Will win. bad rabbit – Un Verano Sin Ti:
He must win. bad rabbit – Un Verano Sin Ti:
The launch of multiple Spanish-language music categories at the Grammys is long overdue, but it’s clear the Academy still has a lot of work to do. Every nominee for this year’s Música Urbana is a white male, and all but one are of Puerto Rican descent. That said, even if the group of nominees accurately represented the wide variety and perspectives of Latin American music that fall under the music urban umbrella, few could compete with the year that Bad Bunny had. Un Verano Sin Ti:. The rare pop album that innovates rather than imitates, it draws from Dominican mambo and dembo, reggaeton, trap and more, appearing effortlessly smooth.
Following his massive critical and commercial success, Daddy Yankee’s cynically marketed and decidedly mediocre “farewell” album, Legenddaddy, offers no competition. Rau Alejandro Trap Cake, vol. 2: It’s a solid but brief exercise in trap aesthetics, but his best chance will come next year with a retrospective of his recent club music, Saturno. Farruko’s “Pepas” is a massive global smash from two summers ago that lasted longer than the bloated album it ended up on. And Maluma remains the hottest reggaetonero in the game. Eventually, someone will dethrone Bad Bunny. But not this year. – Matthew Ismael Ruiz
Producer of the year, not a classic
- Boi-1da
- Dahi
- Dan Auerbach
- Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II
- Jack Antonoff
Will win. Jack Antonoff
He must win. Jack Antonoff
What’s left to say about uber-producer Jack Antonoff? The man works overtime, pinging from one session to the next, almost always alongside the female lead artists. He has collaborated with Florence Welch (Grammy Nominee), Diana Ross (Grammy Nominee) and Taylor Swift (Grammy Award Winner). Now he is playing guitar in the apartment with Japanese breakfast (Grammy Nominee). Maybe he deserves that award more than the Black Keys guy or Boi-1da, who co-wrote Jack Harlow on one of the happiest hip-hop albums of the year. Come home, the kids miss you, they should disqualify him. Antonoff certainly has the most name recognition. Whatever, just give the guy the damn trophy. – Cat Rust
Best Music Video
- Adele – “Easy For Me”
- BTS – “Still Ahead”
- Doja Cat – “Woman”
- Harry Styles – “The Way It Was”
- Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart Part 5”
- Taylor Swift – “Everything is fine. short film”
Will win. Adele – “Easy For Me”
He must win. Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart Part 5”
Despite the list of nominees for pop and rap songs, this year’s music video category seems to be higher than usual. Is Kendrick Lamar’s unsettling take on deep fake tech a must-watch, or will Taylor Swift’s tearjerker directorial debut “All Good” win instead? Is Harry Styles’ colorful video for the sly hit ‘As It Was’ a dark horse, or will BTS’ nostalgia trip ‘Det to Come’ upset him? Lamar is most deserving of the award for finding yet another innovative tool in his ever-expanding creative toolbox for making dystopian technology. Unfortunately, the best bet is probably Adele, whose black-and-white, elegantly dull return to set “Easy on Me” is exactly the kind of harmless, crowd-pleasing fare the Grammys love to turn to in moments of doubt. – Eric Torres
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