Our 2022 Grammys predictions — and a chat with leading nominee Jon Batiste

As a wise prophet once said, music… makes the people… come together. This weekend, the people will do just that at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Except unlike last year's scaled-back event, the 2022 version will feature a live audience and flashier, glitzier performances. That's partly because unlike any Grammys ceremony before it, this year's will take place not in New York or Los Angeles, but in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

In addition to those big changes, the awards' major categories — Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist — have expanded to include 10 nominees each. The decision was clearly made to highlight the Recording Academy's strides towards inclusivity after all the backlash over its voting process — though it feels more like a Band-Aid than a long-term solution.

You'll get a whiff of déjà vu scanning the Song, Record, and Album of the Year categories, which boast a lot of the same names but offer no Afrobeats, no Latin music, and almost no hip-hop. Those lists manage to feel both reductive and undiscerning (the Best Album nod for Kanye West's Donda, one of the most polarizing and problematic albums of last year, is the itchiest head-scratcher of all). Meanwhile, the definition of "new" in Best New Artist remains as loose as Harry Styles' trousers. Sure, he put out his debut solo album in 2021, but Finneas has already scooped up eight Grammys for his work with his sister Billie Eilish, including for Album, Song, and Record of the Year, the last of which he's already won twice.

Now for the good news: Plenty of the artists nominated deserve their spots in the race. Yay for Doja Cat's eight nominations (and her chair hat!). Yay for Japanese Breakfast's Best New Artist nod (she's released three studio albums, but sure!). Yay for ABBA's first time on the ballot (936 years too late, but hell, we'll take it!). And you know what? Yay for Olivia Rodrigo, a pop ingenue who's proved she can make mopey breakup songs with teeth. (Ditto for Eilish.)

Which brings us to the important questions: Who will win? Can Rodrigo sweep the Big Four? Will 95-year-old Tony Bennett become the oldest person ever to win the Grammy for Album of the Year or Record of the Year for his latest collab with Lady Gaga? Can Lil Nas X hump the devil and still bring home the gold?

We dig into all this, predicting who will win — and declaring who we think should win — on the latest episode of The Awardist podcast. But wait, there's more: An interview with Jon Batiste, who has 11 Grammy nominations — the most of any artist this year — for his album We Are and the soundtrack for Pixar's Soul.

As the Recording Academy has amended its voting process to help improve transparency and artist relations, the musician and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert bandleader explains that because members are now only able to vote in a limited number of categories specific to their expertise, they picked material they knew well. "For me to get nominated across seven different genres by people who are just listening to the music and deciding, 'Okay, this should be recognized' — I felt like that was special," he says.

Listen to our Grammys predictions and hear our full interview with Batiste on EW's The Awardist podcast below, or wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe now so you don't miss an episode. The Grammys air April 3 on CBS.

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