Why the Grammys, and its nominations, might be a bit different this year

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — When the nominations for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards are announced Friday, the spotlight will be on more than just the stars whose names get read aloud.

This week’s nominations will show us if a more diverse voting membership will have a meaningful effect on the awards, beyond looking good in a press release.

Five years ago, CEO Deborah Dugan filed a lawsuit against the Recording Academy. In it, she said she was wrongfully fired after raising allegations of sexual harassment and irregularities with Grammy nominations.

Dugan said she was put on administrative leave three weeks after she sent an email to the Recording Academy’s managing director of human resources outlining numerous bombshell allegations against the organization and its “historically male dominated leadership,” according to the EEOC complaint at the time. She was pushed out, she said, after raising concerns about various “irregularities and conflicts” with the academy’s nomination and review process, and that she discovered numerous conflicts of interest made possible by a “boys’ club mentality.”

The Recording Academy, in turn, said in a statement to CNN at the time that Dugan raised her allegations only after legal claims were made against her by another employee who alleged she “created a ‘toxic and intolerable’ work environment and engaged in ‘abusive and bullying conduct.’”

In any case, Recording Academy chairman and then-interim CEO Harvey Mason Jr. shortly thereafter announced a series of new initiatives.

The biggest change they could make? Growing the awards voting population. Days ago, the Recording Academy announced that “more than 3,800 diverse music creators and professionals” had joined the Academy as part of its 2025 new member class.

“Of those in the accepted class, 50 percent are 39 and under, 58 percent are People of Color, and 35 percent identify as women,” a press release announced. “For the first time ever, invitations were also extended to all Latin Recording Academy Voting Members, helping to build a more globally representative voting body.”

What to look for in the nominations

Music industry insiders and music fans alike will be watching to see how the new class of voters will help shape the nominations. Here’s where you might see the effects — and note that music released between August 31, 2024 and August 30, 2025 is eligible for the awards, so don’t expect Taylor Swift to dominate.

Bad Bunny’s selection as the next Super Bowl halftime show headliner powered lots of cultural conversation that will heat up as that game approaches.

Next week, the performer is set to see if his 12 Latin Grammy nominations – the most of any artist this year – translate into award hardware. A heap of Grammy nominations would be an excellent accessory going into that red carpet. A three-time Grammy winner, Bad Bunny has been nominated for 10 Grammys in the past, including album of the year in 2022 when “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated in that category.

Kendrick Lamar won in that category at last year’s Grammy Awards for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” and he could potentially be nominated again, this time with collaborator SZA for their long-charting single “Luther,” and for album of the year, with “GNX.”

One quirk to look out for: it’s possible HUNTR/X will become the first Kpop artists to be nominated in the prestigious record of the year category for their “Golden” from the Netflix megahit “KPop Demon Hunters.” It would be an oddity for a fictional band to break this new ground.

The expectation is that Sabrina Carpenter could bring all the girlie pop power to secure an album of the year nod for “Man’s Best Friend,” and that she might be joined by Lady Gaga for her “Mayhem.”

Women may also reign supreme in the best new artist category.

Performers like Olivia Dean and PinkPantheress have pretty much provided the soundtrack for TikTok this past year, and are being viewed as strong contenders in that category, along with Ravyn Lenae and Megan Moroney. For context, Chappell Roan clinched that trophy last year.

Nominations arrive at 11 a.m. ET on November 7. Then, the 2026 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS on February 1, 2026. The ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

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