Many industries and previously held traditions seem to be dying out the further we get into 2020, but for some reason, the Grammys is not one of them. Unlike the film industry, which has pushed most major releases to release next year, the music industry has attempted to keep going with artists still releasing records and following through with their awards shows. The 63rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be hosted by one-time Grammy nominee Trevor Noah on January 31, 2021, presumably either remotely or with all nominees remote much like the most recent Emmy Awards.
Despite all the horrors we’ve faced this year, it’s clear that the Grammys are still following through with their promise made in 2019 to double the number of female voters by 2025; nearly all the top nominees with the most nominations are women. Beyonce leads with pack with 9 nominations while Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, and Roddy Ricch follow with 6 nominations each. The Black Is King and Black Parade nominations bring Beyonce’s total count to 79, making her the woman with the most Grammy nominations in history. She is currently tied with Paul McCartney in terms of nominations and only behind her husband, Jay Z, and producer-writer Quincy Jones by one award nomination. If she wins only 4 of her 9 nominations in January, she’ll become the woman with the most Grammy wins; if she wins all her awards, she’ll be the top Grammy winner regardless of sex.
More Grammy history has been made with nominations for K-Pop groups BTS and BLACKPINK while the Best New Artists category features exclusively women and/or people of color. For the first time ever, every nominee in Best Rock Performance and Best Country Album is either a female artist or female-fronted group. Both the numbers and popular opinion indicate that first-time nominees Megan Thee Stallion and Phoebe Bridgers are set to win big in their respective categories, even though I personally think placing folk singer Bridgers in several Rock categories is baffling. (My fingers are crossed for first-time nominees The Strokes to take home Best Rock Album for The New Abnormal, one of my favorite records this year.)
Most notably, the biggest headlines thus far aren’t about artists who’ve been nominated, but about the artists that weren’t. The Weeknd, Halsey, and Selena Gomez – all who had eligible, major releases over the last year and performed well in the charts – were completely snubbed. Both The Weeknd and Halsey took to social media to discuss the “corrupt[ion]” of the awards, both citing the Grammys contractual obligation to “exclusive TV performances.” Essentially, many artists believe if they don’t commit to performing for the Grammys, they’ll be shut out of awards. Many believe The Weeknd was shut out this year due to his prior commitment to performing at the Super Bowl Half-Time Show, which is scheduled one week after the Grammys.
Much of this drama feels reminiscent of Ariana Grande’s tiff with Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich in 2019. After months of advertising and promising a performance from Grande, the singer pulled out of the awards show and failed to show up, despite winning an award. Ehrlich told the Associated Press that Grande couldn’t perform because it was “too late for her to pull something together.” She responded on Twitter claiming she could “pull together a performance over night,” but the producer had “stifled […] her creativity and self-expression.” Ehrlich has since retired and won’t be producing the 2021 award show.
The most shocking Grammy snubs to me, however, are more for artists who released killer records this year, but received little more than sub-genre nominations: namely, people like Fiona Apple, Lady Gaga, and Harry Styles. Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters is not just the best work of the artist’s career, but an undeniable and staggering work of art in the 2020 landscape. Bolt Cutters was nominated for Best Alternative Album, but it should be in Album of the Year. Likewise, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica received a nod for Best Pop Vocal, but features some of her best pop songs since Born This Way. Harry Styles Fine Line got some love with three nominations, but I’m feeling a little greedy and think the nominations should be in more major categories.
Either way, some type of history will be made at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, and I look forward to supporting artists like Phoebe Bridgers, The Strokes, and the three aforementioned artists who dominated my Spotify this year. Even though the Grammys don’t carry much relevance to the average music listener these days, their cultural weight and significance is still undeniable. I look forward to seeing Beyonce make history.
