Why Ice Spice is the current Grammy front-runner for Best New Artist

You would have to live under a rock to not have heard of Ice Spice at this point. The New York-based rapper has amassed a big following in the past 12 months thanks to her breakout hit “Munch.” After the song became a minor success on the charts, she followed it with more and bigger hits like “In Ha Mood,” her Nicki Minaj-assisted top-five hit “Princess Diana,” and perhaps her biggest hit, “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2,” alongside Brit-singer PinkPantheress. While Ice definitely has a lot of room to grow, she’s been making a case for being the biggest music breakout of the year. And as such, you have to wonder: will she make it all the way to the Grammy stage to accept Best New Artist?

The Grammys seem to like female rappers in Best New Artist lately. Doja Cat, Chika, Iggy Azalea, Saweetie, Latto, and Megan Thee Stallion have all been nominated in the past 10 years, with Megan taking home the award. As such, Ice Spice is likely a lock for a nomination at least. She’s got multiple top-10 hits, she has collaborated with huge artists like Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, and she’s well received by most critics. And she’s a media personality too, known for her soft style of rap and her iconic curly ginger hair. This, I think, puts her closer to Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat than to some of her other peers.

However, the burden Ice is carrying is that she has no album out yet, and her songs don’t necessarily present her as rap’s next Lauryn Hill, per se. Megan Thee Stallion complemented her memorable persona and fun bops with a bit more conventionally impressive rapping, tighter flows, and some deeper, rawer songs. Ice Spice hasn’t necessarily done that, sticking to the fun drill bops for now. Yet with such hype and the cosign of arguably the biggest female rapper of all time, Nicki Minaj, you can bet Ice will soon be coming out with a full-length album that could further prove her talent to the masses. Or at least that would be the obvious next step to take.

For now, Ice Spice does seem like the most logical Best New Artist frontrunner based on the current competition. Her “Boy’s a Liar” co-star PinkPantheress hasn’t really netted any other hit. Latin hitmaker Peso Pluma might not connect as much with your typical old-ish white Grammy voter. And Raye might not be big enough in the US to get the necessary votes.

Of course, the actual nominations slate that will be announced in November will give us a better idea of whether she’s actually winning. Last year hardly anyone predicted Samara Joy before the nominations were out, and very few people predicted her even after. Maybe this year we’ll get another jazz crooner and know immediately who’s actually coming for the top prize. But with eight spots now instead of 10, as well as a crop of popular contenders like the aforementioned RAYE, PinkPantheress, and Peso Pluma, plus Gracie Abrams, Coco Jones, Coi Leray, and Lizzy McAlpine, it does seem like there might be less space for an underground indie to sneak onto the list. And among the names I just mentioned, probably no one is as big right now as Ice Spice is.

Of course, it’ll take some work to get Grammy voters to fully appreciate Ice Spice. She doesn’t have the gravitas the Grammys often expect from their hip-hop contenders, and hits alone don’t win you Grammys … for the most part. Nonetheless, I expect Ice Spice’s popularity will keep growing. She recently dropped a second Nicki Minaj collab, this time from the “Barbie” soundtrack, as we continue to anticipate her dropping a full-length debut album. If things keep going well, Ice Spice could go from internet meme to a full-on Grammy-winning superstar.

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