u/Heavy-Fruit8618

Here are my predictions for Album of the Year. It's actually a competitive category this year with a lot of established pop stars, fresh faces, and icons vying for a nomination.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:

1. Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving
2. Olivia Rodrigo - You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
3. Raye - This Music May Contain Hope
4. Rosalia - Lux
5. Noah Kahan - The Great Divide
6. Phoebe Bridgers - The Lost Weekend
7. Harry Styles - Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally
8. Madonna - Confessions II

Possibilities:

• Bruno Mars - The Romantic
• Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl
• Kacey Musgraves - Middle of Nowhere
• Ella Langely - Dandelion

Should be in contention:

• Lily Allen - West End Girl
• Sienna Spiro - The Visitor
• Paul McCartney - The Boys of Dungeon Lane

I love her past two albums Messy (2023) and The Art of Loving (2025) but I feel like we need an album solely dedicated to her covers. She's so good, often outdoing the originals.

Here are here best ones:

• "The Dress" (Dijon)
• "Cool About It" (Boygenius)
• "This Will Be" (Natalie Cole)
• "You’ve Got a Friend" (Carole King)
• "Love Me Not" (Ravyn Lenae)
• "Wish I Didn’t Miss You" (Angie Stone)
• "Sexy to Someone" (Claire)
• "You Can’t Hurry Love" (The Supremes)
• "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (Paul Simon)
• "Natural Woman" (Carole King)

This is oddly one of my favorite categories and I think this year could be really competitive and interesting. Here are are the all the contenders I could make out. Am I missing any?

Which five you you think will make it? My predicted 5 have *'s next to them.

From what we've seen:

• The Devil Wears Prada - "Runway" by Lady Gaga, Doechii, Watt, and Bruno Mars
• The Devil Wears Prada - "Material Lover" by Sienna Spiro*
• Hoppers - "Save the Day" by SZA
• Mother - "Burial" by Charlie XCX and Jack Antonoff
• Moana - "Along the Way" by Lin Manuel Miranda*
• The Odyssey - "When I'm Home" by James Blake and Travis Scott*
• Power Ballad - "How to Write a Song Without You" by John Carney
• Toy Story 5 - "I Knew It, I Knew You" by Taylor Swift*
• Wuthering Heights - "House" by Charlie XCX and John Cale
• Wuthering Heights - "Chains of Love" by Charlie XCX*

To be released:

• The Black Ball - "TBA"
• The Debut - "TBA" by Jesse Eisenberg
• Wildwood - "TBA" by Colin Meloy
• Untitled Diana Warren Project - "TBA" by Diane Warren
• Random documentary song - "TBA"

PICTURE:

• The Adventures of Cliff Booth
• Disclosure Day
• Digger
• Dune: Messiah
• Fatherland
• Fjord
• The Odyssey
• Project Hail Mary
• The Social Reckoning
• Wild Horse Nine

Commentary: I can't remember the last year were the BP lineup has this many big budget studio films. I'm not confident in all of the, but for right now I'm somewhat confident in my list. It's early but at least we at least know Fatherland, Fjord and Project Hail Mary are solid.

DIRECTOR:

• Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey
• Alejandro G. Inarritu, Digger
• Pawel Pawlikowski, Fatherland
• Cristian Mungiu, Fjord
• Martin McDonaugh, Wild Horse Nine

Commentary: This might be the last year since 2022 where we don't have a female represented. These five look strong to me.

ACTOR:

• Tom Cruise, Digger
• Adam Driver, Paper Tiger
• John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine
• Sebastian Stan, Fjord
• Jeremy Strong, The Social Reckoning

Commentary: Possibilities could include Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) and Dominic Sessa (Tony), but I really like this lineup of five. I do think this is a really strong Best Actor race.

ACTRESS:

• Sandra Huller, Fatherland
• Mikey Madison, The Social Reckoning
• Julianne Moore, No One Cares
• Renate Reinsve, Fjord
• Michelle Williams, A Place in Hell

Commentary: Possibilities could include Rachel Brosnahan (Saturn Return), Cynthia Erivo (Prima Facie), and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Sense and Sensibility). For the win I think it might just be Huller all the way. This seems to be her year.

