With the new year upon us, America eagerly awaits the 2025 Grammy Awards, set to take place on February 2nd. The nominees for this event were revealed on Friday, November 8th, showcasing a whopping ninety-four categories, each featuring eight nominees. Among these classifications is the award for Best New Artist which celebrates rising stars in the industry. 2024 was a big year for budding musicians, with many new faces capturing the spotlight, making the result of this race much anticipated.
Take a deep dive into the lives and careers of three nominees for Best New Artist and decide which one you want to go home with the golden gramophone.
The first “new artist” is a combination of three artists. Khruangbin is a Texas-based band whose music incorporates both alternative and indie styles. Despite being nominated for Best New Artist only recently, this group was formed in 2010. It began with Mark Speer and Donald (DJ) Johnson meeting while playing in their church’s gospel band. The pair later befriended Laura Lee, bonding over their shared music interests. In 2010, Speer and Lee were invited to join Yppah, an American electronic-rock musician, on his tour. This experience inspired the two to create their musical band, Khruangbin, with Speer as guitarist, Lee as bassist, and DJ as drummer. The band’s haven was a barn in Burton, Texas where they developed their sound and held many recording sessions. The trio released their first album A Calf Born In Winter in May 2014 and their second album, The Infamous Bill only five months later. Khruangbin released 12 more albums over ten years, perfecting their blend of varying music styles. Their most popular song is “Texas Sun,” released in 2020 and has garnered 297 million streams on Spotify.
The name “Khruangbin” comes from the Thai word for “airplane”, as it was Laura Lee’s favorite word she learned when studying the language. In a 2015 The Guardian profile, the group shared the relevance of the name: “It symbolizes the international set of influences that shaped our music”. The band incorporates music elements from around the globe, including Thai, Middle-Eastern, West African, and Persian songs. Overall, Khruangbin is a uniquely talented group with a sound, unlike any other artist.
While Khruangbhin offers a fusion of global influences, Sabrina Carpenter captivates her audience through catchy, feminine tunes. Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song “Espresso” was on nearly everyone’s summer playlist this past year, so no wonder why she was nominated for Best New Artist. Though her lead single gained the most popularity, “Short n’ Sweet” was an all-around hit, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. From her sudden emergence into the public eye, one may think Carpenter is an overnight success, but this could not be further from the truth. She began her career as a child actress, appearing in Law and Order: SVU in a guest role in 2011. Two years later, she was cast in the Disney Channel Series, Girl Meets World, the sequel to the hit ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World. This role was large and served as a pivotal moment in her career, as Carpenter played the best friend of the show’s main character, Riley, portrayed by Rowan Blanchard.
At 12, she signed a record deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records and released her debut single “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying” in 2014. After the prosperity of this song, Sabrina Carpenter issued an EP under the same name. In 2015, Carpenter gave the world her first full-length studio album, Eyes Wide Open, which reached number 43 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Sabrina Carpenter continued to put out albums with Hollywood records, but none were significantly successful.
Her singing career took a turn with Carpenter singing for Island Records in 2021 and releasing “Skin”, which peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. This led to the creation of the album Emails I Can’t Send in July 2022. Many songs of this album gained mass attention from listeners, especially “Nonsense” and “Because I Liked a Boy”. This album dramatically shifted Sabrina Carpenter’s public persona from an innocent Disney star to a mature pop vocalist. These events led to the release of “Espresso,” setting off the global phenomenon. After accepting the Variety Hitmakers “Rising Star” award, Carpenter addressed her slow rise to fame: “I really loved getting to know the mindset of a slow rise and knowing that I have a lot to look forward to…”. All in all, Sabrina Carpenter’s journey to stardom exemplifies that great things do not come easy: one needs to work hard and learn from experience to reach excellence.
The genre-bending singer-songwriter Shaboozy (Collins Obinna Chibueze) is another Best New Artist nominee with an immensely viral song in 2024. “A Bar Song” shot to No. one on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for 19 weeks, tying with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” for the longest reign. However, the song did manage to beat one record, as it is the longest-leading number-one song without guest features. Shaboozy now receives worldwide recognition for his music, but he had to develop his voice before it could be heard.
His musical journey began in high school when he experimented with the mechanics of creating his music. This led him to join a collective of local artists, who helped ignite Chibueze’s music career. The singer adopted the stage name “Shaboozy,” which originated from the mispronunciation of his last name, Chibueze, in high school. At nineteen, Shaboozy released his debut single, “Jeff Gordon” in 2014. Four years later, he released his debut album, “Lady Wrangler”. Even in his early songs, Shaboozy broke boundaries in the country genre, taking inspiration from hip-hop, rock, and Americana. Despite his diverse and colorful discography, Shaboozy’s first few albums gained little attention. However, this changed in 2018 when he collaborated with Duckwrth to write and record the song “Start a Riot” for the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, a movie that gained mass commercial acclaim. Shaboozy’s career reached a turning point when he released Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going, an album that diverted from his past style. This album included the viral sensation “A Bar Song” and many other soul-filled, narrative songs. Shaboozy created a seamless overlap between country and hip-hop within this album— its positive reception is a testament to his mastery. Though “A Bar Song” amassed the most popularity, Shaboozy is proud of the album: “This is some of the best music I’ve made in a long time,” he told ESSENCE. Shaboozy’s rise to fame shows the sometimes rocky road an artist needs to navigate to attain recognition.
Khruangbin, Sabrina Carpenter, and Shaboozy each have unique backgrounds and music styles, yet their journeys share a common theme: sometimes, it takes a decade to achieve overnight success. It’s easy to feel discouraged when you don’t see the immediate results of your efforts, but these musicians demonstrate the importance of perseverance. All three had to gain extensive experience before earning recognition as Grammy-nominated “New Artists.” Because of their dedication and hard work, each truly deserves the title “Best.”
