It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! The nominations for the most prestigious award show in music has officially arrived. And what better way to have an initial reaction to this exciting news than through my 2006 Toyota Corolla Bluetooth radio! Yes, that may sound odd, but I was in the wrong time, right situation type of thing, which is very on-brand for me. So here, I present to you my take on the nominees for the 2021 Grammys.
Every year, I truly forget how much I don’t know about the categories outside of the general awards since I’m in my little mainstream bubble. Who knew that there was an award for Best Comedy Album or even more fascinating, Best Recording Package? So, I was quite amused throughout my car ride, listening to nominations that I never even thought existed.
I was laughing along in excitement with Megan Thee Stallion as she presented the nominations in the Pop Category. Her nerves were expected—well duh, it’s the Grammys for crying out loud—but she was still radiating with joy. It was also wholesome to hear Megan in pure shock when Harvey Mason Jr., the chief of the Grammys, rang her up towards the end of her presenting slot to inform her of her own nominations, which she later found out was Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. A very “Real Hot Girl Sh*t” moment for her. Ah!
I was surprised to see artists like Rina Sawayama, a Japanese-British singer, and Blackpink, a South Korean girl group, being left out in Best New Artist, especially with the latter because K-Pop has made a huge impact on the music industry this year. However, congratulations are still for BTS because they earned their first major nomination for “Dynamite” in Best Pop/Duo Group Performance.
Soon the Twitter live stream abruptly ended, and I’m left with a “that’s it?” moment. Then it dawned on me that The Weeknd did not receive any nominations. Not a single one. Imagine a young woman sitting in her car at a red light, jaw dropped in disbelief, because the artist she swore would receive a plentiful of nominations was left high and dry. Despite having a chart-topping single—“Blinding Lights”—from his critically acclaimed album After Hours, his work was still left in the dust. The track peaked at No.1 on Billboard and has currently spent 40 weeks in the Top 10. So, if anyone was frankly snubbed, it was for sure The Weeknd.
Beyonce leads with nine nominations, leaving her as the most-nominated female in history with 79 nominations. Blue Ivy, the daughter of Queen B, might have already stolen her mother’s spotlight with her first nomination in Best Music Video for “Brown Skin Girl.” Since Blue Ivy is now the youngest person to ever receive a nomination from the Recording Academy, Beyonce might need to start taking some notes from her eldest child because Blue is putting in that work. Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch and Taylor Swift follow behind with six nominations of their own.
The 2021 Grammys is all about WOMEN and I’m 100 percent behind it. I was geeking out in my car as nomination after the nomination was featuring female artists because, in my opinion, this is long overdue. There have been plenty of women who have been overshadowed throughout the years of the Grammys and to see that they are finally being recognized brings a smile to my face. Women are found in every single nomination in the categories of Best Rock Performance and Best Country Album for the first time ever.
I do would like to note that even though the Recording Academy is expanding on inclusivity, the Grammys still have some work to do, especially with their “Big 4” categories—Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. No Latin artists are nominated in any of the four categories and only two of the eight nominees for the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, were people of color.
Be ready to see the chaos that ensues, both on the internet and the real world, when the Grammys premiere on Jan. 31, 2021. Best wishes to all of the nominees!
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