2025 Grammy’s – Who Would I Vote For?

Now that the Grammy’s have passed, I never discussed who I would vote for if I had a vote (as you probably guessed by now, I do not have a vote).  While there is a limit in the number of awards a voter can vote for, I am ignoring this for this post and making choices for several awards.

 

General

Record of the Year

I was fine with any of them winning except for “Now and Then”, though I also wouldn’t have been the biggest fan of “Texas Hold ‘Em” winning.  I largely went back and forth between “Birds of a Feather”, “Not Like Us”, and “360”, while going with the former due to the performance and production.  That said, I thought “360” was the best produced of the nominees.

Choice:  “Birds of a Feather”, Billie Eilish

 

Album of the Year

The one album in this award that I didn’t review was Chappell Roan’s (I didn’t think it would explode like it did when it was released in 2023).  I considered this year to be a weak year in this award; in particular, none of the albums nominated for this award were ones I gave 5 stars.  The only 3 albums I even gave 4.5 stars were Hit Me Hard and Soft, Cowboy Carter, and Brat, with the first being the highest rated.

Choice:  Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie Eilish

 

Song of the Year

I wouldn’t have been the biggest fan of “Texas Hold ‘Em” winning this award, but I’d be fine with any of the others winning.  I went back and forth between “Not Like Us” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”.  I opted for the former because I thought the lyrics were so well written.

Choice:  “Not Like Us”, Kendrick Lamar

 

Best New Artist

I always have difficulty with this award since I question if I should vote for the nominee with the biggest year or the one with the biggest breakthrough, though the latter is difficult to measure.  I would have been fine with any of the nominees winning, though I wouldn’t have selected Raye or Khruangbin since I thought they had enough of a breakthrough in prior years.  Ultimately, I went back and forth between Teddy Swims and Chappell Roan before just barely leaning towards Swims due to his breakthrough across genres and in touring and performing different genre festivals as well.

Choice:  Teddy Swims

 

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

While each of the nominees deserve credit, the two that I was considering between were Ian Fitchuk and Dan Nigro.  The reason I opted for the former is because I thought the versatility across genres was more impressive.

Choice:  Ian Fitchuk

 

Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical

No matter what your view of pop music is, it is undeniable that Amy Allen was the only nominee who wrote songs nominated for a big 4 award, and she also wrote a significant number of hit songs this year.  Without having the time to listen to each song all the nominees wrote to determine which were best, I just went with Allen.

Choice:  Amy Allen

 

Pop & Dance/Electronic

Best Pop Solo Performance

I seriously considered each song in this award, but I felt like “Birds of a Feather” was the best choice because I genuinely thought it was the best vocal performance in particular, which I often lean towards in this award.

Choice:  “Birds of a Feather”, Billie Eilish

 

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

I thought all of them were at least good, but I thought “Guess” was excellent.  I thought it highlighted the talents of both Charli XCX and Billie Eilish in a way that the other songs were not able to with their artists.

Choice:  “Guess”, Charli XCX & Billie Eilish

 

Best Pop Vocal Album

As mentioned in Album of the Year, I did not review The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.  The only album out of these I even gave 4.5 stars was Hit Me Hard and Soft, so that made it easy.

Choice:  Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie Eilish

 

Best Dance/Electronic Recording

I honestly would have been with any of them.  Ultimately, I had “Neverender” just edging out “She’s Gone, Dance On” since I thought it was such a well-done track.

Choice:  “Neverender”, Justice and Tame Impala

 

Best Dance Pop Recording

I wouldn’t have complained about any of the nominees winning, though I was torn between two:  “Got Me Started”, which I chose to win, and “Von Dutch”, which ended up winning.

Choice:  “Got Me Started”, Troye Sivan

 

Best Dance/Electronic Album

This award is another where I had no 5-star albums out of the nominees.  I thought Telos was significantly weaker than the others, but I thought the other 4 were good.  I had the highest rated album out of the nominees as Three.

Choice:  Three, Four Tet

 

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical

I wasn’t that crazy about the nominated remixes for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” or “Espresso” (the former was one I just didn’t think was strong, the latter was one I didn’t think added anything).  There wasn’t one that felt like a clear winner, but I thought Kaytranada’s remix of “Alter Ego” was the strongest.

Choice:  “Alter Ego” (Kaytranada remix), Doechii feat. JT

 

Rock, Metal & Alternative

Best Rock Performance

I was not a fan of “Now and Then”, but I would have been fine with any of them winning.  That said, I thought “The American Dream Is Killing Me” was easily the best performance out of the nominees (in fact, if that had been submitted for Record of the Year and had I had a vote, I likely would have voted for it as a nominee).

