Entertainment
Our Predictions & Wildest Dreams For The 2024 Grammys
Who’s taking home Record of the Year? And will women sweep the Big Four? We make our guesses.
The 2024 Grammys is just around the corner, and it’s set to be a big one. All the major pop stars have RSVP’ed (yes, including Taylor Swift), and knockout live performances are to be expected from SZA, Billie Eilish, and Joni Mitchell. On the awards side of things, more women than ever are nominated across all major and genre categories, making this year’s ceremony a potentially pivotal one in Grammys history.
That being said, this is still an awards show that has a history of ushering in upsets — so anything can happen. Below, read on for our predictions for how the night will pan out, including who will win the major trophies of the night, if women will sweep the Big Four, and our wildest dream scenarios.
Predictions
SZA’s “Kill Bill” Wins Record of the Year
Last year, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” took home Record of the Year, a nod to its commercial success and utter ubiquity. The 2024 version of that is probably SZA’s “Kill Bill,” which ruled TikTok, grocery stores, and shopping centers around the country. She’s also the night’s most-nominated artist and a performer, which could point to her winning one of the night’s major categories. And while the Recording Academy voting bloc often plays it safe, they do have a track record of occasionally going with something completely unexpected, and SZA’s “Kill Bill” feels like it could be the wildcard this year.
Taylor Swift’s Midnights Wins Album of the Year
Because why else would Taylor Swift agree to go to the Grammys when she has Eras Tour performances in Tokyo just days after? Our gut says she probably got intel that she’ll be winning a major award. Plus, after the massive, record-breaking year she’s had, there’s no better way for the Recording Academy to acknowledge her utter superstardom than an Album of the Year trophy.
Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” Wins Song of the Year
Billie Eilish’s show-stopping Barbie song, “What Was I Made For?”, has already made a killing this awards season, netting her a second Golden Globe and another Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (which she’s expected to win). If we’re to make an educated guess, she’ll likely take the Song of the Year Grammy for it, too. That category was made to recognize elite songwriters, and the Recording Academy has historically shown FINNEAS and Billie are two of their favorites.
Victoria Monét Takes Best New Artist
Looking at this category’s past winners, it’s hard to know what the Recording Academy considers when awarding Best New Artist. Last year, it was jazz artist Samara Joy who took home the accolade, a choice based on merit rather than mainstream appeal. But the year before that, superstar and chart-topper Olivia Rodrigo took home the award. This year, we’re putting our bets on Victoria Monét, who rides the line between industry insider — from her years working behind the scenes as a top songwriter — and commercial success. Her album Jaguar II debuted in the Top 10 on Billboard’s R&B chart, plus her song “On My Mama” was a 2023 summer smash. It’s about time she receives her flowers.
Boygenius Wins Best Rock Song
Unlike the Best Rock Album category, which has only been awarded to male recipients for the last consecutive 24 years (seriously), Best Rock Song has had female artists like Brittany Howard and St. Vincent as recent winners. Since the Grammys seems way more willing to award non-male artists here, we’re predicting Boygenius as the winners for Best Rock Song. They had a standout year, and the Grammys could use the win of progress.
Women Sweep The Big Four
Surprisingly, women have swept the Grammys’ Big Four categories in the past — six times to be specific, with the most recent sweep happening in 2021. Statistically, if it were to happen again, this year would be the one (and clearly, based off our predictions above, we’re very optimistic). While this wouldn’t be as history-breaking as the achievement may seem, it’d just serve as more institutional validation that women are indeed running the music business.
Dreams
Metro Boomin Wins Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
We’ll say it: Metro Boomin deserves to win Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. The producer-turned-rapper is a veteran of the genre behind hundreds of chart-topping hits, and in 2023 successfully pivoted into an album artist. Unfortunately, the Grammys has a history of overlooking rappers and rap projects, so we think this win remains a “dream” rather than a probable reality.
Luke Combs Brings Out Tracy Chapman For “Fast Car”
This doesn’t have anything to do with the awards, but it’s still something we’re dreaming will happen at the ceremony. Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1997 hit “Fast Car” is up for Best Country Solo performance, and we’re assuming that’s the song he’s chosen to perform for his Grammys live set. After he fielded some controversy this past summer when his version hit No. 2 on the Billboard 100, it’d be a wholesome moment to see him bring out the song’s originator, Tracy Chapman, for a joint rendition of the hit.
Sinead O’Connor Tribute
By the week leading up to the show, we’ve usually received notice if the Grammys will be preparing a major tribute in the program (as with Taylor Hawkins’ during the 2022 broadcast). No such announcement has been made for one of the most shocking and monumental music deaths of the past year, Sinead O’Connor, who died in July 2023. And while last-minute surprises can still happen, we still think that O’Connor deserves more than a fleeting photo card.
