The 65th Grammy Awards take place on Sunday 5 February, with music fans preparing for the rematch of the century: Adele vs Beyoncé.
Both artists are up for Album of the Year, six years after Adele took home the top prize for her third record, 25. The win over Beyoncé’s critically adored surprise album Lemonade was highly controversial; Adele herself famously declared that Beyoncé deserved the prize during her acceptance speech.
This year, the British singer is competing with her record-obliterating fourth album, 30, released in 2021. A four-star review in The Independent praised the songs as “handsomely crafted ballads about love and its various agonies”, with Adele’s voice, as ever, the main draw. “Adele possesses that perfectly imperfect voice, gargantuan and frail all at once,” critic Annabel Nugent wrote. “It’s epic without resorting to showy, melismatic affectations. It yawns into unexpected shapes and makes intonation fun.”
Beyoncé, meanwhile, surprised fans and critics with her disco and house-influenced album Renaissance. “In a catch-all spirit of musical modernism, trap, house, glitchtronica, disco, ragga, South African gqom and future funk are all lobbed into a heady mix, with songs blending into each other and shifting course mid-flow,” critic Mark Beaumont said in his four-star review.
Also battling out for Album of the Year are rapper Kendrick Lamar, Adele’s fellow Brits, Coldplay and Harry Styles, pop star Lizzo, Abba, Mary J Blige, Brandi Carlile. Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny completes the list of 10 nominees, and makes history with his album Un Verano Sin Tee, which is the first ever Spanish-language record nominated in the AOTY category.
Here’s a look at the runners and riders for the “Big Four” categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
30 – Adele
Voyage – ABBA
Un Verano Sin Tee – Bad Bunny
Renaissance – Beyoncé
Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe) – Mary J Blige
In These Silent Days – Brandi Carlile
Music of the Spheres – Coldplay
Mr Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar
Special – Lizzo
Lizzo is up for Song of the Year
Harry’s House – Harry Styles
Verdict: Kendrick Lamar has multiple Grammys to his name but has been snubbed a painful three times for Album of the Year, in favour of Daft Punk, Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars. His fifth album, Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, is more than worthy of the accolade, with its thoughtful and often tender ruminations on childhood, celebrity culture, infidelity and fatherhood. In the battle of the pop titans, Beyoncé must surely triumph over Adele with her dazzling disco-inspired album Renaissance. A curveball (but still well-deserved) would be Bad Bunny with his swaggering, sun-drenched Un Verano Sin Tee.
Will win: Beyoncé
Should win: Beyoncé
Adele is a favourite at the Grammy Awards