Choice:  “The American Dream Is Killing Me”, Green Day

 

Best Metal Performance

I thought “Screaming Suicide was weak by comparison, but the others were all strong contenders.  The issue is that “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ca ira!)” was nominated and felt like the obvious choice to me.

Choice:  “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ca ira!)”, Gojira, Marina Viotti & Victor Le Masne

 

Best Rock Song

I thought all of the songs nominated were good, but I thought the best written song was “Broken Man”.  I will admit that if “The American Dream Is Killing Me” was submitted instead of “Dilemma”, I would have gone with Green Day here.

Choice:  “Broken Man”, St. Vincent

 

Best Rock Album

I thought Happiness Bastards was weaker than the others, but I thought the others were worthy selections.  The two I gave 5-stars were Saviors, which I would have selected (and an album that I thought was Green Day’s best since American Idiot), and Romance.

Choice:  Saviors, Green Day

 

Best Alternative Music Performance

I thought the two alternative awards were among the deepest awards; in this award in particular, I thought that every single performance was amazing.  Ultimately, I found “Flea” to be the most impressive and compelling performance.

Choice:  “Flea”, St. Vincent

 

Best Alternative Music Album

In my opinion, this was probably the deepest award, as the only album I didn’t give 5-stars to was Charm, which I awarded 4.5.  I thought What Now was a top-10 album of 2024, so the choice is pretty easy from there.

Choice:  What Now, Brittany Howard

 

R&B, Rap & Spoken Word

Best R&B Performance

I wasn’t impressed by “Residuals”, and the live version of “Made for Me” didn’t feel quite right to win the award (I know this was the version that had to be submitted since the studio version was not released during the eligibility period).  I thought “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” had an incredibly strong performance by Jones and featured a better one than those of the other nominees.

Choice:  “Here We Go (Uh Oh)”, Coco Jones

 

Best Traditional R&B Performance

I thought each of them were at least good, but I was very impressed by “That’s You”.  I think Lucky Daye’s performance dwarfed those of all the other artists nominated for this award.

Choice:  “That’s You”, Lucky Daye

 

Best R&B Song

While I thought that all of them were good nominees, I thought “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” was the best written song, especially from a composition standpoint.

Choice:  “Here We Go (Uh Oh)”, Coco Jones

 

Best Progressive R&B Album

I did not review So Glad to Know You and En Route.  While two of the albums were solid, there was only one album I thought was great, which was Bando Stone & the New World, which I ranked at 75.

Grade:  Bando Stone & the New World, Childish Gambino

 

Best R&B Album

I did not review Chris Brown’s album.  As for the others, they were fine with the exception of Algorithm, which was better, as I had as the 42^nd best album of 2024.

Choice:  Algorithm, Lucky Daye

 

Best Rap Performance

While I thought each nominee in this award was good, I thought “Not Like Us” was a show-stopping performance by comparison, making it the clear winner.

Choice:  “Not Like Us”, Kendrick Lamar

 

Best Melodic Rap Performance

I thought each performance was okay in this award, though I was most impressed by “We Still Don’t Trust You”.  It doesn’t feel like this song should work as well as it does, but it just works so smoothly.

Choice:  “We Still Don’t Trust You”, Future, Metro Boomin & The Weeknd

 

Best Rap Song

Just as it was a clear choice for Rap Performance and was my selection for Song of the Year, the lyrics of “Not Like Us” are a masterclass in not only diss tracks, but hip hop as a whole.  The other nominees are at least okay, though I thought “Carnival” was the clear weakest of the bunch (the production made Performance make more sense than song).

Choice:  “Not Like Us”, Kendrick Lamar

 

Best Rap Album

I thought the combination of albums was a little weaker in this award, as the only one I gave 5 stars was We Don’t Trust You, though Alligator Bites Never Heal wasn’t that far off of 5-stars.  As such, I went with the first one mentioned.

Choice:  We Don’t Trust You, Future & Metro Boomin

 

Jazz, Traditional Pop, Contemporary Instrumental & Musical Theater

Best Jazz Performance

I thought that “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” was the weakest of the nominees, but the others were good.  I ultimately opted for “Phoenix Reimagined (Live)” because I thought the performance and instrumentals were so impressive.

Choice:  “Phoenix Reimagined (Live)”, Lakecia Benjamin feat. Randy Brecker, Jeff “Tain” Watts & John Scofield

 

Country & American Roots

Best Country Solo Performance

I considered each nominee in this award and thought that all were worthy nominees.  That said, there is something about “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” that just works.  It is a pretty simple song, but it gets the job done.

