It’s not like we expected to be satisfied by the 2015 Grammy nominations — every year the Recording Academy rolls out a list of names that are expected, baffling and downright wrong. But, hey, music is a popularity contest, after all. Might as well sit back and enjoy the ride, right?
See photos from the 2014 Grammys below
Instead of the traditional big, prime-time concert to reveal the list of nominees, the Recording Academy has revealed the categories throughout the day in a boring, drawn out fashion that left a handful of journalists glued to their TweetDeck.
Essentially, we love to hate the Grammys, so let’s get right to the five biggest snubs from this year’s list of announcements. By the way, they’ll be announcing the Album of the Year category later tonight:
They seriously don’t get hip-hop
Traditionally, the Recording Academy completely messes up every hip-hop category. The genre is baffling to the Grammy voters, and this year is no different. Forgettable releases from big names like Common, Eminem and Wiz Khalifa got nods. Popular (though hardly groundbreaking) newcomers Iggy Azalea and Childish Gambino scored nominations. Noticeably absent was the excellent and powerful sophomore album from Run the Jewels.
Pretty much everything Beyonce
Where is Queen Bey in the Best Pop Solo Performance and the Record of the Year categories? Sure, she got a nomination in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category, but typically she double dips into the pop performance categories and Record of the Year. “Drunk in Love” would have been a strong contender in either group — especially against Taylor Swift’s blah “Shake it Off.” And Pharrell? Really?
Seriously, “Shake it Off”???
Can we all agree that “Blank Space” is the best song on Taylor Swift’s “1989” among a number of well-produced duds? We’re looking at you “Welcome to New York” and “Shake it Off.” Unfortunately, “Shake it Off” — the weird pop/hip-hop track with embarrassing rapping and even more embarrassing lyrics — has been nominated in two major categories, Record of the Year and Song of the year.
Best Alternative Album will always disappoint you
This is always a tough one for the Recording Academy, which rewards popularity over talent, even in an alternative category. Normally they’ll have a good list of nominations and give the Grammy to the worst pick (expect Cage the Elephant to win this year). But, sometimes they’ll surprise us. It’s good to see Arcade Fire get a nomination (but really, why not in some of the more major categories?) along with St. Vincent. It certainly would have been sobering to see FKA twigs, Spoon or Mac DeMarco pick up a nomination here.
What is the definition of rock vs alternative? No one knows
Though Jack White has been nominated for Best Rock Album multiple times, he’s nominated in the Alternative category and also in the Best Rock Song category this year. Which is it, Grammys? I guess no one said the Grammys had to make sense. After four times being nominated for Best Alternative Album, Beck is suddenly a rock artist this year, too. It’s kind of like the Recording Academy picked whatever popular acts were leftover and just decided to disperse them evenly among categories. Or, maybe this list of nominations was just produced by an algorithm. Yeah, that would make sense.
Bonus: Why even bother with electronic/dance categories?
Here’s a category that pretty much never makes any sense. Anyway, these are your nominees this year. Good to see Disclosure on there…
“Never Say Never,” Basement Jaxx
“Rather Be,” Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne
“F for You,” Disclosure ft. Mary J. Blige
“I Got U,” Duke Dumont ft. Jax Jones
“Faded,” Zhu
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