The Grammys have been on something of a redemption tour of late, making nice with everyone from Mariah Carey to The Weeknd after years of beef. But there’s still one big star the Recording Academy hasn’t won over again: Drake.
The Canadian rapper has been shading the organization for ages, but it came to its worst point when he withdrew his 2022 Grammy nominations after they were announced (and after submitting, which was perhaps the strangest part). Ever since then, he has never entered any solo work, only submitting his collaborations with 21 Savage and other rappers. It didn’t help that the Grammys made Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” a diss track aimed directly at Drake, one of the most decorated songs ever, sweeping its five nominations. However, if the Grammys are ready to start begging for forgiveness, Drake’s newest releases — the triple drop of Iceman, Habibti, and Maid of Honour — might be the perfect time to do so.
Aside from the million-dollar question of whether he will even submit his music for consideration, the other challenge regarding Drake and the Grammys is how the triple-play release strategy might impact their viability. What might work for the records is that they could all compete in different genres, therefore attracting different blocs of Recording Academy voters. While Iceman would surely compete in the rap field, Habibti could easily be fit for Best Progressive R&B Album, and Maid of Honour would likely be placed in Best Pop Vocal Album. If so, Drake would have triple the shots at nominations, considering all of them would likely have songs to submit to those genres as well.
This genre-spreading strategy was able to help Tyler, the Creator last year, when both his hip-hop release Chromakopia and his alternative-leaning Don’t Tap the Glass got nominated; the former also made the cut for Album of the Year (Tyler was, however, blanked on the night). So it isn’t unprecedented for Drake to aim for multiple categories, and it might even be beneficial.
That said, will the Grammys ride for Drake this time? Hard to say. Recently, as mentioned, the Recording Academy has been handing out olive branches to those they’ve done wrong. You could argue that Beyoncé’s Album of the Year win could also fit into this trend, coming a year after Jay-Z publicly spoke out about her string of snubs on the Grammy stage. Perhaps the most notable is the Grammys reconciliation with The Weeknd at the 2025 ceremony.
Of course, The Weeknd’s appearance didn’t help his poorly received album Hurry Up Tomorrow land any nominations for the 2026 awards. Iceman has not had the best reception, with critics mostly mixed on the album, although plenty of other established rap icons like Eminem and Kanye have been nominated and even won with subpar reviews.
And then there’s the “Not Like Us” of it all. There could admittedly be an anti-Drake sentiment going around and that could influence the voting. After all, his PartyNextDoor collaboration record, Some Sexy Songs 4 U, missed key nominations, including in the album categories. But Iceman in particular is gearing up for a bigger debut than that collab, eyeing 500,000 units in its first week. So Drake could be too big too ignore. After all, voters did really like his 21 Savage collab Her Loss, nominating it all across the rap field.
While it’s fun to speculately, ultimately it all comes down to whether Drake even submits. This wouldn’t be the first time he backtracked on his self-imposed Grammy ban. He had previously withheld submissions with his 2017 record, More Life, but entered Scorpion (2018) for a wide variety of categories. There’s a chance he joins his former affiliate The Weeknd and returns to the competition, especially with a wide open field this year. Most other rap contenders, like A$AP Rocky, Cardi B, and J Cole’s latest records, have debuted with fewer units and quickly faltered. In a year where no one has separated commercially or critically, voters could turn towards Iceman — not only because it could be the most popular, but as a white flag to Drake.