Choice:  “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, Shaboozey

 

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

I thought each were fair nominees, though I was considering between “Break Mine” and “I Had Some Help”.  Even though the vocal performances were better in “I Had Some Help”, I thought the overall performance and recording of “Break Mine” was much more impressive (as a side note, I thought it absolutely should have been nominated for Best Country Song as well, where I thought it was a stronger choice, and could have been in consideration for Song of the Year).

Choice:  “Break Mine”, Brothers Osborne

 

Best Country Song

I wasn’t that big of a fan of “Texas Hold ‘Em”, though that might have been because I heard it so many times in a brief time period after it was released.  I thought “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was a pretty easy choice for me with this.  Even though it’s not an advanced song, I saw a quote once (I want to say it was from Jay-Z, but I can’t recall or find the quote) that effectively said that the best songs are often the ones that come together the easiest; in this situation, I think that is correct.

Choice:  “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, Shaboozey

 

Best Country Album

This was one of the closest awards, as just 12 spots separated Deeper Well and Higher, with the former edging out.  The other albums were good, but these two easily stood out.

Choice:  Deeper Well, Kacey Musgraves

 

Best American Roots Performance

I wasn’t as crazy about “Nothing in Rambling”, but I liked the other nominees.  I was torn between “The Ballad of Sally Anne” and “Lighthouse”, but I went with the former since I was so impressed with the vocal performance in particular.

Choice:  “The Ballad of Sally Anne”, Rhiannon Giddens

 

Best Americana Performance

I thought all of the nominees were fine, though “Ya Ya” didn’t really do much for me.  Otherwise, all worked, though I thought “Don’t Do Me Good” was a little better than the others.

Choice:  “Don’t Do Me Good”, Madi Diaz feat. Kacey Musgraves

 

Best American Roots Song

Honestly, I thought all were good, though there wasn’t necessarily one that screamed out as a no-brainer.  I thought “All My Friends” was well-written, so sure, let’s go with it.

Choice:  “All My Friends”, Aoife O’Donovan

 

Best Americana Album

I reviewed 3 albums in this award, and those were Tigers Blood, Trail of Flowers, and $10 Cowboy.  While all were great, the only I gave 5-stars was the former.

Choice:  Tigers Blood, Waxahatchee

 

Gospel & Contemporary Christian

Best Gospel Performance/Song

I thought “Holy Hands” was weaker than the other nominees, but I considered each of the others.  I was thoroughly impressed with Ricky Dillard’s performance of “Hold On”, so I couldn’t help but to go with that one.  As a side bar, I don’t listen to him a ton, so I always forget what his voice sounds like, and I expect him to be a bass and not a tenor.

Choice:  “Hold On (Live)”, Ricky Dillard

 

Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song

I wasn’t sold on “Holy Forever”, but I considered the others for a bit.  That said, I thought that Honor & Glory’s cover of “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” was significantly better than any of the other nominees.

Choice:  “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)”, Honor & Glory feat. Disciple

 

Latin, Global, African, Reggae & New Age, Ambient or Chant

Best Latin Pop Album

I did not review El Viaje or Garcia.  Ultimately, I gave Funk Generation 5-stars, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran 4.5-stars, and El Viaje 4-stars, so that made the decision easy.

Choice:  Funk Generation, Anitta

 

Best Musica Urbana Album

I did not review Feid’s album.  Out of the other nominees, there were two 5-star reviews.  While Att. Made an impressive case, the bad news for it was that I had Las Letras Ya No Importan as the second-best album of the year, just missing out on the top spot.

Choice:  Las Letras Ya No Importan, Residente

 

Best Global Music Performance

I thought “A Rock Somewhere” was weaker than the others because I found Jacob Collier’s vocal performance to be underwhelming; I also wouldn’t have chosen “Kashira” because I felt like it felt incomplete, though it was a good song.  I went back and forth between “Raat Ki Rani” and “Rise” for a while, but just barely leaned towards the former due to the composition.

Choice:  “Raat Ki Rani”, Arooj Aftab

 

Best African Music Performance

While all the performances in this award were at least good, I thought that one was amazing; I considered “Tomorrow” to be one of the better performances of all the nominated Grammy’s, where I would’ve been fine if it had been nominated for Record of the Year.

Choice:  “Tomorrow”, Yemi Alade

 

Children’s, Comedy, Audio Book Narration & Storytelling, Visual Media & Music Video/Film

Best Song Written for Visual Media

I thought “Better Place” didn’t deserve to be nominated for this award and was only chosen because NSYNC reunited.  I was torn with the others but felt moved enough by “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” to go with it.

Choice:  “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”, Luke Combs (from Twisters:  The Album)

 

Who would you have selected?  Let me know in the comments!