It is every other Beyoncé vs Taylor showdown

The Grammys are track’s best night time, each actually and figuratively.

The rite, which takes position in LA on Sunday night time, runs for a staggering 8 hours, attracting the most important stars in pop, rock, nation and hip-hop.

Organisers will hand out 94 awards, recognising the entirety from ultimate pop album to ultimate choral efficiency.

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have each showed their attendance, as they sq. off within the album of the yr class for the primary time since 2010 (Swift received on that instance, truth fanatics).

There will even be performances from Charli XCX, Sabrina Wood worker, Benson Boone, Shakira, Stevie Marvel, Teddy Swims and Raye – and an in memoriam tribute to Mystery manufacturer Quincy Jones.

This is the entirety you want to understand in regards to the rite.

The massive query of the night time is whether or not Beyoncé will in any case win album of the yr, after 4 earlier losses within the class?

Throughout final yr’s rite, her husband Jay-Z addressed the oversight, telling the target market: “I do not need to embarrass this younger woman, however she has extra Grammys than everybody and not received album of the yr. So even by means of your individual metrics, that does not paintings.”

Beyoncé’s newest file, Cowboy Carter, is a wildly formidable try to contextualise and commemorate the black roots of nation track. It is any such factor that delights Grammy electorate, who historically desire albums that carry The united states’s musical historical past over fresh, state of the art productions.

However the album’s over the top duration – together with a couple of weaker tracks in its latter half of – may rely towards it.

Billie Eilish is lately the bookmakers’ favorite along with her 3rd album Hit Me Onerous and Cushy. Blending passionate energy ballads with violent digital shifts and hip-hop swagger, it marks a brand new evolution within the celebrity’s songwriting partnership along with her brother, Finneas.

Charli XCX’s Brat is a career-defining pop file that become a cultural phenomenon. The best-reviewed album of 2024, it is more than likely too abrasive for the Grammys’ extra conservative electorate, however that is their loss.

And you’ll should be loopy to forget about Taylor Swift. Her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Division, used to be the biggest-seller of final yr; a truth that can indisputably be taken under consideration, despite the fact that the file is considered one of her weaker efforts.

If she wins, Swift will acquire her 5th album of the yr trophy – greater than every other artist in Grammy historical past.

Some of the yr’s maximum stacked classes is file of the yr – higher understood as “ultimate unmarried”.

Excluding a rogue nomination for The Beatles (see under), the shortlist displays a stellar yr for pop track, with Sabrina Wood worker’s Coffee and Charli XCX’s 360 up towards Beyoncé’s Texas Dangle ‘Em and Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather.

However the front-runner is Kendrick Lamar’s No longer Like Us. A livid take-down of his rap nemesis, Drake, it is as catchy as it’s legally contentious. If it wins, it will be best the second one hip-hop unmarried to win the class, following Infantile Gambino’s This Is The united states in 2019.

Within the parallel track of the yr prize – which recognises fulfillment in songwriting – the good cash is on Bruno Mars and Girl Gaga’s Die With A Smile.

Each artists are perennial Grammy favourites, and their virtuoso ballad might be catnip to electorate.

Their pageant contains Shaboozey’s A Bar Music (Tipsy), which used to be The united states’s longest-running primary unmarried of 2024. Alternatively, the truth that it is in accordance with a prior hit (J-Kwon’s Tipsy) is more likely to rely towards it.

Chappell Roan’s breakout unmarried Just right Good fortune Babe is every other robust contender, notable for its hovering top notes and a piercing lyric that skewers internalised homophobia. Billie Eilish’s gossamer ballad Birds of a Feather is an identical masterclass in songcraft – making this class one of the vital toughest to are expecting.

In contrast, the coveted ultimate new artist prize is just about a two-way cut up between Chappell Roan and Sabrina Wood worker, either one of whom established a dominant chart presence in 2024 after years at the pop sidelines.

That is unhealthy information for the only British nominee, six-time Brit Award winner Raye. However no less than she’s in excellent corporate, along breakout rap celebrity Doechii and big-hearted pop singer Teddy Swims.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter has 11 nominations, doubtlessly making it the most-rewarded album in Grammy historical past.

The file is lately held by means of Santana, who were given 9 trophies for his album Supernatural in 2000 (coincidentally, the similar yr that Beyoncé gained her first Grammy nomination, as a part of Future’s Kid).

And if Cowboy Carter does not take house ultimate album, Beyoncé nonetheless breaks a file, for probably the most nominations in that class with out a win.

Billie Eilish may grow to be the primary feminine artist to win File of the 12 months thrice with Birds of a Feather. Paul Simon and Bruno Mars are the one different artist with 3 wins within the class.

Rapper grew to become flautist André 3000 could also be poised to make historical past. If he wins ultimate instrumental composition, he does so with the longest track identify in Grammy historical past: I Swear, I In point of fact Sought after To Make A ‘Rap’ Album However This Is Actually The Method The Wind Blew Me This Time.

The present file holders, if you had been questioning, are Oklahoma band The Flaming Lips. In 2007, they received ultimate rock instrumental efficiency for the magnificently-titled The Wizard Turns at the Massive Silver Flashlight and Places On His Werewolf Moccasins.

Greater than 13,000 individuals of the Recording Academy vote for the Grammys annually – together with musicians, manufacturers, lyricists, or even the individuals who write CD liner notes.

