The 66th Grammy Awards will air on CBS at 8 PM this Sunday, February 5th. Every year, these awards aim to honor the best music of the year prior. This year’s lineup is stacked with major artists and incredible (and no-so-incredible) albums. As I have flawless music taste (according to me), I will be sharing my predictions for who should be taking home a Grammy this year, who probably will, and who definitely should not.

Best New Artist

Nominees: Gracie Abrams, Fred again…, Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, Victoria Monet, The War and Treaty

Ice Spice should win this award. Though she is not favored by other predictors, she’s had the most impact on the music industry over the past year. She’s become wildly successful and is actually a new artist (looking at you, Gracie Abrams).

However, I do not think the Recording Academy will give her the honor. Noah Kahan or Gracie Abrams will have the best shot at this award. Noah Kahan is making good music, but I would not consider coming out on top of the folk-pop revival notable enough of an accomplishment to bring the award home.

Gracie Abrams has the strongest case for this award because she shares a very similar audience with the 2022 winner of this award, Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo’s success was well-supported by everyone, and those inclined to vote for her would probably be inclined to vote for Abrams as well. As for the other nominees…who are you?

Song of the Year

Nominees: “What Was I Made For?” (Billie Eilish), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa), “Kill Bill” (SZA), “Anti-Hero” (Taylor Swift), “A&W” (Lana del Rey), “Flowers” (Miley Cyrus), “Butterfly” (Jon Batiste), “Vampire” (Olivia Rodrigo)

If it were solely up to me, I’d give this award to Billie Eilish in a heartbeat. I’ve never listened to “What Was I Made For?” without crying, and that’s a universal experience. She created an impactful and beautiful song that deserves to be showered with awards. However, I think she’ll find more luck in the Record of the Year category because of her masterful performance, which bodes less well for Song of the Year.

The strongest contender for Song of the Year is Dua Lipa with “Dance the Night.” The Barbie Album has been unexpectedly snubbed throughout the award season. This is Dua’s one opportunity to win this season, and I believe “Dance the Night” will deliver.

Other viable candidates are “Kill Bill” and “Butterfly.” If SZA doesn’t find success here, I fear she will win Record of the Year. “Butterfly” is a gorgeous song, and a win for Jon Batiste in this category would not be undeserved nor unexpected, lest we forget his upset Album of the Year win in 2022.

Album of the Year

Nominees: “World Music Radio” (Batiste), “the record” (boygenius), “Endless Summer Vacation” (Cyrus), “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” (Rey), “The Age of Pleasure” (Janelle Monae), “GUTS” (Rodrigo), “Midnights” (Swift), “SOS” (SZA)

Rey is the first to go here. Her album is good because Jack Antonoff is good at producing albums, but she gave the same performance on every song. It’s not a very good album, and this nomination could have easily gone to Troye Sivan instead.

I’m knocking Cyrus out of the running next. Her album was surprisingly not terrible, and deserves its nomination, but doesn’t hold up against the other nominees. I am hesitant to eliminate Janelle Monae, even though her album was not overwhelmingly successful, because I’ve seen underdogs win before (lest we forget: the Jon Batiste incident). However, I do not find it likely.

Rodrigo’s downfall will be her production (please fire Dan Nigro). This leaves us with “World Music Radio”, “the record”, and “Midnights”. Batiste has a very good shot at winning. While he lacks in the song-centered categories, as a whole, “World Music Radio” was a boundary-breaking project, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if he wins again.

As for “Midnights”, it’s too borderline to win. Swift spent “Midnights” meshing genres into a new indie-nightcore-dark pop-folklore hybrid that, though beloved to me, could have been streamlined better. After the vault tracks, her inability to cut songs has become chronic, and we’ll start to see the fruits of that mistake on Sunday. That leaves boygenius to win, and they deserve it. Boygenius’ win for Album of the Year would be historical, with a vocal and visible LGBTQ+ and all-female band winning. The record was beautiful, devastating, heartfelt, and incredibly well-made. It should be noted that I am very biased toward a boygenius sweep, but it’s not my fault that everything Lucy Dacus touches is flawless.

Record of the Year

Nominees: “Worship” (Batiste), “Not Strong Enough” (boygenius), “Flowers” (Cyrus), “Vampire” (Rodrigo), “Kill Bill” (SZA), “What Was I Made For?” (Eilish), “On My Mama” (Victoria Monet), “Anti-Hero” (Swift)

If Swift or Rodrigo win anything on Sunday, it would be in this category, and it would be undeserved. “Anti-Hero” has a strong chance, and if I were the Recording Academy, I’d be terrified to let Swift go home without a win (granted, she still has the pop categories).

As for Rodrigo, I am once again asking you to fire Dan Nigro. I also can’t see Cyrus winning this category. If “Used to Be Young” had been nominated, she’d be a highly competitive nominee. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Unlike for Song of the Year, I don’t think Batiste has a strong chance in this category. “Worship” is a weaker song than “Butterfly,” and if I were him, I’d put all my eggs in the latter basket.

If Monet was going to win, her song would have needed to be an unparalleled hit because she’s a new artist. If she’s back here in a couple years, she’ll have a much stronger shot. If boygenius wins, I’ll be elated. My life will be complete. I will be happier than the band themselves. But, I’m going to commit treason, and say that Eilish deserves this award just a little bit more. The emotions of both songs will be the deciding factor in this race.

Snubs?

As I stated earlier, Troye Sivan could have easily replaced all of Rey’s nominations. Unlike her, he created something fresh and fun this year. Luckily, I think we will be hearing from Sivan much more in the future. Similarly, Chappel Roan should be the Best New Artist, but no one ever gets nominated for that when they are actually a new artist, so I think we will be seeing her in the future as well.

As for established snubs, where is Fall Out Boy? Where is the respect? Fall Out Boy should be nominated in all the rock categories instead of the songs Rodrigo managed to sneak in. “Love From the Other Side” will always be Song of the Year in my heart, but one day the Recording Academy will regret underappreciating Patrick Stump as much as they do now.

Tune in to the Grammy Awards on February 5th at 8 PM on CBS this Sunday to find out if I am right.