NEW YORK – The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are set for Sunday night.
So who is most likely to win on “Music’s Biggest Night?”
CBS New York’s Zinnia Maldonado talked to some local music insiders to get their Grammy predictions.
With 10 nominees apiece in each of the big four categories at this year’s Grammy Awards, predicting the night’s winner is tougher than ever.
Maldonado broke down the categories — Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist — with music experts Chuck Creekmur of All Hip-Hop, 94.7 The Block’s Shelley Wade and Rolling Stone’s Mankaprr Conteh.
Up first — Album of the Year. Top contenders include Adele, Beyoncé and Bad Bunny.
“Adele, of course, released ’30’ during the Grammy eligibility window, and Beyoncé released ‘Renaissance.’ For both of them, it was their first albums in about six years,” Conteh said.
Beyoncé has won more than 28 Grammys, but has never won Album of the Year.
“This is Beyonce’s year,” Creekmur said.
“Wouldn’t be surprised if she took home Album of the Year,” Conteh said.
Up next, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Wade explained the difference between the two.
“Record of the Year is the Grammy that goes to the artists, producers and engineers, while Song of the Year goes to the songwriter,” Wade said.
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For Song of the Year, the experts are betting on Taylor Swift.
“I can see it going to Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well,'” Conteh said.
While Record of the Year remains a tight call between Lizzo, Adele and Harry Styles.
“With Record of the Year, it’s looking like Adele’s big year. She had a huge song with ‘Easy On Me.’ However, Lizzo is in the running,” Creekmur said.
“For Record of the Year, I predict the frontrunners will be Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ and Adele’s ‘Easy On Me,'” Wade said.
As for Best New Artist, Creekmur, who is a recording academy member and will be in attendance on Feb. 5, says the great thing is all of the nominees represent distinct genres.
“We’ve got a really good, well-rounded group of new artists,” Creekmur said. “One of the bigger names is Anita, a Latin artist and she’s got hundreds of millions of views. Latto is a female rapper nominated.”
Maldonado also asked our panel what can we expect to be different at this year’s show.
“The Recording Academy has worked on making its academy members more diverse,” Wade said.
“The Grammys are at their absolute best when they’re about to service and make space for a wide array of music,” Mankaprr said.
All the experts agreed they were really surprised to find out one specific artist did not receive any nominations this year, and that was Nicki Minaj.
You can watch the Grammys on CBS and on Paramount+. It kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday.
