LOS ANGELES — This yr’s Grammy area is dominated by queens of pop — Taylor, Beyoncé and Billie, and now Chappell and Sabrina too. However with a current deep altering of the guard within the academy’s voting ranks, the Grammys’ shifting tastes are mirrored in who they rewarded — and neglected. Listed here are a number of of the notable surprises and snubs of this yr’s crop.
Shock:André 3000 — the jazz-flute album of the yr sleeper choose?
When the OutKast frontman dropped his experimental jazz-flute album “New Blue Sun” in November 2023, you needed to admit, the man adopted his muse the place it led him. However the Grammys love a freewheeling veteran updating jazz traditions. After handsomely rewarding bandleader Jon Batiste, André might also profit from a crowded pop area and take residence a big-category prize. On the very least, he’s the front-runner for instrumental composition for, sure, “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 successful one more Grammy for producer, nonclassical in February on the energy of Taylor Swifts’ “Midnights,” Antonoff appeared a shoo-in for a nom given that very same artist’s huge follow-up, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Quick ‘n Sweet.” Antonoff had won that Grammy three years running, but he won’t be including to his streak this yr — that is the primary time he hasn’t been at the least nominated for that award since 2019.
Shock:The Beatles are again
AI has so much to reply for — mangled fingers, election misinformation, siphoning the world’s water. However give credit score the place it’s due — new tech allowed producers to conjure a last Beatles music out of beforehand unsalvageable mixes. When it comes to manufacturing innovation and craft, it’s exhausting to argue with what “Now and Then” achieved. A win would notch the Beatles’ eighth Grammy, 60 years after their first in 1965.