Song of the Year
Will Win: “Anxiety” by Doechii
Should Win: “WILDFLOWER” by Billie Eilish
Kalshi shows high odds that “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” will win Song of the Year, but I know it will infuriate the most terminally online people I know when Doechii wins for her Gotye-inspired single “Anxiety.” Admittedly, I have no evidentiary support for my prediction—only evidence to the contrary (thanks, Kalshi). But what I do have is a thinly veiled prophetic vision coupled with a twisted sense of humor: for all the overblown hatred she went through for releasing “Anxiety,” I foresee that Doechii will have the last laugh.
I’ll be happy for Doechii when she inevitably wins, of course, but a real part of me will have Billie Eilish looming in the back of my mind. Back when “WILDFLOWER” was first released in 2024, few would have guessed that it would become so emblematic of 2025. Beyond the infidelity that led Eilish to write the song many have left 2025 with the sting of political betrayal, to which the song speaks so clearly now. Something about screaming, “Did I cross the line?” let me leave the moral disarray and, maybe, 2025 behind with it.
– Aaron Pollock
Album of the Year
Will Win: GNX by Kendrick Lamar
Should Win: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny
Kendrick Lamar has already won his 2025 feud with Drake, and with it, 2025. What’s more, like “Squabble Up” and “Luther” dominated the Billboard Hot 100 chart from November 2024 through the summer. Not to mention a performance at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show to boot. While GNX undoubtedly made a large cultural impact in 2025, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (2025) by Bad Bunny made history. It is only the second Spanish-language album to be nominated for Album of the Year – the first was Bad Bunny’s fourth studio album Un Verano Sin Ti (2023). It’s time for the Recording Academy to look beyond the Anglosphere and give Bad Bunny his due.
– Joaquin Martinez
Best New Artist
Prediction: Olivia Dean or Leon Thomas
Should win: Addison Rae
For the second year in a row, Best New Artist might be the most hotly contested category at the Grammys. With the exception of Alex Warren (whose music is, at best, ordinary), I could make a strong case for any of the nominees. Still, a select few stand out.
Olivia Dean is a safe bet. Her smooth R&B sound and infectious onstage joy have earned her widespread love and attention over the past year; that said, her recent album The Art of Loving (2025) was released after the 2026 Grammys eligibility cutoff, making it technically ineligible for consideration. Whether Grammy voters will concern themselves with this detail, however, is a separate conversation. Leon Thomas, despite the massive success of “MUTT,” has slipped through the cracks of much of the Best New Artist discourse. Yet, as the only nominee to also land an Album of the Year nomination, he may very well cut through the noise and emerge as this year’s victorious underdog.
But if we’re talking sheer buzz, it would be impossible to ignore Addison Rae’s reintroduction to the pop landscape last year. While Addison (2025) was initially met with a hefty amount of skepticism, Rae’s sweet, dreamy pop hooks and crystal-clear creative direction eventually won her some street cred from fans and critics alike. Though the award is (almost) anyone’s game, Rae pulled off a near-impossible transformation from a formulaic TikTok star to a respected pop artist with palpable staying power, and that’s a feat worthy of accolade.
– Lucy Montalti
Record of the Year
Will win: Anxiety by Doechii
Should win: DtMF by Bad Bunny
Distinct from the Song of the Year category, which recognizes songwriting prowess, the Recording Academy created the Record of the Year category to recognize excellence in regard to both a song’s vocal performance and its post-production form. Given the emphasis on production accomplishments, “Anxiety” by Doechii seems primed to nab the award at this year’s show. The song itself is undoubtedly catchy–for better or for worse, interpolating the 2013 Record of the Year Winner, Gotye’s song, “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Although the song may have found more success as a TikTok audio than as a single with critical merit, the production is complex and intriguing, making it a worthy contender for the ROTY title at this year’s awards.
Most worthy of the title, however, is “DtMF” by Bad Bunny, a song that celebrates the immigrant experience and professes love and adoration for one’s homeland. The track’s production artfully blends Latin trap and reggaeton to create an energetic, yet heartfelt ode to San Juan. The genius use of native slang solidifies this song as being made by and for the people of Puerto Rico, yet “DtMF” conveys pure celebration and transnational feeling for any and all to rejoice in.
– Karcin Hagi
Best Alternative Music Album
Will Win: SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver
Should Win: DON’T TAP THE GLASS by Tyler, The Creator
With nominees spanning cult favorites and genuine left-field provocateurs, I’ll admit I was conflicted when I first wondered who might win this category. I mean, what does “alternative” even mean?
The Cure’s album Songs of a Lost World is intensely melancholic and unmistakably Cure. And as we know, The Cure is somehow both one of the most influential bands of the post-punk era and is not in the pantheon of Grammy-winners. Hayley Williams’ breakout track “Parachute” in Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party might trap us in a quiet emotional ambush — you can take the girl out of Paramore, but you can’t take Paramore out of the girl — but Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE is the end of an era worth recognition. In light of frontman Justin Vernon’s public hints about stepping back from releasing music, voters will definitely gravitate towards career-capstone narratives. Between his strong Grammy history, emotional narrative, and voters’ comfort with his brand of experimental, we can expect this to be a safe win.
Of course, Wet Leg is coming off their own previous Grammy success, and while their album moisturizer doesn’t reinvent sound as we know it, it’s punchy, quirky, and fun, continuing their streak of wiry indie charm. But I think that out of all the nominees, Tyler, The Creator takes alternative to a different level — nay, a different universe. It rejects easy consumption because it seems to have absolutely no interest in ease and accessibility; it blends pop, abrasive rap, and experimental instinct into one, and it’s weird (or, as they say in the music industry, subversive). I think this one deserves to win.
– Emma Le Breton
Best Dance/Electronic Album
Will Win: EUSEXUA by FKAtwigs
Should Win: EUSEXUA by FKAtwigs
When it comes to the Best Dance/Electronic Album category, there’s only two nominations worth listening to: Fancy That by PinkPantheress and EUSEXUA by FKAtwigs. Together, they stand out as the most innovative albums in the genre, giving us hope that the Grammy judging panel isn’t completely washed-up.
The other nominations fail to introduce any new concepts. Skrillex’s project is dubstep slop; Fred again..’s album is unbelievably bland; and RÜFÜS DU SOL’s LP sounds like background music playing in a millennial coffee shop.
While PinkPantheress is certainly more popular than FKAtwigs, EUSEXUA is a rare kind of masterpiece that deserves recognition. Fancy That is a sample-heavy compilation of PinkPantheress’s catchiest and most intricate musings, and it’s perfect for 2026. EUSEXUA, however, is a jarring and mesmerizing work of electronica that bends itself into art pop and trip-hop genres, and it sounds like it belongs to the future. The vocals on the album are soft and angelic, and the beats are filled with sparkly synths and thumping, acidic drums.
Aside from the album, FKAtwigs deserves a Grammy win like no one else. She’s been making music since 2014, completely altering electronic music with influential works like LP1 and MAGDALENE. FKAtwigs will stand beside Aphex Twin, Bjork, and Massive Attack in the music hall of fame, and that’s the kind of music that should win at the Grammy Awards.
– Quinn Ross
