”, “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift, “The Rise and Fall of A Midwest Princess” by Chappell Roan, Charli XCX’s ‘BRAT” and Billie Eilish’s “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”. The majority of the Pace Students who responded to the poll wanted this award to go to “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”. “I fell in love with the album the first second I heard it. The songs feel very eerie and angelic, and I love anything by Billie Elish” said freshman Elizabeth Romig. The album was produced, recorded, and written by the brother-sister duo. Billie Elish has a total of nine Grammys and her brother/producer, Finneas has a total of eight. Released on May 17, 2024 Elish’s album includes ten songs, the hit singles off the album includes, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”, and “LUNCH”. Along with winning “Album of the Year” voters agreed Billie Elish should also be awarded with “Pop Vocal Album”.
“Record Of The Year” is based on a specific recording of a song that also recognizes the artists, producers and engineers who made the recording. The year’s nominees include, “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift and Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”, “Good Luck Babe!” by Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”, “360” by Charli XCX, “Now and Then” by the Beatles and Beyonce’s “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM”. Due to its popularity and clever lyrics, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” earned the most votes with 33.3%, with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” falling just behind.
While many get “Record of the Year” confused with “Song of The Year”, “Song of the Year” is graded on the lyrics of said song as well as the composition. Nominees for this award include many of the previous for “Record of the Year”, with the exception of “360”, “Espresso” and “Now and Then”. The additional songs on this list include, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter”, and Billie Elish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”. According to Pace students this award should be granted to Billie Elish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”. “The song is so catchy and the lyrics are really sweet,” mentioned sophomore Kitty Lubin.
Students decided that the grammy for best “New Artist” should be awarded to Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter’s rise in the music scene can be attributed to her hit songs, “Feather”, “Nonsense”, and “Espresso” along with the release of her popular album “Short n’ Sweet”.
Switching genres, Kendrik Lamar’s “Not Like Us” wins best rap song of the year, earning over half of the votes with 54.2%. This song blew up over the summer and now has over 896,344,738 streams. “Rap Album of the Year” was given to “We Don’t Trust You” by artists Future and Metro Boomin, with features by The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, and Rick Ross. Released on March 22, 2024, the album with its 17 songs, has well surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, marking a major accomplishment.
Lastly, the winners of “Pop Duo/Group Performance” went to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile”. Nominated among other artists such as Gracie Abrams, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Brandy, Monica, Billie Eilish, and Charli XCX. The duet is categorized as soft rock, a blend of pop, soul, country, and rock with a similar sound to sounds to the 1970’s pop rock. “The ballad is truly moving and such a fun listen, I really hope it wins,” said sophomore Eloise McDonald. Looking forward to seeing the artists who win and comparing them to see if the Pace students make the same judgment as the Recording Academy.
Photo credits: taken by Vivian Gerber