Every year the recording academy hosts the highly anticipated event, The Grammys. Audiences are on the edge of their seat, hoping their favorite artists get the recognition they deserve. This year has been filled with many great works from a diverse variety of artists. However there are three categories that everyone has their eyes out for. They are:

Record of The Year

Album of The Year

and Best New Artist

The Recording Academy has taken into account all submissions and they have decided on their nominees. The nominees for Best New Artists are: Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. The nominees for Album of the Year are: MAYHEM by Lady Gaga, DTMF by Bad Bunny, Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, SWAG by Justin Bieber, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator, MUTT by Leon Thomas, and Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse. The nominees  for Record of The Year are: Billie Eilish’s WILDFLOWER, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Luther, Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild, Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra, Chappell Roan’s The Subway, Doechii’s Anxiety, Bad Bunny’s DTMF, Rose and Bruno Mars’ APT.

Lady Gaga has been nominated seven times this year for the release of her sixth studio album,  MAYHEM. The leading record from her album is Abracadabra with over 1 billion streams. Lady Gaga has been named one of the greatest artists of all time by several publications including Billboard and Rolling Stone.

Bad Bunny has been nominated six times this year for the release of his sixth studio album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS often abbreviated into DTMF. The leading record from his album is title track, DtMF, with over 1 billion streams. Bad Bunny has been named the King of Latin Trap and considered one of the best Latin rappers of all time.

Sabrina Carpenter has been nominated six times this year for the release of her seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend. Carpenter’s leading track from her album is Manchild with over 640 million streams. Carpenter is known for her extremely suggestive music and sassy songs.

Justin Bieber has been nominated four times this year for the release of his seventh studio album, SWAG. Bieber’s leading track from SWAG, Daisies, reached over 500 million streams. Bieber has been named one of the best selling artists of all times by several publications.

Kendrick Lamar has been nominated nine nominations this year for the release of his sixth studio album, GNX. GNX has been dominating charts with several different songs especially after Lamar’s superbowl performance with SZA.

Tyler, The Creator was nominated six times this year for his album, CHROMAKOPIA. Tyler has gained recognition through his distinct sound within his music.

Leon Thomas III has been nominated six times this year for his second studio album, MUTT. His title track MUTT reached over 350 million streams. Staring as a child actor on Broadway, Thomas is now gaining recognitioning when his productions debuted on Billboard’s 200 and Hot 100.

Clipse has been nominated five times this year for their reunion album, Let God Sort Em Out. Ace Trumpets was the leading track for their album and has over 26 million streams. Clipse gained recognition when Pharrell Williams found them and decide to back them in production and barrelled them into the industry.

Some nominees from Album the Year were also nominated for Record of The Year such as Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and Bad Bunny. However there are  some other people that need to be introduced.

Billie Eilish has been nominated twice this year. Her track WILDFLOWER from her third studio album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT received 1.79 billion streams. Eilish debuted in 2015 with the song Ocean Eyes that her brother, Finneas O’Connell, had written and produced. Eilish is noticed as one of the most successful artists in history by several publications. Eilish has also been recognized for her political activism for many different subjects.

Chappell Roan has been nominated twice as well for single, The Subway. The Subway received over 200 million streams. Roan was dropped by a label in 2020, however she debuted with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess in 2023 which marked its place on charts. Roan is known for her camp and drag influenced aesthetic and activism for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Doechii has been nominated five times for one single. Doechii’s Anxiety received over 495 million streams. Doechii became viral over TikTok with her debut single What It Is. That same year she made her acting debut in Earth Mama.

Rose has been nominated three times for her single APT. Based off a Korean drinking game, APT reached over 2.2 billion streams and charted at first on Billboard’s Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks. Rose gained recognition with debuting in the K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK.

Olivia Dean gained recognition at the age of 16 when performing at her graduation party. She was picked up by her manager and she started her musical career. She released two eps and one album but her second studio album, The Art of Loving blew up. Dean’s leading track, The Man I Need was everywhere overnight. She became an ambassador for Chanel and will be the face of a Burberry scent.

