OTR’s 2025 Grammy Predictions

Studded with the year’s most-talked-about names in the industry and completed with dazzling performances of the year’s ear worms, there is a reason the Grammys are dubbed “Music’s Biggest Night.”

Academy favorites and chart-toppers are scattered throughout Grammy categories, with fan favorites and undeniable hits by yet-to-be recognized artists helping to fill nomination lists. While the Grammys are known for their snubs and surprises come award night, here are Off the Record’s predictions for who will take home those golden trophies this year.

Album of the Year: Brat by Charli xcx

Charli xcx on the Sweat Tour in October. Photo by Henry Redcliffe.

Brooke Shapiro, Music Extras Editor

Despite Pantone claiming otherwise, no color better defined 2024 than the lime green associated with Charli xcx’s Brat. The obnoxiously neon shade of green overlain by narrow arial font seemed to make its way to every corner of the internet (and highways), launching the essence of Brat from just an album to a cultural phenomenon. 2024 also birthed “Brat Summer,” the ultimate state of mind of what it means to party all summer.

Of course, The Academy does not merely hand out awards to the most popular albums of the year, so while the cultural impact of Brat is undeniable, its innovative production, attune songwriting, emotional range and sonic maturity make it deserving of the Grammys’ most coveted award. With the infectious beats of tracks like “Club classics,” “365” and, of course, “Apple,” Charli and producers A.G. Cook and George Daniel, among others, had everyone dancing through the heat of summer. Beyond the clear club bangers scattered throughout the album, Charli still interlaces themes of vulnerability and grief into the 15-track record, with songs like “I might say something stupid” and “So I.” After releasing eight studio albums over the course of her over-ten-year career, Brat seems like Charli’s best bet for winning Album of the Year.

Song of the Year: “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan

Maddy Yen, Staff Writer

With one of the best bridges to date, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan deserves the title of Song of the Year. Written with Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter, Chappell Roan delivers incredibly raw lyrics “about wishing good luck to someone who is denying fate.” An amazing storyteller, Roan takes you through what it feels like to ​​love someone who has yet to come to terms with their own identity. Her synth-pop style is perfectly displayed in “Good Luck, Babe!” and is without a doubt one of the best-written songs of the year. Roan is unapologetically herself and it shines through in her artistry. There is a reason she’s your artist's favorite artist.

Record of the Year: “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter

Logan Goettemoeller, Senior Writer

Watch the music video for “Espresso” on YouTube.

“Thinking about me?” Oh, baby, you know it. There’s no song that’s more suitable for Record Of The Year than “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. “Espresso” took the world by storm immediately after the tracks’ release and Carpenter’s iconic Coachella performance in April, bringing out the summer sun’s rays just a little early for 2024. Julian Bunetta is the mastermind producer behind the track’s Nu-Disco pop groove, the iconic guitar loop and the infectious instrumental that just radiates pure fun through excellent usage of dynamics and balancing throughout the track’s short and sweet 2:55 run time.

If the instrumentation’s sonic euphoria alone wasn’t enough to convince you, Sabrina Carpenter’s playful vocal performance is the perfect cherry on top to tie the world of the song together. Carpenter sounds spectacular as always, but the blending of background vocals and the power of the main melody in “Espresso” create a perfect brew that feels even more energetic than a rush of caffeine. It’s no mistake that “Espresso” was arguably THE smash hit from 2024; it’s pure lightning in a bottle of a pop track that will always bring splendor to the likes of coffee lovers, Nintendo gamers and late night singers. 

Best New Artist: Chappell Roan

Jackie Fortis, Contributor

Best New Artist is known for being one of the most competitive categories the Grammys holds. Although all of this year’s nominees are deserving of the title, Chappell Roan’s dominance in music within the last year — from smashing attendance records at festivals to topping charts and being praised by the highest of music names — makes her a very safe bet for winning Best New Artist of 2025. Anthems like “HOT TO GO” and “Good Luck, Babe!” defined the year for so many listeners and her presence on streaming platforms and radio alike was undeniable. After years of making music relatively unrecognized, it’s the Midwest Princess’s time to shine.

