Music

2022 Grammy Award Nominations: Who Will Have a Chance to Win?

The 2022 Grammy Award nominations are out now! The 64th annual Grammy Award show will air Monday, January 31, exclusively on CBS and Paramount+. The Grammy Awards recognize recordings released between Sept. 1, 2020 — Sept. 30, 2021. This year’s top Grammy nominees were Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, and H.E.R. with eight nominations. Jon Batiste followed up with 11, the most nominations of the night. Here are MEFeater’s predictions for the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Album of The Year

Jon Batiste, We Are
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga Love For Sale
Justin Bieber Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)
Doja Cat Planet Her (Deluxe)
Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever
H.E.R. Back Of My Mind
Lil Nas X MONTERO
Olivia Rodrigo SOUR
Taylor Swift Evermore
Kanye West Donda

Prediction: Following in the footsteps of its sister album Folklore, it’s a likely guess that Taylors Swift’s latest album Evermore will win Album of The Year in 2022. A close competitor is newcomer Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR.

Song of The Year

“Bad Habits” Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid & Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
“A Beautiful Noise” Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry & Hailey Whitters, songwriters (Alicia Keys & Brandi Carlile)
“drivers license” Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)
“Fight For You” Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“Happier Than Ever” Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“Kiss Me More” Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell II, Solána Rowe & David Sprecher, songwriters (Doja Cat Featuring SZA)
“Leave The Door Open” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill & Roy Lenzo, songwriters (Lil Nas X)
“Peaches” Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha “Fury” King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman & Keavan Yazdani, songwriters (Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon)
“Right On Time” by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)

Prediction: In terms of credits for songwriting Olivia Rodrigo has received high praise, especially her bridges. With that sentiment, it would be a surprise if “driver’s license” didn’t end up winning Song of The Year.

Record of The Year

“Freedom” Jon Batiste
“Kiss Me More” Doja Cat featuring SZA
“drivers license” Olivia Rodrigo
“Happier Than Ever” Billie Eilish
“I Still Have Faith In You” ABBA
“I Get A Kick Out Of You” Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
“Peaches” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon
“Right On Time” Brandi Carlile
“Montero” (Call Me By Your Name) Lil Nas X
“Leave The Door Open” Silk Sonic

Prediction: One of the top contenders for this category is “Happier Than Ever” Billie Eilish, taking home the award for the third year in a year.

Best New Artist

Arooj Aftab
Jimmie Allen
Baby Keem
FINNEAS
Glass Animals
Japanese Breakfast
The Kid LAROI
Arlo Parks
Olivia Rodrigo
Saweetie

Prediction: It’s clear who the winner might be, Olivia Rodrigo. With the initial success of Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR, it’s no wonder why Rodrigo is a shoo-in for the award. Let’s just hope Rodrigo follows after recent predecessors and avoids the rumored ‘Best New Artist curse’. The Best New Artist curse is a superstition that whoever wins the award will be a one-hit-wonder unable to keep up the momentum after winning. Rodrigo could likely follow in the footsteps of predecessor Billie Eilish at the 2019 Grammys, winning all four main categories (Best New Artist, Record of The Year, Song of The Year, and Album of The Year).

Pop Nominations

After an unsuccessful year at the Grammys in 2021, losing Best New Artist, Record of the Year (for the song “Say So”), and Pop Solo Performance (also for “Say So”). Doja Cat is back with more than double the Grammy nominations from the previous year. With Doja Cat’s newest album, Planet Her, nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Including the hit collaboration “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA nominated for Best Pop Group/Duo Performance.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Justin Bieber Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)
Doja Cat Planet Her (Deluxe)
Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever
Ariana Grande Positions
Olivia Rodrigo SOUR

Prediction: This is tough decision seeing as the majority of the nominees are frontrunners with at least seven nominations. The top two contenders for this award would have to be Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR or Doja Cat, Planet Her (Deluxe), both equally popular albums with songs that defined the year 2021. Don’t rule out Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever or Ariana Grande, Positions to win the award.

Doja Cat Planet Her
Olivia Rodrigo SOUR
Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever
Ariana Grande Positions

Best Pop Group/Duo Performance

“Kiss Me More” Doja Cat featuring SZA
“I Get A Kick Out Of You” Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
”Lonely” Justin Bieber & benny blanco
”Butter” BTS
“Higher Power” Coldplay

Prediction: Looking at the past winners in this category, Lil Nas X Featuring Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road” (2019) and Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande “Rain on Me” (2020). It seems that the Best Pop Group/Duo Performance is typically awarded to the most popular collab song of the year. This year the award can be predicted to either go to Doja Cat “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA or ”Butter” BTS.