KATSEYE was formed by a project by HYBE and Geffen Records. Using Kpop methods for a western market, they hosted a survival competition called Dream Academy that had 20 contestants from all over the world. The group ended with six girls: Sophia the Leader, Lara the Vocalist, Manon the Visual, Daniela the Dancer, Megan the All Rounder, and Yoonchae the Maknae. KATSEYE gained recognition for their single Touch which went viral on Tiktok and then a similar vitality for their single Gnarly.

The Marias was formed by the lead singer of the group, Maria Zardoya and her partner, Josh Conway. The Marias started gaining recognition when their single Hush topped the charts. They later opened for Halsey which just skyrocketed their exposure and success.

Addison Rae was just another influencer on TikTok when she join in 2019. However she established herself as a popstar with her album, Addison. Her leading single Diet Pepsi reached over 600 million streams and charted on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Like Addison Rae, Alex Warren joined the internet in 2019 when he founded the Hype House. Alex Warren started making covers online until he was signed. Warren’s debut album You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) took off charting at 1 on Billboard’s UK Charts and 5 on the Hot 100.

Lola Young started her music career Young. At the age of 15 she won the under 16 category for Open Mic UK and was a finalist of Got What it Takes? Her single Messy gained recognition over night all because of TikTok.

Sombr released two singles that would change his life. Back to Friends and Undressed went viral over social media, topped charts, and became an huge success. Following his singles he released his debut album I Barely Know Her and just like his past releases it became just as huge. With over 2.7 billion streams for his debut album, Sombr seemed to appear out of nowhere yet he’s staying.

Even though the recording academy has nominated some very talented contestants the public may or may not agree with their decision. Most of the nominations may seem like it’s based on the popularity of the music rather than the quality. However, one could argue that quality is what determines how popular the music or the artist becomes. Keep in mind that two things can be true at the same time.

“I definitely agree that some of the nominees deserve to be there, but I don’t think it’s a full representation of all the music released last year,” theater teacher, Melissa Gehrke said; expressing her concern of the academy’s decision and how they may have overlooked some artists. “I think Renee Rapp should have been nominated. I also think Brandy Carlile had a fantastic album that came out last year. To me, it felt more on popularity versus music.”

On the topic of artists that should’ve won, there were some opinions on who shouldn’t have won. Seniors, Louis Stoyanov and Ashlan Brentley had some things they wanted to bring up as well.

“I think anybody in the Best Country Album got screwed over by Beyonce,” Brantley said.

“She’s kind of like Taylor Swift in that way. Where it’s like anything she releases is going to be popular,” Stoyanov said, adding onto Brantley’s statement. “How much it’s deserved to be nominated is sometimes a question. I think Beyonce’s Renaissance was good but I just didn’t know if Cowboy Carter was good enough to win.”

Through all of this though there was one reoccurring them. All of these artists had songs that were, at some point, popular on social media platforms such as TikTok.

“As somebody who’s in her forties, there’s a good amount of songs that have been nominated. The main reason I know them is because they were trends on social media,” Gehrke said.

However, like all trends, songs may come and go but what determines if you have made it when it comes to music is if your music sticks at those top charts and stays viral on social platforms.

“In the era of TikTok, so many things come up for two weeks and then leave. What really defines who’s gonna be a big artist is who sticks around and continue being popular past that two week phase on TikTok,” Stoyanov said.

“You’re popular on TikTok for a couple of weeks and then something else comes up and … you’re gone. You’re literally forgotten,” Brentley said, adding onto Louis.

In the end, the academy focuses on the artists overall career and determines who deserves it. The joy of the Grammys is to sit and wait for your artists to be called and see if they get the recognition and exposure they deserve for all the hard work they have done. The Grammys are important; for the artist, for the audience, and all music lovers alike.