This year’s Grammy field is dominated by queens of pop — Taylor, Beyoncé and Billie, and now Chappell and Sabrina too. But with a recent deep changing of the guard in the Recording Academy’s voting ranks, the Grammys’ shifting tastes are reflected in who they nominated — and left out. Here are a few of the notable surprises and snubs of this year’s crop.
Surprise: André 3000, the jazz-flute album of the year sleeper pick?
When the OutKast frontman dropped his experimental jazz-flute album “New Blue Sun” last November, you had to admit—the guy followed his muse where it led him. But the Grammys love a freewheeling veteran updating jazz traditions. After handsomely rewarding bandleader Jon Batiste, André may also benefit from a crowded pop field and take home a big-category prize. At very least, he’s the front-runner for instrumental composition for, yes, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time.”
Snub: Jack Antonoff’s producer streak lapses
After winning yet another Grammy for producer, non-classical in February on the strength of Taylor Swifts’ “Midnights,” Antonoff seemed a shoo-in for a nomination given that same artist’s massive follow-up, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n Sweet.” Antonoff had won that Grammy three years running, but he won’t be adding to his streak this year — this is the first time he hasn’t been at least nominated for that award since 2019.
Surprise: The Beatles are back
AI has a lot to answer for — mangled fingers, election misinformation, siphoning the world’s water. But give credit where it’s due — new tech allowed producers to conjure a final Beatles song out of previously unsalvageable mixes. In terms of production innovation and craft, it’s hard to argue with what “Now and Then” accomplished. A win would notch the Beatles’ eighth Grammy, 60 years after the group’s first in 1965.
Surprise: Khruangbin for new artist?
For those who have been watching the great Texas psych-rock trio headline festivals for what seems like a decade, remember — you can be relatively known with a decent back catalog and still be a best new artist.
Snub: Rock stars in repose
A well-received comeback Rolling Stones album with a hot young producer — that should be Grammy catnip, right? “Hackney Diamonds” did land one nomination for rock album, but it’s surprising the group didn’t turn up in rock performance or song or even something bigger. But the Grammys punted on other easy choices for rock categories — no Dolly Parton for her feel-good ripper “Rockstar,” no Hozier for the streaming smash “Unreal Unearth,” no nod for young guitar god Mk.gee for “Two Star & The Dream Police?”
Surprise: Brat summer lives on
Giving Charli XCX Grammys: the Recording Academy thought about it all the time. “Brat” was the critical and commercial peak of Charli’s career, and the academy rewarded her up and down the program, with a second-highest seven nominations for a messy meta-rave about how fame refracts femininity. She got nominations in a huge range of categories — record, album, pop solo and duo/group performance, three dance music categories (like pop-aligned peers Beyoncé and Daft Punk) and music video and packaging.
Snub: Tommy Richman, don’t @ me
Tommy Richman’s TikTok smash “Million Dollar Baby” was one of the year’s inescapable singles — a brash, funky and featherlight falsetto that rattled out of cars windows and phone speakers for months. There might have been some category debates behind the scenes — is it rap? R&B? Pop? — but he reportedly submitted for rap song and melodic rap performance, though it ended in a blank for the rising singer.
Surprise: Jimmy Carter, Grammy icon
The former president is up for his fourth Grammy — all in the spoken-word categories — for “Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration.” Frankly, these days, hearing a centenarian peanut farmer read you to sleep sounds like paradise.
Snub: The L.A. Times’ Envelope Grammy Preview
What Times columnist Bill Plaschke is to jinxing Dodger baseball, we must have the same effect for Grammy hopefuls. Our apologies to non-nominated recent Envelope stars Tyla, Vampire Weekend, Fuerza Regida and Megan Moroney — hopefully your Grammy victory parade is just around the corner too.
