Join Aquila Managing Editor Suhani Gupta (12) and Winged Post Editor-In-Chief Ashley Mo (12) as they share their Grammy’s predictions and discuss the nominations for this year.

View the full transcript here:

Ashley: Hi, everyone, I’m Ashley.

Suhani: And I’m Suhani.

Ashley: And today we’ll be talking about our predictions for the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Suhani: The Grammy Awards recognize the best music of the year, and today we’re going to be looking at Album of the Year, Record, Song, and Best New Artist.

Ashley: So let’s jump right in.

Suhani: Record of the Year.

Ashley: This year’s nominations are DTMF by Bad Bunny, Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter, Anxiety by Doechii, Wildflower by Billie Eilish, Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, The Subway by Chappel Roan and APT by Rosé and Bruno Mars.

Suhani: Because record of the year is usually based on the production aspects of a song, I definitely think Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA is a really strong contender.

Ashley: I definitely agree. I think Kendrick and SZA did a really good job of mixing the more modern hip hop aspects with even some classical elements, like a lot of string instruments. You can definitely hear that in the track as well, which I really liked.

Suhani: Yeah, I think my favorite part of the song is the interpolated sample, which I think is really interesting, and it adds a really nice texture to the song. I do think it should win for Record of the Year.

Ashley: While I do think Luther is a really strong contender, one of my favorites is also Wildflower by Billie Eilish. I think just starting off even with the guitar and then having so many overlays of her voice really created a melancholy tone of the song, which I enjoyed. I think it contributed to the overall sensation of the grief and the sadness you can feel through the song.

Suhani: I think the harmonies really create such a beautiful sound to the song, and I really love that one as well. Besides that, I also think DMTF could be a really interesting pick for the award this year because he is a Puerto Rican artist, and obviously there’s been a lot of controversy about him playing at the Super Bowl, et cetera. So I do think that would be really nice to see a Puerto Rican artist get the award.

Ashley: Yeah. Now let’s move on to Song of the Year.

Suhani: The nominations are Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, Anxiety by Doechii, APT by Rosé and Bruno Mars, DTMF by Bad Bunny, Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter and Wildflower by Billie Eilish.

Suhani: So I definitely think that this list has a lot of good options, but the first thing that I’m thinking when I’m looking at the songs that were nominated for Song of the Year is that a lot of them are from last year.

Ashley: That is true. I noticed that APT and Wildflower were both songs from last year, while a notable standout from this year is Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, which is a fan favorite.

Suhani: I really think the vocal performance in Golden was a standout, but I do think my pick for Song of the Year is Wildflower by Billie Eilish, which I know we talked about a little bit in Record of the Year.

Ashley: Personally, for my pick, I would say Anxiety by Doechii. Not only did she sample Somebody That I Used to Know, I feel like she heightened it and made it even better with the breadth of her vocal range. In some parts she had really high tones and other parts she was almost rapping, which I think shows how versatile she can be.

Suhani: I do think that Anxiety is a bit of a controversial pick given that it was so widespread on so many social media platforms. But I think it’s over-hated and I definitely think that I would also be happy to see Anxiety win, especially because I really like Doechii as an artist.

Ashley: Just circling back to Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, I honestly thought that song was the best out of the entire movie just because of how incredible the vocal range was, like how high the singers were able to sing. And I thought because of this talent, it definitely should be a strong contender for Song of the Year as well.

Suhani: I think that it would be a really cool pick as well because it was in a children’s movie and it was also so widespread. I really think that out of all of the songs that came out this summer, it really defined the summer. So I do think that would be a great pick as well.

Suhani: Okay, now let’s talk about Album of the Year.

Ashley: This year’s nominations for Album of the Year are DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny, Swag by Justin Bieber, Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, Let God Sort Them Out by Clipse, Pusha T and Malice, Mayhem by Lady Gaga, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, Mutt by Leon Thomas and Chromakopia by Tyler, the Creator.

Ashley: Okay, to start off, I wanted to highlight Chromakopia. I might be a little bit biased because Tyler, the Creator is one of my favorite artists within the nominations, but I truly think that his production and just the songs he created were so amazing and interesting.

Suhani: I really like Chromakopia as well. I think the only thing that I would say prevents this album from being my pick is that it did come out last year, and I kind of associated it with 2024 more than 2025. But I think my pick personally would be DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny. I think it had such a big cultural impact. Again, circling back to when we were talking about how Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican artist, and he got a lot of fame this year for his album. I do think so many of the songs were just so memorable.