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Riz Ahmed, Digger
• Steve Buscemi, Wild Horse Nine
• Paul Giamatti, No One Cares
• John Goodman, Digger
• Sam Rockwell, Wild Horse Nine

Commentary: This list is so painful because there's at least 3 overdue character actors who are so deserving of a win here. I could see Antonio Banderas (Tony) sneaking in here as well. Not sure if Giamatti goes lead of supporting either, but I've seem more people go supporting, but he could benefit from the split votes.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Elizabeth Debicki, The Adventures of Cliff Booth
• Mariana Di Girolamo, Wild Horse Nine
• Daisy Edgar-Jones, A Place in Hell
• Scarlett Johanson, Paper Tiger
• Parker Posey, Wild Horse Nine

Commentary: This category seems so up in the air, I'm not confident about any of them. I do think Johanson could win here if she gets consistent traction, the reviews from Cannes were pretty ecstatic. I could see Penelope Cruz (The Invite) sneak in here, the Academy does love her. I don't see Sandra Huller (Project Hail Mary) getting in here, unless they really go for that film.

I've been thinking a lot about this play recently and why it got blanked completely at the Tonys. I thought it was easygoing and enjoyable by itself, but I think a lot of voters must have been comparing it to the original production. Despite some strong performances, I do think there were problems with the pacing and lack of narrative tensions. It runs 2 hour with an intermission, might've been better served as a 90 min play.

Ayo certainly didn't embarrass herself in her Broadway debut and has a presence on stage but there are problems with the direction of her performance and possibly even the casting of her in that role. For me two major things don't really come into play in terms of the narrative tension. You never get the sense that:

• >!She didn't write the proof!<
• >!She might be losing her mind!<

As audience members, the whole theater >!assumed correctly that she did write the proof when it was first introduced. So there's really nowhere to go. There's no mystery. Within the confines of the story she had already shown she was pretty smart and capable and it certainly would make sense given that we are constantly reminded of her father's deteriorating mental health. Also it hurts that we never see her father's brilliance we are simply just told that he's brilliant but his mind has been slipping!<.

Also we don't ever get the sense that she >!herself is going insane or that her mental health is at risk. In fact it makes sense that she's thinking of her father since he just died. Why is no one else heartbroken or in mourning? So there goes another piece of tension out the window. Ayo plays her as realistic as anyone in that situation would be. I think the play's intention is to have her be maniac and unreliable when she's really just grounded in her grief and remarkable bright, witty, and human. !<The casting of her is interesting tho because she looks and plays very young. She could easily play a teenager or freshman in college.

So while she was compelling and gave a good performance, I think those two factors hurt the play's narrative tension that we should be feeling. Don Cheadle is good but I wished his character was more of a presence. His appearances are brief and we don't ever feel the weight of his character. Also I feel as though Cheadle doesn't have a strong hold on who his character is and his relationship with his daughter.

Kara Young and Jin Ha were both really strong. I would've nominated Kara Young for her 5th consecutive Tony. She in many ways was the plays highlight, her scenes with Ayo were electric.

BEST MUSICAL:

1. Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York
2. Schmigadoon!
3. The Lost Boys
4. Titanique

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL:

1. Ragtime
2. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
3. The Rocky Horror Show

BEST ACTOR:

1. Joshua Henry, Ragtime
2. Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime
3. Sam Tutty, TSCCANY
4. Nicholas Christopher, Chess

BEST ACTRESS:

1. Caissie Levy, Ragtime
2. Christiani Pitts, TSCCANY
3. Lea Michele, Chess
4. Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!
5. Marla Mindele, Titanique

BEST FEATURED ACTOR:

1. Andre DeShields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
2. Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime
3. Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys
4. Jim Parsons, Titanique
5. Constantine Rousouli, Titanique

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS:

1. Nichelle Lewi, Ragtime
2. Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys
3. Stephanie Hsu, The Rocky Horror Show
4. Shaina Taub, Ragtime
5. Hannah Cruz, Chess

BEST DIRECTION:

1. Lear DeBessonet, Ragtime
2. Zhailon Levingston & Bill Raunch, Cats
3. Michael Arden, The Lost Boys
4. Sam Pinkleton, The Rocky Horror Show
5. Tim Jackson, TSCCANY

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

1. TSCCANY
2. The Lost Boys
3. Beaches
4. The Queen of Versailles
5. Death of a Salesman

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL:

1. TSCCANY
2. Schmigadoon!
3. The Lost Boys
4. Titanique

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY:

1. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
2. Schmigadoon!
3. The Rocky Horror Show
4. The Lost Boys
5. Ragtime

BEST SCENIC DESIGN:

1. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
2. The Queen of Versailles
3. Schmigadoon!
4. The Lost Boys
5. The Rocky Horror Show

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

1. Ragtime
2. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
3. The Queen of Versailles
4. Schmigadoon!
5. The Rocky Horror Show

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN:

1. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
2. Ragtime
3. The Lost Boys
4. The Rocky Horror Show
5. Schmigadoon!

BEST SOUND DESIGN:

1. Cats: The Jellicle Ball
2. Ragtime
3. The Lost Boys
4. The Rocky Horror Show
5. Schmigadoon!