Well that’s the Grammys over for another year, perhaps the iteration most plagued by controversy and apathy yet.
The Weeknd kicked it all off when the nominations were first announced and his excellent album After Hours missed out entirely. The likes of Zayn and Nicki Minaj also called out the Recording Academy.
When the ceremony finally arrived this weekend though, there were successes for other artists. Beyoncé edged closer to having the most Grammys of all time; Taylor Swift joined an exclusive club by winning Album of the Year for a third time; Megan Thee Stallion performed ‘WAP’ onstage as only she could before earning the award for Best New Artist.
Yet with so many awards to be given out in so many genres, there was always going to be some shocks and surprises. Below we’ve looked at five of the biggest surprise winners and also considered who was snubbed the most in the process.
Check out BTS performing ‘Dynamite’ at the 2021 Grammys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoxUURr-9BE
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Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Winner: Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande – ‘Rain on Me’
Snubbed: BTS – ‘Dynamite’
This was supposed to be a coronation for BTS. Their nomination for ‘Dynamite’ was incredibly their first nomination and they were aiming to become the first Korean pop act to win a Grammy. ‘Dynamite’ was their first song to debut at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Korean boys were also performing during the ceremony.
Everything was primed for it to be BTS’s night but Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande are rather popular competition. Unsurprisingly, the organised and mobilised BTS stans immediately got #Scammys trending on Twitter.
Best Music Film
Winner: Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
Snubbed: Black Is King by Beyoncé
The legendary Ronstadt won her 11th Grammy but it perhaps came as a shock given she was up against the might of Beyoncé. Black Is King was a visual album accompanying her soundtrack for 2019’s The Lion King movie.
Filmed over three continents, the diverse cast and design was a sublime showcase for the cultures of the African continent and diaspora. Acclaim and analysis was universal but arguably the fact that Beyoncé had won the award for Best Music Film in 2020 (for Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé) counted against her.
Record of the Year
Winner: Billie Eilish – ‘Everything I Wanted’
Snubbed: Megan Thee Stallion – ‘Savage’
You know that you really missed out when the actual winner supported you. Billie Eilish lavished praise on Megan, saying “You deserve this. You deserve everything in the world. Genuinely, this goes to her.” Well that’s that then. ‘Savage’ was an undoubted banger too, the song alongside ‘WAP’ that catapulted the rapper to superstardom in 2020.
Best Rock Album
Winner: The Strokes – The New Abnormal
Snubbed: Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death
It’s become a banal music joke to say that The Strokes haven’t done anything good since their debut album Is This It all the way back in 2001. It’s silly because the New York rock icons led by Julian Casablancas have produced good tracks in the intervening years but by the time of last year’s The New Abnormal, the band weren’t at the forefront of indie music anymore.
Plucky Irish outfit Fontaines D.C. are only on their second album but already they feel different to the crowded current post-punk market: inspired by the incredible lineage of their home city of Dublin, they profess keenly poetic words surrounded by dark but tender guitars. Perhaps this was one year too soon for them but they’ll surely be back.
Best Alternative Music Album
Winner: Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Snubbed: Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
First, a disclaimer: Apple’s fifth album is a true masterpiece, a triumphant return, a wholly individual and idiosyncratic piece of art. Yet the Grammys are often about fame and ‘playing the game’, both in which Bridgers beats out Apple comfortably.
The alternative music landscape of 2020 belonged to Bridgers, from smashing guitars and riling boomers on SNL to releasing one of most confessional and observational songwriting records of recent times.
Check out ‘Kyoto’ by Phoebe Bridgers:
