A Review of the 2021 Grammy Nominees

After a seemingly never-ending 2020, The Grammys have finally released the 2021 nominations to honor the songs and artists that became the soundtracks for our quarantines. This year, there are many triumphs with well-deserving artists being recognized for their amazing work, and also many unfortunate snubs. Hopefully, the Grammy voters (many of them out of touch) don’t disappoint us this year like they have numerous times.

Record of the Year

First off, the Record of the Year category contains many notable faces like DaBaby and Roddy Ricch with their song “Rockstar,” Doja Cat with “Say So,” Post Malone’s “Circles,” and Billie Eilish’s song, “Everything I Wanted,” just to name a few. It’s exciting to hear DaBaby and Roddy Ricch being acknowledged for their record because it was just so massive. While it wasn’t the most substantive song this year, sometimes songs don’t need to be about much to be solid. However, I can’t go without mentioning  the record that I think will take the award home: “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion, featuring Beyonce. If DaBaby and Roddy Ricch were ruling forces during 2020, Megan Thee Stallion WAS 2020. She was absolutely everywhere, releasing hits one after the other, almost effortlessly, and her successes certainly cannot be ignored this year at the Grammy’s.

Album of the Year

Moving on to Album of the Year, we go from a list of absolute hard hitting records in the previous categories to… duds. These albums are pretty bad. Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” received a nomination, and while the singles on that album were extremely catchy, the album itself is absolutely mindless, and not in a creative, Young Thug-esque type of way. For whatever reason, Coldplay also received a nomination for best album of the year in 2020, and it’s so unbelievably forgettable that I just checked what the name of the album was, and already forgot (I checked again, it’s called “Everyday Life.” Wow. That’s pretty deep.) I have no idea who is still consuming Coldplay’s music, and the only conclusion I’ve come to is that they programmed some AI’s to play their album on repeat. In the end, though, I’m praying that the Grammy voters come to their senses and give the win to HAIM’s “Women In Music Pt. III”, which is easily the best album of the bunch, and also has a pretty decent shot at winning.

Best New Artist

The final notable category I’ll be covering is Best New Artist, which is honestly downright confusing. Producer Kaytranada is nominated, who I’ve probably been listening to since around 2017, and I’m definitely not alone with that. He’s had mainstream success in the past 4 years, and is definitely not a new artist. Noah Cyrus, Miley Cyrus’ sister, is also nominated in this category. This nomination is pretty puzzling as well since she’s been relatively mainstream for the past 3 to 4 years, and her music pales in comparison to Kaytranada. Besides that, though, I think Megan Thee Stallion, who is also nominated, will most likely come out on top here, which is 100% deserved. Although if indie-folk artist Phoebe Bridgers wins I would not be surprised nor disappointed. 

The Snubs

Now finally, on to the snubs, which there are quite a bit of this year. The most obvious and controversial of the many snubs this year is The Weeknd, and his album “After Hours,” not being nominated for anything. The Weeknd’s album was really impactful this year and wildly popular, potentially the biggest album of the year, and this is honestly a terrible look for The Grammys. I’m disappointed that The Weeknd’s growth as an artist won’t be noticed at The Grammys this year, but although the elitists of the music industry aren’t praising it, the general public definitely is. 

Additionally, I think Pop Smoke should have been given a nod in the Best New Artist Category, because even before he died, his music was everywhere. He’s the rare case of an artist that I believe would have close to the same success needed for a new artist nomination even if he hadn’t passed so prematurely. The final snub is one that I’m very reluctant to admit, but yes, BTS was snubbed this year. I think I’ve only listened to two K-Pop songs in my entire life, one of them being “Gangnam Style” by PSY, but despite my lack of familiarity with the genre, you don’t need to be a K-Pop connoisseur to realize that BTS maintained full control over this year. They were a powerful unit within the music industry this year, and I don’t think the one sole nomination that they acquired reflects that. Regardless of how many snubs there were this year, I’m still hopeful that The Grammys will deliver this time around.