Best Pop Solo Performance: “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish

Maddy Yen, Staff Writer

The category Best Pop Solo Performance highlights tracks or singles with high-quality vocal and instrumental performances. This year's nominees were all female, showcasing how big of a year it was for female pop stars. Billie Eilish is a front-runner for this category with “BIRDS OF A FEATHER,” which took the world by storm in July this year. Eilish’s captivating vocals and emotional lyrics about loving someone until the very end resonated with many people. Produced by her brother, Finneas, the duo created a beautiful, vulnerable track showcasing her signature ethereal style. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” displayed high-quality vocals — complete with a stunning belt of a D5 — and production, and was the third most streamed song globally on Spotify last year.

Best Rock Album: Romance by Fontaines D.C.

Tabita Bernardus, Staff Writer

Fontaines D.C. in 2023. Photo by Alex Ayala.

The list of contenders for Best Rock Album is packed with the best of the best this year, even with the dedicated category to the genre having only existed since 1995. While acclaimed, legendary bands including Green Day, The Rolling Stones, and Pearl Jam appear on the list, the young, Dublin rockers that make up Fontaines D.C. have proven to be playing a different ball game, and it’d be a mistake to rule them out of the running. Produced by James Ford who has worked on projects with names like Blur and Depeche Mode, the band’s fourth album, Romance, bursts with spontaneity, grit and an end-of-the-world love motif that quickly skyrocketed them to new heights in 2024. After playing at various festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading and winning The Album Award at the Rolling Stone’s UK Awards, the rising stars of rock/alternative music have had one of their best years yet, and they’ve just barely skimmed the surface in spheres outside of their homeland. Even Elton John gave the group their flowers by proclaiming that they were “the best band out there at the moment” — and surely that boosts their case for taking the title this year.

Best Rap Album: Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii

Suma Sesay, Staff Writer

There’s a lot to be said about The Recording Academy and their history with the category for Best Rap Album. Put simply, the voters do not have their finger on the pulse of mainstream rap whatsoever, as evidenced by the fact that Eminem has six Grammys in this category alone. That being said, expectations for the winner in this category are set low for good reason. In 2024, Killer Mike won in this category, beating out rap icons like Drake, Travis Scott and Metro Boomin. This was an immense shock, because all three of the aforementioned artists delivered excellent and groundbreaking albums that were trending for the larger part of that year. Conversely, Killer Mike’s album was by no means a chart topper. This upset only served to reinforce the distrust that a large part of the public harbors for the Grammy organization as a whole.

This year, the category includes several ten-out-of-ten rap albums, alongside other not so great ones. In my opinion, Future & Metro Boomin’s collaborative album, We Don’t Trust You, is the only project that can compete with Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal. Both projects garnered immense attention, but I believe Doechii deserves the win. Alligator Bites Never Heal is an homage to rap music in its purest form. It features both mellow beats and spoken freestyles in close succession to boom bap beats and iconic lyrics. Doechii is having the best months of her career at the moment, with extensive hype building around her music and a wonderfully eccentric aesthetic. She is truly taking the rap scene by storm and it’s about time for her hard work to be recognized. 

Best Pop Vocal Album: eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande

Ana Marks, Contributor

With an insanely competitive lineup of nominees, it's difficult to see how the famously snubbed seventh studio album by Ariana Grande would win amongst 2024’s pop princesses Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, or Grammy’s favorites Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. However, with Best Pop Vocal Album being the album’s only nomination, alongside singles “yes, and?” and “the boy is mine” and in conjunction with Grande being Wicked’s award darling, the Grammy may go to her as a precursor for a potential Oscar. The parameters of the award are an album that contains “greater than 75% playing time of new pop vocal recordings,” and with Grande’s ever impressive vocals not only being highlighted in the album but in the major box office hit, there's no award better suited for Grande at the 67th Grammy Awards.

Producer of the Year, Non-classical: Daniel Nigro

Maddy Yen, Staff Writer

Producer Of The Year showcases the behind-the-scenes talent of those who oversee the recording and production of artists’ music. With five nominations across rock, pop and hip-hop, Daniel Nigro is likely to take the win for his work with Gen Z superstars. For a second year in a row, he’s nominated for his work with Olivia Rodrigo, specifically for three tracks on her deluxe album, GUTS (spilled), and "Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes. Also having produced the entirety of Chappell Roan’s debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and newest single “Good Luck, Babe!,” he is a force to be reckoned with. Working on some of the most popular songs of the year, Nigro is pop’s most coveted producer for the new generation.