- The 2020 Grammy Awards nominations were announced Wednesday morning.
- Taylor Swift, Maren Morris, Tyler, The Creator, Rosalía, and The 1975 were all snubbed in major categories.
- Beloved artists like Halsey, BTS, and Solange were completely ignored.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Nominations for the 2020 Grammy Awards were announced Wednesday morning.
A lot of new talent was recognized as Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Lil Nas X led the pack for the 62nd annual ceremony, which will air live from Los Angeles' Staples Center on January 26, 2020 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Veteran pop stars Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey finally received recognition in major categories for the first time in their careers.
But while there's plenty to celebrate about this year's crop of nominees, there are also ways in which it feels woefully inadequate. There were beloved albums, hit songs, and renowned artists that were left out entirely.
Keep reading to see Insider's picks for the 11 biggest snubs, in no particular order.
Of the three major categories, Taylor Swift was only nominated for song of the year.
While Swift's song "Lover" certainly deserves its nod for song of the year — especially considering she's the lone songwriter credited on the track, and this award recognizes excellence in lyricism — her album "Lover" should have received wider recognition.
It was thankfully nominated for best pop vocal album, but inexplicably shut out of album of the year, despite its near-universal critical acclaim (Rolling Stone called it a "career-capping masterpiece") and Swift's status as a Grammys darling.
Maren Morris was widely considered a lock for album of the year, but she didn't even get a nomination for best country album.
Back in October, Billboard reported that "five albums seem like locks" for album of the year at the 2020 Grammys, including "Girl" by Maren Morris.
But not only was Morris' excellent album ignored in the major categories, she was barely even recognized in the country-specific categories, securing a lone nomination for best country duo/group performance. Considering that "Girl" literally just won album of the year at the CMA Awards, this seems like an obvious oversight.
Rosalía's "El Mal Querer" should have been nominated for album of the year.
Rosalía's sublime sophomore LP was nominated for best Latin rock, urban or alternative album, but extending that honor to the Grammys' most prestigious category would have been a more inspired choice.
No artist has ever introduced traditional flamenco stylings so successfully to such a massive audience — let alone combine that sound with reggaetón, trap, and celestial vocals to create a "relentlessly gorgeous" concept album that's based on a 13th-century novel.
Put simply, Rosalía is one of a kind, and her most recent album isn't just pushing boundaries, expectations of Latin music, and imagined lines between genres. It's demolishing them.
Tyler, The Creator's No. 1 album "Igor" was universally praised by fans and critics, but it was ignored in major categories.
Tyler, The Creator released the most beloved and critically acclaimed rap-adjacent album this year (to narrowly label it "rap" feels inadequate). "Igor" is his most cohesive, sonically rich, and innovative project to date, hailed as "meticulously crafted" (Rolling Stone) and "the work of a perfectionist giving shape to his more radical ideas" (Pitchfork).
"The production here is superb,"Roisin O'Connor wrote for The Independent. "Tyler has never been one for traditional song structure, but on 'Igor' he's like the Minotaur luring you through a maze that twists and turns around seemingly impossible corners, drawing you into the thrilling unknown."
For an awards ceremony that nominated Drake, Post Malone, and Cardi B for album of the year in 2019, "Igor" felt like a natural choice for 2020. After all, it's more exciting and experimental than "Scorpion,""Beerbongs & Bentleys," and "Invasion of Privacy" put together. But, alas, it was relegated to the best rap album category and ignored everywhere else.
Despite universal acclaim for their newest album, The 1975 received just one nomination for best rock song.
"A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships," released in 2018 just after the cutoff for last year's Grammys, is arguably The 1975's best album to date. Not giving it an album of the year nod is confusing and incorrect, but not nominating it at all — for either best rock album or best alternative album — is a downright tragedy.
Thankfully, The 1975 didn't emerge completely empty-handed, since "Give Yourself A Try" secured a nomination for best rock song — but that wasn't even the band's best eligible song. "Sincerity Is Scary" would have made sense in pop or R&B categories, and "Love It If We Made It" would have even deserved to win song of the year, had it been given the chance.
Normani didn't get any love, despite releasing two of the year's best pop songs.
Normani's smash collaboration with Sam Smith, "Dancing With a Stranger," seemed like a shoo-in at least for best pop duo/group performance, but it came up empty-handed.
Even more bothersome, Normani's debut solo single "Motivation," which was as close to a perfect pop song as anyone got in 2019, was also ignored. It would've been an easy choice for best pop solo performance, but honestly, it would've felt right at home in the record of the year category.
Halsey's "Without Me" should have been nominated for record or song of the year (or both).
Halsey, the High Priestess of punk-rock-alt-pop, has only been nominated at the Grammys for her features on other artists' songs (Justin Bieber's"The Feeling" and The Chainsmokers' "Closer," both in 2016), but that seemed essentially guaranteed to change this year.
In January, Halsey logged her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist with the searingly intimate, soaring ballad "Without Me," the same year that she received an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
"Without Me" seemed like an easy choice for song of the year — especially since the Grammys love when an artist is habitually credited as their own primary songwriter — if it didn't score a double nomination for song and record. Instead, Halsey was completely excluded from the ceremony.
BTS, the biggest group in the world, was completely ignored.
When BTS released "Map of the Soul: Persona" in April, it became the group's third album to reach No. 1 in the country in less than a year, tying a record set by The Beatles. It offered the perfect opportunity for the Grammys to prove their relevance on a global scale, but instead, they've made it painfully clear just how late they are to the party.
"MOTS: Persona" would have made sense for album of the year, best pop vocal album — or even best world music album if the voters were really unsure. Their collaboration with Halsey, "Boy With Luv," was an obviously choice for best pop duo/group performance. But once again, BTS came out empty-handed.
Neglecting to nominate Beyoncé's live album in bigger categories was a missed opportunity.
The Grammys likely managed to satiate Beyoncé fans by nominating music from her "Lion King" album, "The Gift," in multiple categories. But Beyoncé's superior release this year, "Homecoming: The Live Album," only received a perfunctory nomination for best music film.
None of the actual music from "Homecoming" was honored, which would make sense for any other artist; live albums are typically considered long shots at the Grammys. But no one does a live album like Beyoncé (who else could make "suck on my balls" sound like a transcendental chant?), and "Homecoming" managed to breathe even more life into her timeless catalog, seamlessly weaving together hits from different eras. (Not to mention, her voice sounds absolutely flawless, despite the elaborate dance routines we know she was performing.)
Solange should have been recognized in at least one category.
Solange's celebrated album "When I Get Home" was, once again, a masterclass in blending dreamy production, stunning vocals, intimate revelations, and social commentary while still maintaining a cohesive vision. It was considered a front runner for album of the year, but instead, it didn't even receive a cursory nod in any R&B category.
Maggie Rogers deserved more than a single nod for best new artist.
Apart from seeming to emerge from college fully-formed, already an accomplished singer-songwriter-producer and true visionary, Maggie Rogers seems like Grammys bait. Her soulful, intimate brand of folk-pop is just the kind of music that voters love to reward (think: 2019's album of the year winner Kacey Musgraves, who's more country but is beloved for similar reasons).
Of course, Rogers' music is difficult to categorize — would "Heard It In A Past Life" be more at home with the best pop vocal album nominees, or best alternative music album? — but either way, a singular nomination for best new artist feels inadequate.
- Read more:
- 11 artists who don't deserve their 2020 Grammy nominations — sorry
- 5 Grammy winners who didn't deserve their win in 2019 — sorry
- Every song that hit No. 1 on the chart in 2019, so far
- The 52 best music videos of 2019 so far, ranked