Beyoncé, ‘brat,’ and The Beatles: 5 takeaways from the 2025 Grammy nominations
With the announcement of this year’s Grammy nominations, Beyoncé has officially made history.
The music superstar picked up 11 nominations, the most of the year, officially becoming the most-nominated artist in Grammy history. On top of her 99 career nominations, Beyoncé is also the artist with the most Grammys ever (32), a lead she could very well extend on Feb. 2, 2025, during the next Grammys.
Beyoncé isn’t the only artist with reason to celebrate this year’s Grammy nominations. From the continued relevance of Charli XCX’s brat to a surprise Beatles nomination, here are five takeaways from the nominations from the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will face off in top categories.
Women cleaned up at the Grammy nominations, with Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift all picking up nods for Album of the Year. (André 3000’s New Blue Sun and Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4 round out the list.)
Two of the biggest names from that list, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, will square off in key categories like Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. (Swift picked up six nominations to Beyoncé’s 11 for her album The Tortured Poets Department.)
But as Beyoncé’s Grammy dominance continues, one question remains: Can she finally win Album of the Year, this time for her country-Americana opus Cowboy Carter? The award has eluded her for her entire career, to the point that she singles it out on the song “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN'” (“A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win”). However, given the Academy’s love for the album, with seven different songs nominated in four genres, 2025 could very well be the year Beyoncé takes home the top prize. About damn time.
The Grammys clearly had a brat summer.
Charli XCX has been a steadily innovative artist for years now, but would you believe she only had two Grammy nominations prior to this year? (Both were for “Fancy,” her 2014 collaboration with Iggy Azalea.)
This year, though, Charli XCX picked up seven nominations. That’s the power of brat, her internet-beloved album that spawned the brat summer phenomenon, powered Kamala Harris’s Presidential campaign, and gifted us a banger remix album months after its release. Nominations include Album of the Year, Record of the Year (for 360), Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Apple”), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (for “Guess” with Billie Eilish), and Best Dance Pop Recording (for “Von Dutch”).
Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan celebrate their breakout years.
2024 was the year of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, two artists who have been releasing great work for years and finally reached superstardom over the summer. The two picked up seven nominations apiece, including Best New Artist, where they’re the likely frontrunners.
Sabrina Carpenter’s other nominations include Album of the Year (for Short n’ Sweet), Record of the Year (for “Espresso”), and Song of the Year (for “Please Please Please”). Chappell Roan’s other nominations include Album of the Year (for The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess), Record of the Year, and Song of the Year (both for “Good Luck, Babe!”).
The Beatles get a nomination with the help of AI.
The Beatles will compete against Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for Record of the Year thanks to the release of their final song, “Now and Then.”
John Lennon wrote and recorded a demo for “Now and Then” prior to his death in 1980. But it’s only just now being released thanks to AI technology, which separated his voice from the demo’s instrumental. The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, consented to the use of AI and were involved in the song’s creation from beginning to end. They also sing and play instruments on the song themselves. The late George Harrison is also featured on “Now and Then,” as it uses some of his older guitar recordings.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s rap beef makes it to the Grammys.
If you needed any more proof as to who won the rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, look no further than this year’s nominations. Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us” picked up five nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Rap Performance. Drake, for his part, has declined to submit to the Grammys in past years. Still, Kendrick Lamar’s nominations here — and potential Grammy performance — are just another victory lap.
The Grammy Awards air Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.
