Leading up to the Grammy nominations on Nov. 16, “Rolling Stone” is breaking down 11 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night.
For someone to claim the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, they need to have scored commercial hits or a big album. They also need to wow voters with the story behind the making of an album, according to Cecilia Winter, Editorial Lead of Global Hits at Spotify. “Often the people who win are people who have pulled back the curtain a little bit on their working relationship with the artists that they produced in the eligibility period,” she tells Rolling Stone. “The folks who close themselves off a little bit more maybe don’t always have the same degree of success.”
The strongest contenders in this year’s eligibility period include big names like Andrew Watt, who coaxed great late-career albums from Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, and Miranda Lambert, who produced not only her own album but co-produced Ella Langley’s blockbuster Dandelion. Meanwhile, Kenny Beats made his bones with Geese and Weezer, Dan Nigro seemed pretty happy with Olivia Rodrigo’s latest, and Aaron Dessner and Gabe Simon helped give Noah Kahan another massive album with The Great Divide. The likelihood of winning just comes down to which story a critical mass of voters find most impressive.
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical — Our Predictions
Kenny Beats (Geese’s Getting Killed, Fcukers’ Ö, Weezer’s Weezer, the Lurkers soundtrack)
Aaron Dessner (Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide, Gracie Abrams’ Daughter From Hell)
Miranda Lambert (Ella Langley’s Dandelion and “Choosin’ Texas,” Miranda Lambert’s Crisco)
Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, Gracie Abrams’ “Look at My Life”)
Andrew Watt (Brandi Carlile’s Returning to Myself, Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane, the Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues)
Who Will Win?
Andrew Watt
Watt seems like a shoo-in. Last year, the producer, who won in this category in 2021, had strong success with Lady Gaga’s Mayhem. Now he’s worked his magic on a Beatle and the Stones. “Having this newer, younger producer who works across all these different genres help these guys move their sound into their next era, is super cool,” says Winter.
Who Should Win?
Kenny Beats
In the past year, Kenneth Charles Blume III (b.k.a. Kenny Beats) has harnessed Geese’s sound on Getting Killed (including helping them get a choral sample to work against their own music on the album’s title song), as well as Show Me the Body’s hard-hitting banjocore album, Alone Together, songs on Fcukers’ Ö, and a good chunk of Weezer’s self-titled gold album. “He has worked across such a wide range of projects,” Winter says. “I think it would be cool if that was more of the story. Having worked on the Geese project, he had a hit in the indie space, but it was still not a commercial hit in the classic sense of producers who typically bring home these awards.”
Forecasting the Field
Not only does Miranda Lambert have name recognition, but she produced the biggest song of the year, Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.” She could score an upset win in this category. “Dandelion is a really beautiful album,” Winter says. “I think it would be really cool to get a country artist or country producer in this space for the first time in decades. And Miranda Lambert, in particular, is a cool one because she obviously knows what it is to be a commercial star in country music. She knows what it was to have her own ‘Choosin’ Texas’ years ago and has built this really strong foundation of credibility through projects like The Marfa Tapes that I think have shown her diversity as an artist. Watching her apply it to an up-and-coming star is really cool.” A nomination for Lambert would also put her in the tiny percentage of women recognized in this category. Previous female candidates include Linda Perry (who’ll try again this year for her work with Dolly Parton and Paris Jackson), and Janet Jackson. No woman has ever won.
It’s also worth considering the omnipresence of Jack Antonoff, who produced his own Bleachers album, Everyone for Ten Minutes, and songs for Lana Del Rey’s upcoming Stove. He also worked on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend, alongside a roster of producers including Tony Berg, Ethan Gruska, and Alex G, as well as Bridgers herself.
Other powerhouse contenders include Dessner, who co-produced Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide and Gracie Abrams’ Daughter From Hell, and Simon, who continued his work with Kahan and Koe Wetzel. There’s also Mike Sabath (Raye’s This Music May Contain Hope), D’Mile (Bruno Mars’ The Romantic), Stuart Price (Madonna’s Confessions II), Max Martin, who extended his hit streak with Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, and Dan Nigro, whose work with Rodrigo and Abrams was exemplary. Even Shooter Jennings’ name could be in the mix: The Grammy-winning producer oversaw Charley Crockett’s buzzy Clovis LP. And don’t rule out last year’s winner, Cirkut (Lady Gaga and Doechii’s “Runway”).
Then there’s Rosalía’s stunning Lux, which was an achievement in production with the ways she fused pop music with classical and avant-garde influences along with a lyrical polyglot. The credits list more than a dozen producers (including Rosalía herself) so the viability of a single producer for that album comes down to just how hard they campaign. Winter would also like to see some recognition for producer Blake Slatkin’s work on Adéla’s debut album, Prima, and producers Austin Corona and Wyatt Bernard’s contributions to Slayyyter’s Worst Man in America album. “The music that Slayyyter has crafted this year is a really fascinating and of-the-moment blend of pop, dance, and post-hyper pop. Sometimes it feels like Justice, sometimes it feels like Turnstile. There’s such a wide palette of styles, it would be really cool to see recognition on that side as well.”
