The Grammy awards are music’s top achievements, highlighting a few of the hundred of the thousands of artists who released music in 2025. This year’s major category nominations are led by rap artist Kendrick Lamar with nine nominations, followed by pop star Lady Gaga and producer Jack Antonoff, tying with seven nominations, according to The Recording Academy.
Album of the Year
The nominations for album of the year include: Tyler, The Creator, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Leon Thomas, Pusha T, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga.
While some University of Maryland students believe these albums are a good representation of this year’s music selection, others think there are missing contenders.
Carly Pierson, a junior animal sciences major, felt the nominations were not diverse enough to represent the music scene of 2025. She said the nominees were almost all American artists, snubbing international artists, like British singer Jade Thirlwall’s “That’s Showbiz Baby.”
”I don’t say this lightly, but it’s one of the best pop albums I’ve ever listened to. It’s incredible,” she said. “I thought it would have been a shoe-in in some of these major categories.”
Pierson also thought Lorde’s “Virgin” was snubbed from all nominations, saying that the record should’ve replaced Bieber’s “SWAG.”
Junior Louisa Meyerson also agreed, calling Bieber’s “SWAG” “a very repetitive album.”
The computer science and math double major is rooting for Tyler, The Creator’s “Chromakopia” to win album of the year, but would also love to see “Let God Sort Them Out” by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice win.
Song of the Year
The song of the year category is based on songwriting and melodies. This year’s nominees include Lady Gaga, Billie Eillish, Doechii, Sabrina Carpenter and Bad Bunny and more.
Meyerson is rooting for Doechii’s “Anxiety” to take the cake for song of the year, despite online controversy.
“I’m happy for Doechii,” the long-time fan said. “I think she deserves anything she gets and anything she is nominated for.”
Meyerson said that after seeing Doechii in concert three times, her original opinion on “Anxiety” changed. The rap artist performs the song live with her own instrumentals, rather than relying on the sample of “Somebody That I Used to Know,” by Gotye, which allows her fans to focus on her original lyrics.
Pierson, however, is rooting for Eillish’s “Wildflower” to win the Grammy, calling the song “a genius compilation.”
Despite the students’ preferences, both think the academy will choose Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” for the category.
Best New Artist
The category that highlights new artists was extremely controversial online. Some fans are insulted by the categorization of some of their favorites, like The Marias, as new artists. Others are upset at the “TikTokification” of the category.
This year’s nominees are: KATSEYE, Addison Rae, Sombr, Alex Warren, Lola Yong, Olivia Dean, Leon Thomas and The Marias.
Pierson noted how the “influencer category” affects the way that music is made. She made the point that some artists are making music with clips that are “10-second ear-worms that get popular on Tik Tok to get streaming.”
However, she sees Olivia Dean as an exception to the TikTok pipeline.
“Her album was really incredible because it told such a beautiful story about the ups and downs with her life and romance,” she said. “It’s such a relatable thing, especially for people our age.”
Meyerson believes that Addison Rae and Sombr should not be on the list because they distract from the more talented and impactful artists that could’ve been nominated, she said.
Instead, Meyerson is rooting for KATSEYE, the global girl group that debuted their first single in 2024.
After reviewing the nominees, both students agree that the category should be renamed to “Best Breakthrough Artist” to properly reflect the message.
“I kinda interpret this category as: who’s an artist that has shown up in a new way that we haven’t seen before,” Pierson said.