2024 Grammy Awards nominations were released on Nov 10, and while there were plenty of picks, the academy came up short in some fields. The 66th Grammy Awards are set to be presented on Feb 4, 2024, and include over 75 awards for all types of music.
Memorable nominations this year include SZA, who leads the field with nine Grammy nods, while Victoria Monét and Phoebe Bridgers follow closely with seven each. Women dominated the nominations this year, with nine women earning six or more nominations, while Jon Batiste was the only male to do so. The Barbie movie soundtrack picked up 12 nominations, dominating in the songs written for visual media category and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” securing five nominations alone.
However, amid all of the nominations, there are still memorable snubs for the Grammy Awards. Notably, the Foo Fighters, while picking up nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance, fell short on a nomination for Album of the Year. Their album, But Here We Are, was their first album following the death of former drummer Taylor Hawkins. Rolling Stone called the album a “dark horse” candidate in the category, expecting at least a nomination, describing the album as “a cathartic yawp for bandmates and fans alike.”
Popular folk/rock artist Hozier, who released a successful album titled Unreal Unearth, was another nomination snub. Hozier’s label, Rubyworks Island Columbia, submitted the album for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album consideration, along with multiple other songs submitted for consideration. However, the artist did not earn a single Grammy nomination. Upon the album’s release in August, grammy.com described the album as one that “creates a captivating tale that only a voice like Hozier’s could narrate.” The slight on the nomination also follows a performance from the Irish songwriter less than two weeks before nominations were announced at the Grammy Museum.
The choices this year continue a tradition of nomination snubs. Albums like The Weeknd’s After Hours, Tyler, the Creator’s Igor, SZA’s Ctrl and Frank Ocean’s Blonde are all notable albums that failed to produce a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. One of the best rock albums of the 2010s, AM by the Arctic Monkeys is another notable snub in the category. The list goes further than just nominations as well. Controversial picks are a Grammy tradition, like in the 2008 Grammys when River: The Joni Letters, a cover album by Herbie Hancock, took the Album of the Year Grammy over Kanye West’s Graduation and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. Another notable snub is with New Zealand singer Lorde, who drew no victories for her 2017 album Melodrama, a fantastic album that followed her 2013 release Pure Heroine.
While the 2024 Grammys will be a good watch, and there were plenty of artists that got the recognition they deserved, the academy came up short once again in some categories for their nominations. It will be nice to see the victors in February, but there is always the possibility of the academy having another snub onstage that seems all too common.