Two beloved songwriters, nearly half a century aside in age, are set to be stars of tonight’s Grammy Awards.

Joni Mitchell, who almost died from an aneurysm a number of years in the past, will give her first Grammys efficiency on the age of 80. And Taylor Swift has a shot to win her fourth album of the 12 months award, one thing no different artist has completed.

However Swift, who has six nominations, faces robust competitors. SZA leads the sector with 9 nominations for her acclaimed “SOS” album and hit single “Kill Bill.” The pop and R&B singer Victoria Monét acquired seven nods; Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Jon Batiste, and the indie-rock trio boygenius have six apiece. (Here are all the nominees.)

We requested three Occasions music critics — Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz — to share their ideas on who may win tonight’s awards.

Let’s begin with the massive one, album of the 12 months. Who do you count on will win?

Lindsay Zoladz: Taylor Swift appears to be like just like the front-runner right here, much less on the deserves of “Midnights” than on the huge monocultural impression of her Eras Tour. However I’m going to guess the Grammy voters are experiencing slightly Swift fatigue, so I’m predicting a slight upset: I believe boygenius will win for “The Record,” a gently forward-thinking folk-rock album with a nonetheless conventional, Grammy-approved sound. Personally, although, I’m rooting for Olivia Rodrigo’s spunky “Guts” or Lana Del Rey’s bizarre, sprawling “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.”

Jon Pareles: I’d be delighted for SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, boygenius or Janelle Monáe to win — they have been all amongst my picks for the 12 months’s greatest albums — and I wouldn’t be too sad with a win by Lana Del Rey or Taylor Swift, both. If Swift wins, she would be the first musician with 4 album of the 12 months awards, surpassing Frank Sinatra, Stevie Marvel and Paul Simon.

Jon Caramanica: Taylor Swift will win, I believe. Grammy voters have awarded this prize to her 3 times already, and so they like familiarity. SZA’s album was higher, although. Olivia Rodrigo’s and Lana Del Rey’s too.

How about report of the 12 months? (For readers who’re unfamiliar, that is the award for the most effective single.)

Jon Pareles: To be calculating about it as a longtime Grammy observer, I’d guess that “What Was I Made For?,” Billie Eilish’s tune for the “Barbie” film, has an edge. Grammy voters love ballads (test), soundtrack songs (test) and former Grammy winners (test).

Jon Caramanica: I believe Jon Batiste will win this, and it brings me no pleasure to say so. The Grammys are inclined to reward conspicuous musicianship, and Batiste, though the music he makes isn’t fashionable, performs properly to the Grammy voters who fancy themselves too subtle to acknowledge the craftsmanship that goes into the creation of pop music.

Lindsay Zoladz: I’d like to see Olivia Rodrigo take this award for “Vampire,” a sonically adventurous rock-operatic ballad produced with aptitude by Rodrigo’s trusted collaborator Daniel Nigro. However I worry that the voters are going to play it protected right here and go along with Miley Cyrus’s glossy, sturdily assembled “Flowers.”

Even in case you don’t care concerning the winners, the Grammys often have a dwell efficiency or two which are price tuning in for. Are there any you’re wanting ahead to this 12 months?

Jon Pareles: I can’t think about lacking the efficiency by Joni Mitchell. Her restoration from a life-threatening mind aneurysm in 2015 has been past heartening. A whole musical neighborhood rallied round her as she utilized a lifetime of inventive instincts to the voice she has now. Her shock comeback efficiency on the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, and her preternatural model of “Summertime” when she accepted the Gershwin Prize for Standard Music, confirmed surpassing musicianship and an indomitable will.

Jon Caramanica: A few days in the past, whispers started circulating that the Grammys may efficiently pull off the seemingly unthinkable. No, not the debut Grammy efficiency of Joni Mitchell (at 80!), however as an alternative the coaxing of Tracy Chapman out of post-music-industry invisibility to duet with Luke Combs, whose cover of her indelible 1988 hit “Fast Car” was one among final 12 months’s most impactful releases. Ought to that truly occur, it will be greater than a coup.

A lot nice music comes out yearly, and just a few artists on the prime appear to win the massive awards. In case you have been in cost, what unheralded artist would win a Grammy this 12 months?