Ashley: I agree with your pick as well. I think Bad Bunny’s album really implicitly had a lot of commentary about the ICE raids within the concerts he hosted in the U.S. It’s definitely a really important topic to bring to light and I think it’s great he did that through his music as well. Another album I wanted to highlight was Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter. I think Sabrina Carpenter’s always really known for her creative twist on words and her play with lyrics and instrumental as well, so I thought she did a really good job on Man’s Best Friend.

Suhani: I will have to disagree with you a little bit there. I do really love Sabrina Carpenter as an artist, but I don’t think Man’s Best Friend was necessarily her best work. I do think she did a better job on Short and Sweet last year. There was also a lot of controversy surrounding her album title and the album cover and whatnot. So I do think there are better picks for this year but I would be happy to see Sabrina Carpenter win as well.

Ashley: Hmm. While that is true, I do think personally I kind of judge based on the music produced in the album. There was a lot of disagreement within her album title and whatnot, but I really enjoyed how the album kind of synthesized a lot of different music from different decades. For example, her song When Did You Get Hot kind of reminded me of older pop music like from Eighties glam, and I think a lot of the different songs were super catchy. But I do agree with you that there was some controversy surrounding that album.

Ashley: Let’s move on to our predictions for the Best New Artist category.

Suhani: The nominations are Olivia Dean, Katseye, the Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young.

Ashley: This one is a tricky one. Personally, I really love Olivia Dean. Recently, I’ve been listening to her music all throughout my cafe runs and just in my free time. Her music brings such a comforting sense to me, and it’s really warm when I listen to her new songs. One of my favorites is So Easy to Fall in Love and Man I Need. I think those two songs were kind of popular on social media platforms, but once I listened to them more, I realized they do have so much value and they are really, really great hits. So that is my prediction.

Suhani: I think in terms of Olivia Dean, it’s nice to see an actually new artist be recognized by this category, especially since there are so many older artists on this list, like the Marias and Leon Thomas, who have been making music for many years. I think Olivia Dean would be a stronger pick over those two. My personal favorite out of these artists is Katseye. I definitely think they made waves with their song Gnarly last year, and I really enjoyed their new songs, Gabriella and Gameboy. They’re also a global group that represents so many different nationalities and cultures. If they won, it would be really nice for so many people to see themselves in the artists.

Ashley: While I agree Katseye is such a revolutionary group in terms of their international influence, I would say Gnarly, which is arguably the song that brought them the most fame, is not very well written. It is catchy for sure, but I think the lyrics and the singing ability isn’t necessarily the best. So they’re not my top pick.

Suhani: There are many very talented artists on this list, but I think for me, some of the artists like Addison Rae, Alex Warren and sombr, I would say aren’t my favorites and I wouldn’t really want to see them win in this category.

Ashley: Yeah, me too. I was definitely surprised to see Addison Rae on there, given she is a TikTok celebrity but has started making music recently. I do enjoy some of her songs like Diet Pepsi and Aquamarine, but I don’t think she has made waves to the level that some of the other artists on this list have. So I also agree that I don’t think she should win. For sombr, while he was really popular at the beginning of and then middle of this year, with popular songs like 12 to 12, Back to Friends and hits like that, he has faced a lot of backlash recently, which has personally made me not a fan anymore. So unfortunately, I will not be rooting for him as well.

Suhani: Since Best New Artist is recognizing a specific person, I would not be very happy to see the Grammys recognize sombr as a person. Also, I want to talk a little bit about Alex Warren. I think his music this year was definitely popular, like everyone has heard Ordinary, but it was also very, very mediocre. Honestly, it could have been produced by AI with how mediocre it was, and I really would not want to see him win Best New Artist either.

Suhani: In terms of my general thoughts about the Grammys nominations this year, I think one of the trends that I have seen on this list of songs is, as I was mentioning before, there are a lot of songs from 2024, and that shows that 2024 was a better year for music than 2025 is shaping up to be. Even though I do think there are standout tracks and albums from this year, I kind of miss how revolutionary of a year 2024 was for music, and I miss all of the main pop girls coming out with their albums.

Ashley: I would have to agree with that. 2024 was truly such a great year for music with Charlie XCX, her album, and Taylor Swift as well. But it’s really nice to see, especially with the new artists, some new people, new faces popping up as well. There are obviously positives and negatives of each year, so it’s really interesting to consider them both.

Suhani: Those were our thoughts on the Grammys nominations this year, and we would love to hear your thoughts as well.

Ashley: If you have any conflicting thoughts or agree with us, feel free to leave them in the comments.