What exactly are the Grammys again? What you need to know about the world's most important music award

On Sunday, the music world looks to Los Angeles - and Switzerland joins in the excitement: A Swiss artist has been nominated in one of the four most important Grammy categories. Who else has a chance and how the awards ceremony works.

The Grammy Awards are the most important music awards for musicians. They are being held for the 68th time this year and will be presented on Sunday evening in Los Angeles (in Switzerland at 2 a.m. on Monday night). The event will be hosted by late-night host Trever Noah.

You can follow the awards ceremony live on blue News.

The awards are presented by the Recording Academy of the USA. It is made up of several thousand members - including singers, producers, songwriters, engineers and other industry professionals.

Initially, labels, artists or their representatives submit songs and albums for consideration. Songs or albums released between August 31, 2024 and August 30, 2025 can be submitted.

In several rounds of voting, the members of the Recording Academy will then decide on the nominations and later on the winners of the individual categories. In the most important categories, all voting members vote, in specialist categories only experts from the respective fields.

There are a total of 95 Grammy categories in which musicians can be nominated. They range from genre awards such as "Best Pop Solo Performance" or "Best Orchestral Performance" to more unusual categories such as "Best Album Notes", which recognizes the lyrics accompanying an album.

This year, Grammys will be awarded for the first time in the categories "Traditional Country Album" and "Best Album Cover".

The main focus of attention will be on the four main categories: "Album of the Year", "Song of the Year", "Record of the Year" and "Best New Artist".

"Song of the Year" and "Record of the Year" sound similar - and the nominees often overlap. The difference, however, lies in who is honored: While the "Song of the Year" honors the songwriters*, the "Record of the Year" goes to the artists* and producers*.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar is nominated in no fewer than nine categories, leading the list with the most nominations. Pop queen Lady Gaga and producer Jack Antonoff are nominated seven times. Super Bowl halftime show act Bad Bunny and pop starlet Sabrina Carpenter have six nominations each.

The "Album of the Year" will probably be decided between Bad Bunny ("Debí Tirar Más Fotos"), Kendrick Lamar ("GNX") and Lady Gaga ("Mayhem"). They have all been nominated in the category several times, but have never won.

The "Song of the Year" could go to a K-Pop song. "Golden" by the fictional K-pop trio Huntr/x from the Neftlix series "KPop Demon Hunters" has already won a Golden Globe and is also nominated for an Oscar. The song is competing with "Anxiety" by Doechii, "Wildflower" by Billie Eilish and "Apt." by Bruno Mars, among others. Both Eilish and Mars could become the first person ever to win the Grammy for the third time.

The "Best New Artist" category belongs to the women. Nine of the last ten winners were women. Nevertheless, men such as Alex Warren and Sombr have also made it onto the list this year, along with Lola Young, Addison Rae and Olivia Dean, among others.

A Swiss woman also has a chance of winning a Grammy in the future - making her the first person from Switzerland ever to win a Grammy in a major category. 23-year-old Meret Manon Bannerman from Lucerne is part of the K-pop band Katseye, which is nominated for "Best New Artist".

Not nominated in the main categories are Lorde's new album "Virgin" and Gracie Abrams' "The Secret of Us". Benson Boone, who was still doing backflips on stage last year, also misses out this year, as does Alex Warren's "Ordinary", which hardly spared anyone from an earworm this year.

Yes, Swiss musicians have already won several Grammy Awards - but not yet in any of the four main categories.

One of the best-known winners is Zurich musician Andreas Vollenweider, who was nominated several times and won a Grammy in 1987. His album "Down to the Moon" was awarded in the "Best New Age Album" category.

Another Swiss Grammy winner is sound engineer Reto Peter from Aargau, who won in the "Best Children's Music Album" category in 2023.

In addition, Bernese violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja won a Grammy in the "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" category in 2018. Vaud-based singer Marina Viotti was honored in the "Best Metal Performance" category in 2025.

In recent years, the Grammy Awards have been dominated by a few big names. Taylor Swift was particularly successful, winning several times in the main categories and becoming the first female artist ever to win the Grammy for "Album of the Year" four times.

Other regular winners include Beyoncé, who has now won the most Grammys of all time with 35 awards, and Billie Eilish, who won several main categories at a young age.

Other notable winners in recent years include artists such as Adele, Harry Styles, Jon Batiste and Bruno Mars, who have enjoyed great success both commercially and at the Recording Academy.

Despite their prestige, the Grammy Awards are regularly criticized. Time and again, the Recording Academy is accused of a lack of diversity, favoring commercially successful acts or discriminating against certain genres. At the same time, the Grammys continue to be regarded as the most important industry award - precisely because it is not the public who decide, but experts from the music industry.

The nominations in the main categories at a glance

The 68th Grammy Awards live on blue News

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