As Music editor, it’s my favorite time of year again: Grammy Season. All of music royalty gathered under one roof to celebrate, react, and judge their peers—it’s my Olympics. 2025 was no snoozefest for the music industry, with the neons of CHROMAKOPIA, the TikTok clipability of DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, and the Olivia Dean craze. While we all hope for a Cinderella story and are often faced with resounding predictability, the annual anticipatory forecasting is always a delight. Street is here to share their thoughts on who the winners, losers, and disappointments of the night will be.
Album Of The Year: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS – Bad Bunny
It’s no secret that Bad Bunny’s latest album has received overwhelmingly positive reviews—its even taking on mainstream America at the Superbowl next week. Scroll through TikTok and you’ll find your feed flooded with videos of sunset car rides with the ever–present “debí tirar mas fotos” of Bad Bunny’s title track, “DtMF,” playing in the background.
Despite his recent uptick in mainstream popularity, Bad Bunny has yet to sacrifice his roots and his album has been hailed as a “love letter to Puerto Rico,” as he revisits his home both musically, through his use of plena and ’70s salsa tunes, and thematically—but it is multitudes more than that.
“DtMF” serves as both a rallying call and a warning—to Puerto Ricans and negligent United States citizens alike—about the nation’s failing democracy, cultural authenticity, and environment. In “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii,” Bad Bunny cautions Puerto Ricans that their home might meet the same fate as Hawaii at the hands of U.S. neocolonizers unless radical change is implemented. In “LA MuDANZA,” he directly supports the Puerto Rican fight for independence through a phrase referencing Eugenio María de Hostos. Ending his musical short film with the words “Seguimos aquí,” Bad Bunny galvanizes all Puerto Ricans to the call of “We are still here.”
While the competition is steep—Kendrick Lamar and Tyler the Creator also two strong options —Bad Bunny falls right up the Academy’s alley: internet popular with enough substance to suffice.
–Mira Agarwal, Music editor
Song Of The Year: “DtMR” – Bad Bunny
Choosing any of the Grammy’s shortlists as the “Song of the Year” feels a bit like choosing the least smelly piece of refuse in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Despite the less–than–inspiring list of finalists, though, one track does stand out as worthy of commendation—Bad Bunny’s DtMF. Over stripped–down synths, Bad Bunny sings of themes all too familiar to the youth of today, or any age, really: love, camaraderie, and drinking ’til you can hardly remember your own name.
The song is equal parts nostalgia for a past that can never return and appreciation for a present that Benito hopes will last forever. “I should've taken more pictures when I had you,” Bad Bunny intones over a steady, driving drum beat, while also proclaiming that “I hope my people never move away / And if I get drunk today, I hope they help me out.” The minimalist instrumental and resonant gang vocals all serve to thrust Bad Bunny’s dynamic vocal performance into the spotlight. DtMF is refreshing not merely for its emotional honestly, but for its rejection of the maximalist pop–isms that other, worse nominees sport in spades (cough, cough, “APT.”).
–Nishanth Bhargava, editor–in–chief
Best New Artist: Olivia Dean
Olivia Dean, sat alongside a line of other not–so–new artists, is in my opinion, set to win the Best New Artist category at this year’s Grammys. I started listening to her last April, and spent the summer listening to her album Messy. In September, when The Art of Loving came on, I found myself playing it on repeat for weeks on end. From reminiscing on past loves to self–love and growing pains in new relationships, Olivia Dean has simply mastered “the art of loving.”
The unique composition of each track in her discography is of course easily applauded, as is her stunning voice. However, her lyricism is truly what stands out about her as an artist. She drags her listeners back into worlds they’d long forgotten—flings in Paris, long–gone romances, missed connections, and the beautiful moments in between. Whether or not you’ve lived the stories she tells—Olivia Dean convinces you that you have, almost forcing you to feel every word she says, every emotion she shares. An artist like this stands out in an era of situationships and loneliness as her work is a testament to the love we all want. And she’s absolutely deserving of this year’s award for it.
–Sadie Daniel, Features editor
Best Pop Due Performance: “Defying Gravity” – Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
Some, less discerning haters might say that “Defying Gravity” doesn’t deserve the win—it’s not an original song. Lest I remind you that this is an award for performance, and by that metric it’s difficult to ignore a rendition that has so thoroughly permeated the cultural bloodstream that even those of us at a measured, respectful distance from theater have absorbed it by osmosis.
I say this as someone largely oblivious to all things Broadway–pilled: I have still absorbed the sustained belts, the incremental key–change escalation—and if I’m getting Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande riffs on my feed daily, that’s the performance of a lifetime. The cultural resonance of that climactic lift is not confined to Playbill holders—when a duet (rather, duo) becomes a meme format, it suggests we are no longer discussing a simple cover. I regret to inform the skeptics: that is, in fact, a winning act.
–Sophia Mirabal, digital managing editor
Best Dance Pop Recording: “Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga
This year’s Best Dance Pop Recording is going to be a tight race. While all the selected songs are personal favorites and strong contenders, I would’ve liked to see “São Paulo” by The Weeknd ft. Anitta on the list. A popular track—I think it would’ve added some more variety since it’s influenced by Brazilian Phonk. While personally I would pick “Just Keep Watching” by Tate McRae or “Midnight Sun” by Zara Larsson, I think “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga is going to win. he is an Academy favorite, and “Abracadabra” and “Mayhem” in general were very successful last year. If they’re going for a dark horse pick (as they so rarely do), they’ll probably go with “Midnight Sun,” but I still think “Abracadabra” is the front–runner for this category.
–Amber Urena, Music beat
