On Nov. 7, The Recording Academy released its nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards, sparking reactions of awe, disdain and excitement in anticipation of the awards ceremony on Feb. 1, 2026.
As I begin my review of the nominations, to avoid possible confusion, it is worth noting that the awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year are two different categories. While Record of the Year honors recordings that represent an “overall achievement” with special regard to performance, production and engineering, Song of the Year is specifically concerned with songwriting and lyrics.
Starting with one of two of the most important categories, the Record of the Year nominees are: “DtMF”(Bad Bunny), “Manchild” (Sabrina Carpenter), “Abracadabra” (Lady Gaga) “Anxiety” (Doechii), “WILDFLOWER” (Billie Eilish), “luther” (Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA), “APT” (Rosé featuring Bruno Mars) and “The Subway” (Chappell Roan).
The Song of the Year category has the same contenders, only exchanging “The Subway” for “Golden” by the fictional band HUNTR/X from Netflix’s most-watched animated film ever, “KPop Demon Hunters.” Funny twist there. The fact that a band that does not even exist in real life was nominated for Song of the Year excellently captures the cultural landscape we live in during this digital era, where boundaries between what’s real and imaginary are blurry.
Nominated for both Record and Song of the Year, Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” feels more like a nod to her fans who felt she was robbed in last year’s Grammy ceremony, after receiving no awards for her masterpiece album “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”
However, despite the song’s soul-stirring composition and the artist’s poignant vocals, I doubt anyone would consider “Wildflower” to have been the “Song of 2025.” Although it was released as a single within the eligibility period, it did not reach any higher position in the charts than #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 10 when it was released last year and is not representative of this year’s musical landscape.
Conversely, “Luther,” by Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA, was arguably one of the best songs released during the eligibility period. It’s well-crafted, sonically and emotionally compelling and a symbiotic collaboration between the two artists. It deserves to take home a statue, especially Record of the Year, for its professional blend of classical and contemporary sounds and the creative sampling of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s “If This World Were Mine.” For its vulnerable lyrics, I would award Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” Song of the Year, making “DtMF” the first Spanish-language song ever to win this category.
Moving on, I have issues with the single “Abracadabra” truly deserving Record and Song of the Year. No one will remember “Abracadabra” as part of this year’s highlights. The song added another powerful dance track to Lady Gaga’s repertoire instead of offering a distinctive artistic statement. Additionally, as another refutable nominee, “Anxiety” by Doechii feels more like a remix of Gotye’s 2011 “Somebody That I Used To Know” more than a sample with its hackneyed lyrics.
Here comes my biggest grudge with the announcements: how in the world was “Anxiety” nominated over Sombr’s “Back to Friends?” “Back to Friends” broke records as a chart-topping alternative rock track, and it was written and produced solely by him. It’s insane to me that his only nomination was for Best New Artist.
This category awards artists who made a “breakthrough into the public consciousness and notably impacted the musical landscape.” Although Sombr unquestionably deserved to appear as a nominee, this doesn’t feel enough — at the very least, he should have earned nominations for Best Alternative Music Performance or Album.
This striking absence is reminiscent of Benson Boone only appearing in the “Best New Artist” category last year, despite having the most-streamed song of the year, “Beautiful Things.” A similar case occurs with the Billboard’s #1 Global Song of the Summer, the ballad “Ordinary” by Alex Warren, failed to earn nominations in any category.
However, at least both Sombr and Warren had better luck than Raven Lenae. Despite achieving fifth on the Billboard Hot 100 with her hit “Love Me Not,” Lenae was not even nominated for Best New Artist. I don’t get how “Love Me Not” is on neither the Song or Record of the Year list, being no worse than most nominees. Even so, was it really that difficult to nominate her in any R&B category?
The Album of the Year nominees are: “Mayhem” (Lady Gaga), “DeBÎ TiRaR MáS FOToS” (Bad Bunny), “Swag” (Justin Bieber), “Man’s Best Friend” (Sabrina Carpenter), “GNX” (Kendrick Lamar) and the barely known “Chromakopia” (Tyler, The Creator), “Let God Sort Em Out” (Clipse, Pusha T & Malice) and “Mutt” (Leon Thomas).
One of the big surprises was Tate McRae’s lack of nominations: her only nomination was for Dance Pop Recording for her song “Just Keep Watching” from the “F1: The Movie” soundtrack. There were no nominations for “So Close To What” or any of its singles.
Earlier this year, I expressed that I did not hope for McRae’s “Sports Car” to win any Grammys, and it’s fair that the song wasn’t nominated. However, the album’s cohesiveness and overall production made “So Close To What” worthy of at least earning a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.
The fact that she did not have any other nominations may have been a misstep from her team, who should have promoted “Just Keep Watching” for Record of the Year, which would have stood better chances, especially after earning MTV’s Song of the Summer at the VMAs, and for its superior lyrics compared to “Sports Car.”
PinkPantheress’ “Illegal” was also nominated for Best Dance Pop Recording. It is great to see the Academy honoring PinkPantheress’ single and mixtape “Fancy That” for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
The Weeknd wasn’t nominated this year for his album “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” and maybe it didn’t deserve to be. It may strike some as a surprise after last year’s “reconciliation” with the Academy, but the album’s merit lies more in being The Weeknd’s eulogy to rest in peace than in highlighting him creatively or commercially.
However, the album’s lead single, “Timeless,” featuring Playboy Carti, was not nominated for Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance or any R&B categories. The Weeknd shared his opinions of the validity of nominations back in 2020, claiming: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.” Despite changes in the voting process and his unexpected re-engagement with the Academy last year, maybe he was right all along.
In any case, even if the most prominent songs of a certain year are missing, the awards will still be widely considered the most esteemed in music. Overall, we have an interesting list of current nominees, filled with original rap and Latin music entries, and I’m looking forward to watching what artists finally take gramophones home.
Tomy Helman PO ’28 is a music columnist from Argentina, interested in media, culture and politics. His Duolingo streak is over 1700 days.
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