Who will, who should win Grammys
Bruno Mars battles hip-hop stars Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar for the top awards. USA TODAY’s predictions.
The 2018 Grammy Awards land in New York City on Sunday (CBS, 7:30 ET/4:30 PT), and the evening’s most compelling storylines have already emerged. The biggest categories — album, song and record of the year — pit hip-hop heavyweights Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar against one another, their most formidable challengers being Bruno Mars, a Grammys-favored artist with the potential to run the board, and Despacito, 2017’s biggest single, which already routed the Latin Grammys.
Beyond the night’s headlining names, there’s the distinct chance history will be made. Neither a rap or Spanish-language song has ever won song or record of the year in the awards’ modern history, which seems likely to change at the hands of Despacito or one of the strong hip-hop nominees.
Our predictions for who will win the song, album and record and best-new-artist categories — and which artists actually deserve the prizes:
Album of the year
Will win: Bruno Mars, 24K Magic
With Lamar’s Damn nominated alongside Jay-Z’s 4:44, album of the year is hip-hop’s to lose. But the danger of vote-splitting means the Grammy may go to one of the more pop-oriented artists. The obvious front-runner is Mars, who earned the thirdmost nominations behind Lamar and Jay-Z. While critics loved Lorde’s
Melodrama, she’s the only album-ofthe-year nominee who isn’t nominated for one of the other major categories,
which may signal that Grammys voters aren’t as keen on her as a winner. And then, there’s Childish Gambino’s psychR&B of Awaken, My Love, an intriguing spoiler.
Should win: Kendrick Lamar, Damn Despite his seven Grammy wins and 29 nominations, Lamar has a history of Grammys heartbreak. In 2014, Seattle rapper Macklemore took home best rap album for The Heist over Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, then infamously texted Lamar to apologize. In 2016, Lamar’s breathlessly acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly lost to Taylor Swift’s 1989. Now, with a third universally praised release competing for the night’s biggest award, Lamar deserves to win for Damn, not just for the sake of cosmic retribution, but because his album is the category’s best, a singular artistic statement from the best rapper of a generation.
Song of the year
Will win: Logic, 1-800-273-8255 feat. Alessia Cara and Logic
This is a songwriters’ award, and this decade’s winners have almost exclusively been pensive, sweeping anthems. Of all the nominees this year, the song that best suits the category’s recent trajectory is Logic’s 1-800-273-8255, with its suicide-awareness message. The song would make history as the first hiphop track to win the category, though there’s very little actual rapping, making it poppy enough not to seem like an out-
lier. Yet, with Mars earning nominations for album, song and record of the year, voters may be signaling an Adele-style domination for the singer, whose That’s
What I Like is up for best song. Should win: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, Despacito feat. Justin Bieber
Charts domination aside, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s runaway hit isn’t the obvious choice to win. The last time a Spanish-language song won the category was in 1959. Yet, a win for Despaci
to would be a well-deserved reward for a song well-written enough to transcend American listeners’ English-oriented tastes to become a global phenomenon.
Record of the year
Will win: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, Despacito feat. Justin Bieber
Mars has found success in this category, winning in 2016 for Uptown Funk.
24K Magic is similarly crowd pleasing. Yet, the category has favored pop hits that dominated the charts. That may tip the scales in Despacito’s favor. Should win: Kendrick Lamar, Humble
Chances are, Humble won’t win, considering no rap song has won the category, and Lamar faces the same votesplitting danger against Jay-Z’s The Sto
ry of OJ as he does for album of the year. Yet, it’d still be a thrill for the rapper’s fans to see him win for the joyously produced Humble, Lamar’s first No. 1.
Best new artist Will win: Alessia Cara
Despite SZA’s status as the Grammy’s most-nominated female artist this year with five nods, Cara almost seems like the preordained choice to win this category. With years worth of major-label support behind her, Cara is a highprofile industry darling who was nominated for best new artist at other awards shows in 2016 off the strength of her 2015 breakthrough single, Here. The Grammys will likely try to make up for lost time by granting her the trophy.
Should win: SZA
SZA was one of 2017’s best breakout stories, an R&B singer on Lamar’s label whose small cult following exploded once she released CTRL, the album she spent three years perfecting, to critical raves. In a category meant to honor the year’s most promising debut, SZA is a cut above the rest.