R&B Nominations

Four-time Grammy Award-winning artist H.E.R. earned eight nominations this year bringing her total Grammy nominations up to 21. Four out of the eight nominations fell underneath the R&B category including Best R&B Album (for Back of My Mind) and Best Traditional R&B Performance (for “Fight For You”). As well as both Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song (for “Damage”). Meanwhile, Jon Batiste 11 time Grammy nominee, spanned across R&B categories like Album of the Year (for We Are), Record of the Year (for “Freedom”), and more. Either of these artists may dominate the R&B wins.

Best R&B Album

Jon Batiste, We Are
H.E.R. Back of My Mind
Snoh Aalegra Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies,
Leon Bridges Gold Diggers Sound
Jazmine Sullivan Heaux Tales

Prediction: Everyone one of these albums is uniquely beautiful and deserving to win. Jon Batiste We Are, or H.E.R. Back of My Mind are a top contender to win Best R&B Album.

Best Traditional R&B Performance

“I Need You” Jon Batiste
“Fight For You” H.E.R.
“Bring It On Home To Me” BJ The Chicago Kid
“Born Again” Leon Bridges featuring Robert Glasper
“How Much Can A Heart Take” Lucky Daye featuring Yebba

Prediction: This award can most likely be expected to go to one of the frontrunners Jon Batiste or H.E.R. but, any of the other nominees would be a great winner as well.

Best R&B Song

”Damage” H.E.R.
“Good Days” SZA
“Heartbreak Anniversary” Giveon
“Leave the Door Open” Silk Sonic
“Pick Up Your Feelings” Jazmine Sullivan

Prediction: This is a hard category to predict who will win. This would be a first-time win for SZA, Giveon, and Jazmine Sullivan.

Best R&B Performance

The song “Peaches” came as a surprise nomination for the category of Best R&B Performance. This recognition is the result of an Instagram post uploaded by Bieber last year after the 2021 Grammy nomination announcement. In the post, Bieber stated that Changes is an R&B album, despite nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. This year, Bieber’s newest album Justice was nominated in both the R&B and Pop categories.

“Damage” H.E.R.
“Leave the Door Open” Silk Sonic
“Pick Up Your Feelings” Jazmine Sullivan
“Lost You” Snoh Aalegra
”Peaches” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon

Prediction: For this award, gotta give it up to “Leave the Door Open.” Silk Sonic had one of the best performances debuting at the 63rd Grammy’s last year. It would be a full-circle moment to collect the award one year after its debut.

Rap Nominations

Best Melodic Rap Performance

“Pride Is The Devil” J. Cole featuring Lil Baby
“INDUSTRY BABY” Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow
“WUSYANAME” Tyler The Creator featuring Youngboy Never Broke Again & Ty Dolla $ign
“Hurricane” Kanye West featuring The Weeknd & Lil Baby
“Need To Know” Doja Cat

Prediction: It would be a win for women in rap if Doja Cat won this award, as the only woman nominated and without a feature as well.

Best Rap Song

“Family Ties” Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar
“Bath Salts” DMX featuring Jay-Z & Nas
“Jail” Kanye West featuring Jay-Z
“M Y . L I F E” J. Cole featuring 21 Savage & Morray
”Best Friend” Saweetie featuring Doja Cat

Prediction: This is a hard toss-up, seeing as any one of these songs could win. The award could go to “Bath Salts” DMX featuring Jay-Z & Nas, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Or a surprise but welcomed win would be “Best Friend” Saweetie featuring Doja Cat.

Best Rap Album

J Cole The Off-Season
Drake Certified Lover Boy
Nas King’s Disease II
Tyler, The Creator Call Me If You Get Lost
Kanye West Donda

Prediction: This is an interesting catalog of nominees, seeing as two of the most anticipated albums of the year Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and Kanye West’s Donda, were pitted against each other in competition. However, Drake recently took himself out of the equation by withdrawing both of his grammy nominations. Although it is unclear his reasons for doing so, the act will likely bring more attention to the awards show. It will be interesting to watch and see which one of the albums ends up winning or if any of the other nominees like J Cole The Off-Season win the award. Make sure to keep an eye out for Tyler, The Creator, and Nas, as the two most recent winners in this category.