The 2025 Grammy Award nominees were announced at the weekend and, as always, stirred plenty of conversation (to say the least).
While there has been plenty of controversy around artists who were snubbed for an Album of the Year nomination (Ariana, Dua, Hozier), the most talked-about category appears to be a little less prestigious.
On music’s biggest night, eight artists will be up for the Recording Academy’s award for Best New Artist. Previous winners of the golden gramophone include Olivia Rodrigo (2021), Megan Thee Stallion (2020) and Billie Eilish (2019), all of whom were relative newcomers when they nabbed their respective gongs.
However, this year’s nominees have had some fans scratching their heads. The nominees for Best New Artist at the 67th Grammy Awards include Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter—both of whom dominated charts and headlines this year—as well as RAYE, Doechii, Benson Boone, Khruangbin, Teddy Swims and Shaboozey. All big stars who have had break out years, right? Well some fans have taken issue with the fact that few of these artists are *actually* new.
Under Rolling Stone’s Instagram post announcing the nominees, commenters pointed out that some of these artists have been releasing music for years.
“Raye is not new at all but 
,” wrote one, with another pointing out, “Sabrina???????? She’s been here for a decade.” Others noted that psychedelic rock trio Khruangbin released their first album in 2015, and Chappell Roan, despite dropping her debut LP in 2023, has also been in the industry for close to a decade.
So what actually makes someone a “new” artist—in the eyes of the Grammys, at least.
The Academy's Criteria
The Recording Academy has previously acknowledged that its Best New Artist award can be a little touchy.
In 2017, they responded to a Twitter user who questioned why Ed Sheeran had been nominated the year prior (for context, ‘A-team’ was released in 2011).
In a blog post, the insitution noted that the Best New Artist category, “probably has the most complicated set of rules of any of our categories.”
Essentially, the Grammys said they define a “new artist” as, “Any performing artist or established performing group who releases, during the eligibility year, the recording that first establishes the public identity of that artist or established group as a performer.” The post also recognised: “Little does it matter if they have just a few singles or 10 studio albums under their belts.”
You can think of the winner more as a breakthrough artist, as opposed to someone who is totally fresh to the industry.
For example: while Sabrina has been on the scene for some time, 2024 was, without a doubt, the year she exploded into public consciousness.
The Grammys also noted an artist being nominated in any solo category the year prior automatically excludes them from being nominated for Best New Artist.
So, now that’s out the way, we can get down to debating who should take home the next award…
See all the nominees (and snubs) here.
