Walden: With diversity a Grammy focus at last, will this be Kendrick Lamar’s year?

You wouldn’t look at Adele and automatically assume she’s a troublemaker — aside, perhaps, from her propensity to drop the occasional f-bomb on network television during awards acceptance speeches.

Adele a rabble-rouser? [Bleep] that.

And yet, the top categories at this year’s Grammy Awards have a decidedly different feel, and Adele is unquestionably the reason.

Whether her 2017 sweep of Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the expense of a critically acclaimed effort by Beyoncé was deserved or not, it had the effect of turning long-smoldering criticisms of the Grammys — too conservative, too play-it-safe, too behind the times — into an inferno of infuriation.

Overhaul was not only promised but actually delivered. Among other things, longtime voters were not renewed without demonstrating a capacity and willingness to keep up with current trends, streaming-service numbers were taken into consideration for the first time in gauging artists’ reach and impact, and voting was done — gasp! — online rather than via mail-in ballots.

The result is that the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, which take place this Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, feature more diversity than ever before in the top categories (with Best New Artist rounding out the so-called big four). There were no white men among the Album of the Year nominees for the first time ever, and none among the Best New Artist nominees (where women also outnumber men, three to two) either. All five Record of the Year tracks are performed by artists of color, as are four of the Song of the Year nominees.

Now that they’re actually here, the attention has shifted — quite deservedly — to analyzing who will win. Can a rapper really take home top honors? And if so, is this Kendrick Lamar’s year? Or will Jay-Z’s comeback campaign get the nod? Or will voters once again default to something more pop-oriented and go with Bruno Mars or Lorde?

Let’s have a look, shall we?

Album of the Year

Nominees • “Awaken, My Love!,” Childish Gambino; “4:44,” Jay-Z; “DAMN.,” Kendrick Lamar; “Melodrama,” Lorde; “24K Magic,” Bruno Mars.

Who should win • “DAMN.,” Kendrick Lamar

Who will win • “DAMN.,” Kendrick Lamar

Comment • This category is no sure thing, though it should be. The Compton MC’s latest was the definitive album of the year, with its visceral, sharp-edged, straightforward, unflinching narratives that grab your attention from start to finish. Many prognosticators are throwing “4:44” out there, but that seems like more of a career achievement nod to me than an assessment of this album specifically.

Record of the Year

Nominees • “Redbone,” Childish Gambino; “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber; “The Story of O.J.,” Jay-Z; “HUMBLE.,” Kendrick Lamar; “24K Magic,” Bruno Mars.

Who should win • “HUMBLE.,” Kendrick Lamar

Who will win • “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber

Comment • This category amounts to a song-of-the-year award for the artist, and King Kendrick’s top single certainly fits the bill, with his authoritative lyricism and thunderous-yet-simple music, defined by 808 beats and a stabbing piano line. But, considering “Despacito” was literally everywhere — with a 16-week Hot 100 reign — it seems likely to get the statue.

Song of the Year

Nominees • “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Erika Ender and Marty James Garton; “4:44,” Jay-Z and No I.D.; “Issues,” Julia Michaels, Benny Blanco, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen and Justin Drew Tranter; “1-800-273-8255,” Logic, Alessia Cara, Khalid and Arjun Ivatury; “That’s What I Like,” Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus and Jonathan Yip.

Who should win • “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Erika Ender and Marty James Garton

Who will win • “4:44,” Jay-Z and No I.D.

Comment • Honestly, this songwriting award could go to any of the nominees and I wouldn’t be shocked. Here’s the thing, though — much as I hate to admit it about anything involving Justin Bieber, “Despacito” is actually a really, really good song. I could see voters going with “1-800-273-8255,” considering its anti-suicide message and the fact that it features two of the Best New Artist noms, but in the end, Jay-Z’s coming-clean track about doing Queen Bey wrong probably resonates the most.

Best New Artist

Nominees • Alessia Cara; Khalid; Lil Uzi Vert; Julia Michaels; SZA.

Who should win • Khalid

Who will win • Alessia Cara

Comment • Again, who knows? Honestly, Cara should have been nominated a bit ago, considering her debut album came out in November 2015, but that’s also given her plenty of time to worm her way into voters’ ears. Meanwhile, SZA’s “ctrl” got a ton of year-end buzz. And though I love the Uzi Vert track “XO Tour Lif3,” I don’t love it as much as Khalid’s “Young Dumb & Broke” — the definitive highlight of his warm, sunshine-drenched debut album “American Teen.”