To qualify, they will have to be lately running within the track business, and pay an annual subscription of $150 (£120). All former winners also are eligible to vote.

Each and every member is authorized to vote in as much as 10 classes throughout 3 fields, equivalent to rock, classical and R&B. They’re inspired best to vote in genres the place their experience lies.

Moreover, each and every member, without reference to their background, will get to vote for the six best awards of the night time. The ones are: album of the yr, file of the yr, track of the yr, ultimate new artist, songwriter of the yr and manufacturer of the yr.

The 2025 awards recognise track launched between 16 September 2023 and 30 August, 2024. The winners aren’t published till the rite.

The Beatles would possibly have damaged up 55 years in the past, however they are up for 2 prizes on Sunday: file of the yr and ultimate rock efficiency.

Each nominations recognise Now and Then, a track that John Lennon demoed within the Seventies, and which used to be in any case finished by means of his surviving bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr final yr.

Grammy electorate, with their eyes firmly educated at the previous, hardly ever pass over a chance to praise the Beatles. 8 years in the past, as an example, the band’s documentary 8 Days a Week: The Traveling Years beat Beyoncé’s groundbreaking Lemonade for ultimate track movie.

In many ways, that is correcting an ancient mistaken. Of their high, the Beatles had been nominated for file of the yr 4 occasions – for I Wish to Dangle Your Hand, The previous day, Hiya Jude and Let It Be – however misplaced each and every time.

A win in 2025 would end up that Beatlemania by no means fades – however electorate could also be do away with by means of The Beatles’ use of device studying (a type of synthetic intelligence), which used to be used to wash up Lennon’s scratchy previous cassette recordings.

The Recording Academy’s laws on AI say that “best human creators” can win Grammys, and that “the human authorship part of the paintings submitted will have to be significant”.

That is true in terms of Now And Then, however many creators stay sceptical of the era.

Fairly so much.

All of the hoopla surrounding the Grammys has long past. No pre-parties, no after-parties. The whole lot aside from the rite itself has been cancelled. All of the cash that will had been spent on champagne and vol au vents is being funnelled into aid efforts.

The Recording Academy and its affiliated MusiCares charity have additionally arrange a Fireplace Aid fund, which has up to now pledged greater than $3.2 million (£2.6 million) in emergency assist to lend a hand track execs suffering from the fires.

And the telecast itself will mirror the devastation, with segments honouring the primary responders who risked their lives to take on the inferno and offer protection to the inclined.

“We will nonetheless have performances, we will nonetheless have awards and honour track,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr instructed Selection mag.

“However you’ll be able to know that one thing’s took place, and you’ll be able to know that we are the use of track to do excellent.”

You betcha. Up to now, the checklist contains:

• Benson Boone
• Sabrina Wood worker
• Jacob Collier
• Sheryl Crow
• Billie Eilish
• Cynthia Erivo
• Chappell Roan
• Charli XCX
• Doechii
• Herbie Hancock
• Brittany Howard
• John Legend
• Chris Martin
• Janelle Monáe
• Brad Paisley
• Raye
• Shakira (pictured)
• Teddy Swims
• Lainey Wilson
• Stevie Marvel
• St. Vincent

The rite is divided into two portions, with the primary 80 awards dispensed throughout what is referred to as the “premiere rite” at 12:30 in Los Angeles / 20:30 in London on Sunday.

It is steadily price tuning in. The winners within the extra difficult to understand classes are much less polished and extra enthusiastic about successful, and the performances are looser and, dare I say it, extra musical than the grandiose set items you’ll be able to see later.

You’ll be able to watch the entire thing at the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel, and on reside.grammy.com.

That is additionally the place you need to move to observe crimson carpet protection, which kicks off at 15:00 in Los Angeles / 23:00 in the United Kingdom.

In any case, the principle display kicks off at 17:00 Los Angeles / 01:00 Monday in the United Kingdom. It is broadcast reside in america on CBS and streamed the world over on Paramount Plus. Speeches and make a selection performances are typically uploaded to YouTube day after today.

After all no longer! However have you ever observed what is going on far and wide else on the planet?

Musicians, alternatively take the Grammys very critically certainly. A large win can spice up album gross sales and bump you up pageant expenses.

That stated, the awards themselves are notoriously ridiculous. In step with legend, they had been created in 1959 as a panicked response to the recognition of rock ‘n’ roll. File corporations was hoping that by means of highlighting “excellent” track, they would steer the general public clear of Elvis’s swivelling hips.

As though as an instance that time, they did not hand Mr Presley a trophy till 1968, or even that used to be for “ultimate sacred efficiency”, recognising his first gospel album, How Nice Thou Artwork.

Since then, the awards have remained wilfully arbitrary, woefully out of contact, or a mix of the 2.

Famously, The Beatles received extra awards once they cut up up than they did in combination; and there have been no rap classes till 1989.

And if someone nonetheless thinks that Herbie Hancock’s jazz tribute to Joni Mitchell used to be the most efficient album of 2008 – the yr of Amy Winehouse’s Again To Black and Kanye West’s Commencement – I might have an interest to listen to your arguments.

So if Beyoncé does not win on Sunday (or despite the fact that she does) do not let it impact your delight in her track.