Winning a Grammy award is definitely the ultimate validation of greatness for an artiste. However there are four awards in particular that possess the most honour. These include the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist. These categories are the most anticipated ones and it carries immense value. Past winners from these categories include Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Adele. Who will take him the big four this year?
As noticed in the last 4 Grammys, AOTY awards were won by completely different genres. In 2014, Daft punk took home the honour with their album Random Access Memory which consisted of electronic music. In 2015, Beck shocked everyone when his rock album Morning Phase won the AOTY. 2016 saw Taylor Swift become the first female artiste to win two AOTY awards when she won the honour for her pop album 1989. Adele dominated the Grammys in 2017 when she was named winner for six Grammys including the AOTY awards for her album 25 which can be considered as a Soul/R&B record.
Taking this trend into consideration, it only makes sense for either Kendrick Lamar or Jay-Z to win the award since Hip-hop is the only genre among the five nominees which hasn’t won yet in recent years.
Song of the year is the most prestigious award for a singer/Songwriter. The nominees include Despacito, That’s What I Like, Issues, 4:44 and 1-800-273-8255. SOTY award focuses more on how the song is written and composed rather than its popularity and sales. 1-800-273-8255 is a very strong competitor this year and has a high possibility to triumph over the other nominees in the SOTY category. This song was beautifully composed and it addresses a huge problem in today’s society which is depression and suicide. Giving them the award for Song of the Year will definitely spread a message all over the world and make people more aware of this serious issue.
Let’s move on to The Best New Artist award. This award is very crucial in an Artiste’s career as winning this award will very much likely kick-start their journey to immense success. This year’s favorite artiste to win this honour is Khalid. He has had a huge impact on the music industry last year when he made his debut in the Billboard charts with his hit single Location.
The authenticity of his voice differentiates him from all the other artistes from the category. Also, he is just nineteen years of age which gives the Grammy even more reasons to award him BNA this year.
Lastly, Record of the Year. How is it different from Song of the Year? Unlike SOTY, which focuses primarily on how the lyrics are generated and later turned into melody, ROTY is awarded based on how the song has been recorded, produced and performed. Last year it was awarded to Adele for her massive hit Hello. This year’s nominees are Red Bone by Childish Gambino, Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee Ft. Justin Bieber, The Story of O.J by Jay-Z, Humble by Kendrick Lamar and 24k Magic by Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars is no stranger to winning this award for he was named victorious back in 2016 along with Mark Ronson for Uptown Funk. However, this year we could see Jay-Z take home the prize for his deeply personal single The Story of O.J. The Rapper winning ROTY would mean he would be the first non-white artiste to win a Major Grammy in over a decade. It would also calm down infuriated fans who were disappointed with Adele’s controversial win over Beyonce at last year’s Grammys.
Trends we’ve seen in the previous years’ Grammys
Song of the Year
During the last four years three song of the winner songs were either love songs or breakup song. Royals was the only exception.
Record of the Year
The nominees for record of the year usually consist of the biggest chart topping hits of the year. In the last four years, two slow love songs and two upbeat and energetic songs were awarded ROTY alternating each year. Last year saw another love song being the victorious. Could this year see another upbeat song. 24k magic perhaps?
Best New Artiste
Last four years saw two rappers and two pop artistes take home the prize in alternate years. Last year’s winner was Chance the Rapper. This year, we may see another pop artiste win. Julia Michaels and Khalid being the top contenders.