HOLLYWOOD—The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 14. Let’s see if our predictions for Album, Record and Song of the Year, plus Best New Artist will be on point. In three of the last four years, one artist has swept all 3 categories. You might recall Adele accomplished the feat four years ago and Billie Ellish last year.
Dua Lipa and Post Malone are both nominated in all three categories this year, but it doesn’t seem like either has the firepower to pull it off. Taylor Swift seems like the front-runner for Album of the Year, as is Meghan Thee Stallion for Best New Artist. While Record and Song of the Year are tougher calls to predict.
This is the third year that the Grammys have had eight nominees in each of the Big Four categories. With so many nominees, it helps to cut the list down to a more manageable size. Let’s say that the four artists with the best chance of winning are Haim, Lipa, Post Malone and Swift. Haim is vying to become the second all-female group to win, following The Chicks, who won 14 years ago. This would be Swifts third Album of the Year award, making her only the fourth artist in Grammy history to win three times in this category.
The first three were Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, of course counting a Simon & Garfunkel album. Swift would be the first woman to become a three-time winner-just as she was the first woman to win twice in the category as a lead artist. Some may question whether Swift is of the same stature as the three previous three-time winners. Others may counter that as an ageist thing to say. Younger fans may look at that same list and say, “Did Paul Simon really need to win three times?”
Taylor Swift is fortunate that none of her competitors this year is seriously overdue for a win in this category. This is the second Album of the Year nod for both Coldplay and Post Malone, but they are not generally seen as being seriously overdue in this category. If Beyonce or Kendrick Lamar both of whom have been nominated and lost three times in this category as lead artists were among the nominees, Swift would have a much tougher path to victory.
Here as some factors weighing in Swift’s favor: Her album was a blockbuster and brought her the best reviews of her career. The album’s intimate quality makes it especially appropriate for a year in which everyone was locked down. The likely winner should be Taylor Swift.
Record of the Year. Beyonce’s “Black Parade,” Black Pumas” “Colors,” DaBaby’s “Rockstar” featuring Roddy Ricch, Doja Cat’s “Say So,” Billie Ellish’s “Everything I Wanted,” Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” Post Malone’s “Circles,” Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” featuring Beyonce. Wait, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” oops, not nominated. Everyone thought he was the front-runner to win in this category. Six of these eight records were top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Let’s cut to the chase. The likely winner: Megan There Stallion featuring Beyonce.
Song of the year, most likely will go to Beyonce. Now for the Best New Artist, we say Megan Thee Stallion, she would become the first female hip-hop artist to win here since Lauryn Hill 22 years ago. Andress would become the first female country artist to win since Carrie Underwood 14 years ago. Megan became a major star last year, landing two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She would become the seventh artist who notched two or more No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 prior to winning new artist. You may recall the Beatles amassed seven No. 1 hits before being named best new artist of 1964. Milli Vanilli had three before being named Best New Artist of 1989 the award was later revoked. The likely winner is Megan Thee Stallion.
Rose’s Scoop: If Swift wins for Album of the Year and Beyonce wins for Song of the Year, this will be a replay of the awards from 11 years ago when “Fearless” won for Album of the Year and “Single Ladies” won for Song of the Year.
