This year’s GRAMMY nominees have been announced—and the internet has mixed thoughts.
On Nov. 7, The Recording Academy revealed the artists, songs, albums, and performances nominated for the 2026 awards show. A wide range of artists are up for consideration, including Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Addison Rae, Bad Bunny, and other nominees who released immensely successful albums. From who should win Best New Artist to questioning why some nominations were even made, the internet has a lot to say about the nominations.
Best New Artist
In the “Best New Artist” category, there’s a Hype House reunion with Alex Warren and Addison Rae both being nominees. While Katseye or The Marias are more likely to win the fight for ‘Best New Artist’ because of their extreme popularity over the past year, Addison Rae makes for a strong contender, since she embodies the very idea of ‘new’ through her reinvention into a pop-star.
Online, some noticed that based on the nominations, the pathway to best new artist begins with social media success. While 2025 really has been Addison Rae’s year, Katseye has been able to build a huge fanbase in a very short amount of time, so they may be more likely to win.
Song of the Year
In the category of song of the year, some are critical of Billie Eilish’s nomination for ‘Best New Song’ for “Wildflower” from HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, a song from an album that was nominated for a GRAMMY a year ago.
Some are also questioning why Gracie Abrams wasn’t nominated for her song “That’s So True”, a song about warning a former lover’s new partner, because of the song’s impact on pop culture, felt in moments like Abrams’ SNL performance, Taylor Swift saying it’s her ‘favorite Gracie Abrams song’, and her co-writer on the song, Aubrey Hobert, releasing her own album Who’s The Clown (2025) using the name she built through her involvement with the song.
Similarly, people are questioning why Alex Warren’s inescapable song “Ordinary” wasn’t nominated. While some might be confused as to why those songs were snubbed, the songs chosen make perfect sense, a lot of those songs, like “APT” by Rosé and Bruno Marsand “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter really shaped 2025 as a year with their immense popularity both online and off; “APT” is currently the most nominated song by a k-pop artist at the GRAMMYs this year, while “Manchild” solidified Sabrina’s position as a ‘pop girl’
Best Album
As for best album, many think the race is mostly between Lady Gaga’s album Mayhem (2025) and Kendrick Lamar’s album GNX(2024). Some observed that through his album Mutt (2024), Leon Thomas’s image has changed from former nickelodeon star to ‘the face of R&B Classicism’.
Every album has a fair shot of winning this category, since the ones nominated are all pretty diverse in terms of sound and have their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
The Snubs
Onto the drama: the snubs! the Weeknd, once again, has been snubbed at the grammies despite seemingly burying his hatchet with the academy last year. Some believe that Lorde’s snub also has to do with her complicated history with the academy; in 2018 she was offended that she was the only nominee for “Album of The Year” not given a solo performance while being the only female nominee.
Snubbed artist Benson Boone used his Instagram stories to joke that he ‘Can’t believe moonbeam ice cream didn’t get a GRAMMY nom it’s literally pure lyrical genius’, leaning into the internet making fun of his hit song “Mystical Magical”.
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2025 has been a big year for music, with all the nominees creating records actually deserving of accolades. Much like the ceremony earlier this year, the likely winners seem to be more female, continuing the progress that’s been made over the past 5 years.
The diversity of nominations this year, along with huge successes for social media-driven campaigns, seem to illustrate how the GRAMMYs may be changing as an awards ceremony going forward.
Of course, no matter who wins, someone will be disappointed.
Tags
award shows, Grammys, Music, Music Industry, Pop Culture
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