REVEILLE: END OF 2020

by James Hamoy

The holiday season is looking a little different in 2020, but some things never change. For example, the nominations for the Grammy Awards are always, without fail, announced during this time of year. To the unfortunate enough to be uninformed, the Grammys is an annual awards ceremony held at the beginning of the year. It is a night where the world’s favorite artists are awarded a glamorous gilded gramophone for achievements in the music industry. One might say that the Grammys is like the Oscars for the music biz. The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards will recognize the best artists, recordings, and compositions within the eligibility period between September 2019 and August 2020. The nominations for the 2021 Grammys were announced on November 24, 2020 and it is apparent that while some artists are up for more than a handful of awards, other artists have been totally snubbed. The “irreplaceable” Queen Bey is not known as The First Lady of Music for nothing. With that in mind, it is no surprise that Her Highness is in the lead with 9 nominations, bringing her grand total up to 79. This makes her the 3rd most nominated artist of all time, right behind her husband Jay-Z. Beyoncé’s Black Parade is up for the coveted Record of the Year award along with the hit head-banger Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa, who closely follows Beyoncé with 6 nominations. Both tracks have also been nominated for Song of the Year, up against the quarantine anthem Cardigan by Taylor Swift. Miss Americana also snatched up 6 nods, including Album of the Year for her surprise album folklore. The viral Tiktok song Say So by Doja Cat is also up for Record of the Year as well as “WAP” rapper Meghan Thee Stallion’s Savage featuring Beyoncé. The two breakout female artists are also nominated for Best New Artist, the one-way ticket for the success train to the music industry as evidenced by its past winners Billie Eillish, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, Adele, and many artists of equal calibre. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, it is time to address the big fat elephant in the awards venue. To say the least, the upcoming awards ceremony will be one of the biggest artist snubs in history. The likes of which have not been seen since the 1996 Grammys where Mariah Carey lost all six nominations, a shock to critics and the Queen of Christmas herself. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, professionally known as The Weeknd, was completely ignored by the Recording Academy and was shut out of all nominations. A fact which may not have been so scandalous had The Weeknd’s record-breaking hit song Blinding Lights not spent 40 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. On that account, it took no time at all for the Canadian singer’s fans to rally behind the “Starboy” and bring on an onslaught of tweets accusing The Grammys of snubbing the artist and being corrupt. The Weeknd himself later tweeted, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency…” Selena Gomez is also absent from the 2021 Grammys list of nominees despite peaking at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in late 2019 with the song Lose You to Love Me. Other Grammy snubs include Harry Styles and Time Magazine’s Entertainer of the Year BTS, who are both absent from the major categories. Justin Bieber also had a bone to pick with the 2021 Grammy nominations, posting a message on his Instagram saying he finds it “strange” that his album Changes is not being acknowledged as an R&B album, when that was what he set out to make. Instead, Changes was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album alongside Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, Harry Styles’ Fine Line, and Taylor Swift’s folklore. It’s no wonder that Bieber should find that it “feels weird” to be in that category but is nonetheless flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for his work. Regardless of who had the most nominations and who were snubbed, the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards will be held on the 31st of January 2021, rain or shine, COVID-19 vaccine or no, at the Staples Center in L.A. and can be live streamed via CBS.