With the 64th Annual Grammy Awards closing in on us, two of our writers have selected their favourites from two of the biggest categories: Album Of The Year and Best New Artist. Have a look at their picks!
Album Of The Year
We Are
Jon Batiste
Love For Sale
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)
Justin Bieber
Planet Her (Deluxe)
Doja Cat
Happier Than Ever
Billie Eilish
Back Of My Mind
H.E.R.
Montero
Lil Nas X
Sour
Olivia Rodrigo
Evermore
Taylor Swift
Donda
Kanye West
Emmie’s pick: Evermore - Taylor Swift
Motivation: Unpopular opinion - Evermore is Taylor Swift’s best album! In a way it is level up from her preceding album Folklore, with similar story-telling characteristics, but this time with more complex arrangements and several carefully chosen features, including HAIM, The National and Bon Iver. Evermore has flawlessly captured a fairy-like essence with songs such as the fan favorite “champagne problems” and the hidden gem “ivy”, all while relating to common issues regarding love and mental health.
Diego’s pick: Donda - Kanye West
Motivation: I still don’t know where to rank this album in Mr. West’s extensive discography. but this is definitely an upgrade over JESUS IS KING. I feel like it’s a misunderstood album but he put his heart and soul into it and the 27 tracks all have a place. There are a lot of features on the album and they all feel somewhat carefully chosen, they were all chosen for a reason and they all did their best, some of them dropped some verses that they will have a hard time topping like Fivio Foreign on “Off The Grid” and Roddy Ricch on “Pure Souls'', or some so good I’m not sure where they’d go on their best verses list like Jay Electronica on “Jesus Lord'' or JAY-Z on “Jail”. One really interesting feature was him making the coke rappers Conway and Westside Gunn rap about their life on “Keep My Spirit Alive”.The album is named after his late mother so it's only right most songs carry a lot of emotion. We also get to see Kanye’s many sides and when it was him alone on a song they were the highlights especially “Come To Life” and “Believe What I Say” with the hypnotic Lauryn Hill sample.
Best New Artist
Arooj Aftab
Jimmie Allen
Baby Keem
FINNEAS
Glass Animals
Japanese Breakfast
The Kid LAROI
Arlo Parks
Olivia Rodrigo
Saweetie
Emmie’s pick: Olivia Rodrigo or FINNEAS
Motivation: Breaking record after record, Olivia Rodrigo has managed to become a global household name. With song’s such as “hope ur ok” and “favorite crime” she has proven an emotional maturity few artists today surely possess. She is more than “enough” worthy of the title Best New Artist.
Billie Eilish’s brother and producer FINNEAS successfully branched out on his own last year with the album Optimist. There, he has captured a vulnerability, similar to the one on his sister’s latest album, which only makes it more of a familiar and natural listen. Despite the similarities, he has managed to create his own sound, making it much more difficult to identify a relation between the two siblings.
Diego’s pick: Baby Keem or Saweetie
Motivation: Baby Keem has been on the rise with co signs from his cousin Kendrick Lamar, Drake saying Keem’s second mixtape “Die For My B****” and Young Thug’s “So Much Fun” are his favorite albums released in 2019 and a feature on Kanye’s “Praise God”. His debut album “The Melodic Blue” only cemented his status as an upcoming great artist and showed great variety with songs like “16”, “family ties” and “hooligan”
Saweetie has started to make a name for herself and is staying consistent when it comes to releasing music. She’s definitely getting the streams and has fun with her music especially sampling when sampling songs from the 2000s. If she doesn’t win it I feel like a full length studio album should make her be talked about as much as her friends like Doja Cat, Megan thee Stallion and the City Girls.