By Yasmin Katz
On November 20th, 2020, the Grammys announced their nominations for this year's awards. In this article I will be giving some of my own personal thoughts on the nominations and who I believe will take home the awards.
The biggest controversy of the grammy nominations were some of the snubs. Some notable snubs were: Rina Sawayama getting 0 nominations, Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” not getting nominated for album of the year, Charli XCX getting 0 nominations and most notably The Weeknd’s “After Hours” was completely snubbed despite the critical acclaim and commercial success.
The Grammys have had a history of poor decisions but there is no explanation for some of these snubs compared to some of the actual nominations. Justin Beiber’s “Changes” was nominated for best pop vocal album despite the album being heavily criticized by critics and the allegations of Beiber manipulating the charts. Somehow his album was better in the eyes of the grammys than “After Hours” and Sawayama.
The Grammys have a history of placing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) artists into “token” categories or ignoring them entirely. In 2020, we see the Grammys repeating the same patterns and not making any real changes or acknowledgments. I hope in 2021, The Grammys will learn from their mistakes and hopefully be more inclusive and more accurate with their nominations
Even if the nominations aren’t what I believe are right here are my predictions for some of the major categories. For album of the year, I believe that “Future Nostalgia” by Dua Lipa will take it home. I think “Future Nostalgia” definitely influenced a lot of the pop this year and had a pretty big impact on the music scene. For record of the year, I believe that it will go to “Say So” by Doja Cat. In 2019, this song was just another song off of Hot Pink; but when one teenager with a following on Tiktok made a dance to “Say So” it became a number one hit. It goes to show how TikTok now has so much control over the music industry. For song of the year, I believe it will go to “Don’t Start Now” for the same reasons as “Future Nostalgia.” For best new artist, I believe it will go to Megan Thee Stallion. Megan was all over the charts this year and really came into the public eye. It was Megan’s year and I think she has it in the bag.
Overall I will be interested to see what the results of the Grammy awards will be. Will my predictions be correct? Will the Grammys make some fundamental changes? Let's find out!