Influx of new voters could send top Grammy to Bad Bunny

Will the Grammys on Feb. 1, be smart and relevant like last year’s awards, or revert to their traditional ho-hum conservative ways?

The newly changing membership in the Recording Academy could affect the results.

More than 3,800 new Grammy voters have joined the academy this year. The demographics are: 50% are under age 40, 58% are people of color and 35% identify as women.

Moreover, the Recording Academy invited all members of the 28-year-old Latin Recording Academy — about 4,000 — to join. That could explain why 28% of the new members identify as Hispanic or Latin.

What does this influx of 25% new voters mean?

“Making sure the voting body is representative of music gives us a chance that we’re more relevant,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told USA Today this month.

All 15,000 voters are eligible to weigh in on the Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year as well as best new artist.

Relevant, indeed.

Will the 68^th annual Grammys go relevant and favor Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter and Kendrick Lamar or go safe and honor Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars once again?

So let’s go to the predictions for Sunday’s top Grammy Awards.

Bad Bunny, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”; Justin Bieber, “Swag”; Sabrina Carpenter, “Man’s Best Friend”; Clipse, Pusha T & Malice, “Let God Sort Em Out”; Lady Gaga, “Mayhem”; Kendrick Lamar, “GNX”; Leon Thomas, “Mutt”; Tyler, the Creator, “Chromakopia.”

While there are three finalists from hip-hop (Clipse, Lamar and Tyler), surprisingly, there is no contender from country music. Nashville juggernaut Morgan Wallen declined to enter his blockbuster “I’m the Problem,” the biggest selling album released in the eligibility period (Aug. 31, 2024, to Aug. 30, 2025; hence Taylor Swift’s massive “Diary of a Showgirl” was not eligible). Artists and their record labels can submit nominations; Recording Academy officials do not choose the nominees.

With “GNX,” the always acclaimed Lamar has momentum after last year’s five-Grammy prominence, while the endlessly clever Carpenter is similarly gaining steam with “Man’s Best Friend,” after collecting two trophies last year.

Bieber’s remarkable “Swag” deserves a shoutout, a mature R&B album that felt like a course correction for his dubious reputation.

But it’s going to be Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny’s year.

His album is ambitious, deep, stylistically diverse with multiple subgenres — and deserving. Add three other factors: 1) he’s enjoyed a surge in popularity (he is the most streamed artist on Spotify) and visibility (he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October); 2) the significant addition of Latin and new voters, and 3) the diss from the White House and other conservatives over his Super Bowl halftime assignment might create a backlash in his favor.

All this suggests that Bad Bunny will be the first winner for an album exclusively in Spanish.

All the nominees are worthy with this caveat: For my money, the record of the year didn’t even make the finals. “Golden” by Huntr/x from the Netflix animated sensation “KPop Demon Hunters” movie is unquestionably the record — or single — of the year. Catchy, clever, ubiquitous and marketed in a whole new way, “Golden” captivated generations of listeners and viewers, resulting in 18 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

This category isn’t about popularity but rather creativity. “Anxiety” certainly would fit the zeitgeist of the past year, so it’s easy to see why it would garner support. I’ll predict that “Luther” wins and deservedly so, as Lamar triumphs in this category for the second consecutive year.

“Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga; “Anxiety,” Doechii; “APT.,” Rosé & Bruno Mars; “DtMF,” Bad Bunny; “Golden,” Huntr/x; “Luther,” Kendrick Lamar, featuring SZA; “Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter; “Wildflower,” Billie Eilish.

Remember, this is a songwriter’s prize. Here is where “Golden” will get its flowers, but don’t be surprised if Mars wins this trophy for a record fourth time.

Olivia Dean, Katseye, the Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young.

British songbird Dean seems destined for a long run. She is a strikingly soulful singer with an attractive pop/soul/jazz voice as well as a solid songwriter meditating about romance. Her album, “The Art of Loving,” was one of the best of 2025, and her No. 2 song, “Man I Need,” was all over the radio — and she performed on “SNL” — during the voting period.

Dean is the one that this Grammy needs.

When: 7 p.m. Feb. 1

Where: WCCO TV, Ch. 4

Host: Trevor Noah