They both typically leave the Grammy Awards with arms full of golden Gramophones, and yet this year Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish left empty handed. With 13 nominations between them, it’s certainly a surprise to many – and what fans are calling a major ‘snub’ by the Recording Academy.
Both Swift and Eilish were nominated for album of the year (for The Tortured Poets Department and Hit Me Hard and Soft respectively), best pop vocal album, song of the year (for fortnight and birds of a feather) as well as record of the year, best group performance (for Us with Gracie Abrams and Guess with Charli XCX) while Swift was also nominated for best music video, and Eilish best dance pop recording (for L’Amour De Ma Vie) and best pop solo performance.
Who won in those categories? You’ll have heard about Beyonce winning album of the year for Cowboy Carter, but Sabrina Carpenter won best pop vocal album for Short N Sweet, Kendrick Lamar won song and record of the year with Not Like Us as well as best music video, while Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars won best group performance for Die with a Smile. Charli XCX beat out Eilish on the best dance pop recording (with Von Dutch) as did Carpenter with Espresso.
Given the list of illustrious names up for the awards this year, it’s perhaps less surprising that Swift and Eilish didn’t make their usual clean sweep – but that doesn’t mean fans aren’t fuming. ‘Imagine having the two biggest albums of the year and not winning a single Grammy,’ one Swift fan account tweeted with an image of the pair.
‘I love Kendrick but there’s definitely someone behind this snub cuz love Taylor Swift or not, but this is objectively the most well-crafted, best cinematographic music video, not only the year but at least this decades,’ another said to near 10,000 likes, sharing her music video for Fortnight.
Many have called into question the Grammy’s voting protocol, which is done by the Recording Academy’s voting members – described as music creatives, from song writers and producers to instrumentalists and engineers.
‘The process begins with members and record companies submitting entries, which are then screened for eligibility and category placement,’ the Grammy Awards explains on their website. ‘The Academy's voting members, all involved in the creative and technical processes of recording, then participate in the nominating process that determines the five finalists in each category; and the final voting process which determines the GRAMMY winners.’
Swift, for her part, seemed to be having a brilliant night – she was filmed dancing with a bottle of champagne during Charli XCX’s performance of Guess, twirling round with Margaret Qualley all night and toasting Jay Z after Beyoncé’s win.
Eilish however did appear emotional on screen after not winning album of the year, but many have in fact interpreted that as her support for Beyoncé – who won the award for the first time despite her 25-year strong career.