Malcolm Todd and Audrey Hobert Todd Owyoung/NBC/Getty Images; Siegfried Anthony/Billboard/Getty Images The best new artist race could make a little Grammy history in 2027. Pop singer-songwriters Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd are both looking like strong contenders for nominations — which, on its face, is not exactly earth-shaking. Rising stars getting recognized in a category created for rising stars is pretty much the point.
Except Hobert and Todd are siblings.
The Pacific Palisades-raised brother and sister have spent the past year climbing toward pop stardom on remarkably parallel tracks. Todd, 23, may be the younger of the two, but he got a head start, signing with Columbia Records in 2023. That same year, Hobert, 27, began writing songs with her childhood best friend Gracie Abrams, eventually co-writing several tracks on Abrams’ hit album The Secret of Us. By 2025, Hobert had landed a record deal with RCA. Different labels, same corporate parent: Both are in the Sony Music family.
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If they both make the cut, Hobert and Todd would become the first siblings ever to compete against each other for best new artist. Siblings have certainly been nominated before — Billie Eilish and Finneas, among them — just never in the same year.
And after a summer in which both artists’ profiles have jumped considerably, that possibility no longer feels particularly far-fetched. Social media has played a major role for both. Hobert’s “Sue Me,” released in 2025, made its Billboard Hot 100 debut in August after catching a second wave online, helped along by live performances in which Hobert spends the song’s intro bouncing on a trampoline onstage.
Her brother has been riding a similar second-wind story with “Earring.” First released in 2024, the song became a TikTok favorite this year — but its success has gone well beyond the app. At the time of publication, it sat in the top 20 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Spotify’s weekly U.S. chart.
Todd has already contemplated what a sibling Grammy showdown might look like. “I’ve talked to her about it,” he told THR earlier this year when asked about potentially competing against his sister. He’d be thrilled to see either of them nominated. His more immediate concern was considerably less historic: figuring out the seating chart.
Todd believes a nomination would come with only a plus-one, meaning two nominated siblings might be the family’s best shot at getting both parents into the room. “I’m hoping for my dad,” he said, referring to TV writer-producer Tim Hobert. “I already promised my mom, so it would just be pretty awesome if she could bring Dad.”
This story appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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