Who Should Be Nominated at the 2024 Grammy Awards -

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Under rules announced a few years ago, any artist can be Best New Artist, just as long as a screening committee confirms that they haven’t had a “breakthrough or prominence” before the eligibility period. So no amount of fame or prior releases is automatically disqualifying, and we thought we’d focus on artists who impressed our own “screening committee” with their ascents since last October. Some, like Baltimore house-R&B nightswimmer Nourished by Time, Chicago folk-country prophet Kara Jackson, and Brooklyn-via-Barcelona electropop voyager NOIA, made their full-length debuts. Others, like North Carolina rap dynamo TiaCorine, Brooklyn art-rock savants Water From Your Eyes, North Carolina indie-rock rovers Wednesday, and Los Angeles-via-Dallas warped-R&B wayfarer Liv.e, followed promising earlier efforts with stunning breakouts. And one—namely, Ice Spice—permeated the culture without even releasing her first proper album yet.

Best Rap Album

Despite anxiety over hip-hop’s lack of chart-topping successes throughout most of this year, the genre’s lesser-known lights are keeping things moving forward. Along with the already-mentioned dynamic duo of Maps and Sundial, add the woozy wisdom of North Carolina rapper Mavi’s Laughing so Hard, it Hurts, the grizzled wit of Virginia rapper $ilkmoney’s I Don’t Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit, Imma Just Drop Until I Don’t Feel Like It Anymore, and the oddball hilarity of Detroit rapper Veeze’s Ganger. And while some of our favorites, like Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator, have won this award in recent years, this time the Grammys should let the rap nerds rejoice.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Recent Best Pop Vocal Album winners include Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande. While we have to hand it to Rodrigo’s sophomore effort GUTS, there’s no shortage of less traditional picks for this category as well. Fountain Baby and SOS are both ambitious and banger-filled albums that filter R&B, global hip-hop, rock, and more through a pop lens. And don’t count out the luxuriant disco revival of UK diva-next-door Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! or the magpie excess of Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Lana has been nominated in this category twice before, but has yet to win a shiny gold gramophone.