Somehow after Beyoncé became the winningest artist in Grammy history with 32 gramophones, she still managed to come off as a loser — yet again — when Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” won Album of the Year over B’s “Renaissance.”
But — deep breath — how could Beyoncé still not have an Album of the Year gramophone after four nominations, when she should already have at least two?
Her game-changing surprise self-titled set lost to Beck’s “Morning Phase” in 2015, and “Lemonade” — one of the best albums of the century — bowed out to Adele’s “25” in 2017.
But the Queen B wasn’t the only artist to get snubbed — or pull a surprise — at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday night. Here, we look back on some of the other major shockers on music’s biggest night.
Snub: Taylor Swift
Yes, T-Swizzle — who dutifully showed up to the awards even though she (and everybody else) knows that 2024 is really her year— won Best Music Video for “All Too Well: The Short Film.” But she failed to pick up gramophones for either Song of the Year or Best Country Song for the tunes that were nominated for her re-recorded versions of “Red” and “I Bet You Think About Me.” While this has been a great move for Swift from a principal and pocketbook standpoint, it’s not exactly what the Record Academy wants to award yet with so much truly new music out there.
Surprise: Bonnie Raitt
Who doesn’t love Bonnie Raitt? But when you’re competing against the likes of Adele, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Lizzo — all superstars at the top of their game — it just doesn’t make any kind of sense that the 73-year-old would win Song of the Year for “Just Like That.” It’s a tune that most people (like, almost everybody) haven’t even heard.
Surprise: Muni Long
Um…who is Muni Long? Well, hopefully the world will get hip to this R&B singer-songwriter after she beat out not only Grammy winners Mary J. Blige and Jazmine Sullivan but Beyoncé — let’s repeat that, Beyoncé — for Best R&B Performance for “Hrs & Hrs.” Proof that the Grammys are not, indeed, rigged — expect to see her streams go through the roof tomorrow.
Snub: Mary J. Blige
Wait a minute — so Mary J. Blige, the indisputable Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, was nominated for Album of the Year (“Good Morning Gorgeous”) for only the second time in her career (after 2005’s “The Breakthrough”), and yet lost out in the Best R&B Album category to neo-jazzman Robert Glasper — a worthy winner in his own right — for “Black Radio III”? When you are nominated for Album of the Year and you can’t even win in your own genre category — especially a deserving diva such as MJB — something is wrong with the system.
Surprise: Madonna
When you’re the Queen of Pop, you only step out to present awards when it really means something to you. And after all of her work and representation for the LGBTQ community over the years, Madonna sure was the perfect person to present the performance of non-binary artist Sam Smith and trans singer Kim Petras — who had already become the first trans performer to win a Grammy when their “Unholy” won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance earlier in the night. Certainly, it made sense that Madonna is reminding folks about her own impact as a fierce LGBTQ ally as she gets set to launch her “The Celebration Tour” honoring her 40th anniversary in music later this year.
Surprise: Samara Joy
It was a pretty open field for Best New Artist year, with no clear favorite among a motley crew that ranged from buzzy indie duo Wet Leg to Brazilian star Anitta. At the end of the day, the edge seemed to go to Italian glam rockers Maneskin for perfectly playing the industry game — and helping to revive a dying genre. But a 23-year-old jazz vocalist from The Bronx, who has been compared to Sarah Vaughan, somehow surprised everyone in one of the night’s biggest shockers.
Surprise: Bad Bunny
Was it going to be Adele? Was it going to be Harry Styles? Or was it going to be the ever-elusive Beyoncé opening the show? But the primo placement went to Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny, who made history with “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the first Spanish-language LP to be nominated for Album of the Year. Kicking off his medley of “El Apagon” and “Despues De La Playa,” he brought the fiesta through the audience and made up for his no-show at last November’s American Music Awards, where he was the top nominee. While he could have went a little harder on wardrobe — his white t-shirt and jeans made him look like he was still in rehearsals — he got the party started after a semi-slow start. His festive if somewhat chaotic performance got Taylor Swift, Jack Harlow and even 93-year-old Motown founder Berry Gordy out of their seats.
Surprise: Beyonce ties the record stuck in traffic
When Viola Davis — who had already made history herself by becoming an EGOT by winning a Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling for the audio book of her memoir, “Finding Me” — presented Best R&B Song to a no-show Beyoncé it was one of the all-time diva moments: Bey had tied the record for the most Grammy wins ever but was late showing up to the awards.
The legendary Nile Rodgers, who co-wrote and plays guitar on “Cuff It,” helped to make up for it with an emotional speech that made it all good.
And later, Bey had her moment on stage when she broke the record by picking up gramophone No. 32.
Snub: Diana Ross
The 78-year-old Motown queen — who somehow has been underrated and underappreciated as an artist over a supreme six decades — had never won a competitive Grammy in her legendary career, despite 12 nominations. The streak sadly continued with her unlucky 13th nomination (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for “Thank You”) on Sunday night.