Jon Caramanica: The pop act with the very best batting common of the final two years is, indisputably, the Okay-pop woman group NewJeans. “Super Shy,” “OMG,” “Ditto” — they merely don’t miss.

Jon Pareles: Not fully unheralded, however there’s a evident omission from the most effective new artist nominees: Peso Pluma, who spearheaded a blockbuster worldwide 12 months for regional Mexican music. His songs have racked up greater than a billion performs on Spotify. His 2023 album, “Genésis,” did get nominated means down in class 59, música Mexicana, however he deserved some discover in prime time.

Lindsay Zoladz: I’d give not less than one Grammy to the absurdist pop group 100 gecs, simply to see them settle for it of their signature neon wizard robes.

For extra

Listed below are columns by Ross Douthat on U.S. dominance and Maureen Dowd on Taylor Swift.

The Sunday query: Ought to tech giants be chargeable for youngsters’s security on-line?

Whereas firms like Meta and TikTok promote security options for kids, solely Congress can “pass legislation that will force Big Tech to protect our children in earnest,” Lina Nealon writes in The Hill. However “there’s just one problem with that: The public trusts businesses more than politicians to solve social problems,” Bloomberg’s Jessica Karl writes.

MORNING READS

Free chook: One 12 months in the past, Flaco fled the Central Park Zoo, making all of Manhattan his new habitat. What has he been up to?

Fashionable makeover: The usage of synthetic intelligence by digital creators is fueling a new era of product placement.

Vows: They obtained married, lastly, after six cancellations.

Lives Lived: Wayne Kramer’s explosive guitar enjoying with the influential Detroit band the MC5 within the late Sixties and early ’70s helped set the template for punk rock. He died at 75.

TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE

I spoke with the neuroscientist Charan Ranganath, creator of the brand new e-book “Why We Remember,” about reminiscence and id.

What’s the commonest false impression about reminiscence?

Individuals imagine that reminiscence ought to be easy, and their expectations for the way a lot they need to keep in mind are completely out of whack with how a lot they’re able to remembering.

Are there issues that we’d have the ability to do within the second to make occasions final in our reminiscences?

If we need to kind a brand new reminiscence, give attention to features of the expertise you need to take with you. In case you’re along with your child, you’re at a park, give attention to the elements of it which are nice, not the elements which are annoying. You then need to give attention to the sights, the sounds, the smells, as a result of these offers you wealthy element afterward once you keep in mind it. One other a part of it, too, is that we kill ourselves by inducing distractions. We have now alerts on our telephones. We test e-mail. So that you don’t keep in mind being there, as a result of to some extent you have been by no means actually there within the first place.

Individuals get caught in reminiscences, whether or not they’re traumatic or extra benignly damaging. What are methods folks can get unstuck?

It’s very exhausting. , the coaching atmosphere I used to be in was very down on psychoanalysis, however it at all times comes again to reminiscence. Loads of that profit is from the sharing of reminiscences. We all know that individuals tailor their message for the listener. You then replicate it again to me and reorganize it as an outsider. As soon as we commute, we’re updating the reminiscence to one thing that’s not my very own. It’s now shared. Whenever you inform somebody, “You shouldn’t be ashamed,” it adjustments that complete relationship with the previous.

Read more of the interview here.

Extra from the journal

BOOKS

Our editors’ picks: “You Dreamed of Empires,” a hallucinatory novel about Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs, and eight other books.

Occasions greatest sellers: “One in a Millennial,” by the popular culture podcaster Kate Kennedy, is among the new titles on the hardcover nonfiction list.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Create the perfect dip on your Tremendous Bowl occasion.

Impress your valentine even when you’re on a budget.

Purchase a very good air fryer.

THE WEEK AHEAD

What to Watch For

El Salvador holds elections right now. President Nayib Bukele is being accused of violating the Structure by searching for re-election.
Nevada major elections are Tuesday, however the state’s Republican caucuses are Thursday.
The Supreme Court docket will contemplate arguments Thursday over whether or not Donald Trump may be barred from working for president beneath the 14th Modification.
Pakistan holds elections Thursday. Imran Khan, the previous prime minister, was barred from holding workplace for 10 years.
New York Style Week begins Friday.
Saturday is the beginning of the Lunar New 12 months.