Grammy nominations are out, and per the standard, many of the usual winners are winning, and the usual losers are — well, losing.

Once again, the Grammy nominations highlighted a discrepancy, where some of the same artists — Grammy regulars, if you will — are set up for immense success.

Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish all received multiple nominations this year, with Lamar and Gaga among the leaders with nine and seven nominations, respectively. I’m not trying to insinuate that they don’t deserve their success, as they have earned all their flowers. However, it’s no secret that they win these awards a lot.

For Lamar, while an argument can be made that racial bias has robbed him of deserved success in more mainstream categories, the Compton native’s hold on any award related to hip-hop over the past few years has felt guaranteed every year, whether a project is commercially successful or not.

Ever since the 2014 ceremony, where his “good kid, m.A.A.d city” was infamously snubbed in favor of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for hip-hop album of the year, Lamar has dominated, winning 22 awards — double that of any other rapper since 2013 and the third most of any rapper ever.

A common trend for Lamar, and all of the other Grammy favorites, is that their work is always given the benefit of the doubt. In years when he might lack certain commercial edges over other artists, such as in 2019 when his “King’s Dead” won over the notably higher-streamed likes of “SICKO MODE” and “Nice for What,” the Grammys pick him regardless, seemingly because they have some sort of affinity for his artistry.

Gaga is a similar case. Like Lamar, she’s undeniably a musical genius and one of the greatest of our generation; she does seem to generally curry favor with the academy, winning 14 times out of the 45 nominations over her career.

Eilish has also historically been a Grammys sweetheart. In 2020, Eillish practically swept the awards over many of pop’s biggest names, including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé — many of whom had albums that made more waves from a cultural standpoint. Even this year, when she officially released no new music, she was able to secure two nominations for her song “WILDFLOWER,” which was released two years ago.

Again, Eilish is exceptional and has effectively pioneered a style of alternative music, but she’s won nine times already in just six years — more than some industry staples. Her nine wins are more than Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and Nicki Minaj — artists that have been around for nearly a decade — combined.

While it feels like a guarantee that if some artists put out something marginally worthwhile, they’ll be able to swim in seas of gramophone-shaped gold at the end of the night, other artists have to work magic just to tread water.

Just as this year’s award show has shone lights of praise on the Grammys’ favorites, it’s also caused fans of its repeatedly neglected artists to — once again — cry out for recognition.

While artistic innovation is respected for some artists even when they fail to dominate commercially, others feel destined for failure. This year’s biggest losers, The Weeknd, Lorde and Ariana Grande, aren’t strangers to snubs.

The Weeknd is the most peculiar case of an artist whom the Grammys have a vendetta against. He was probably 2020’s most successful artist when he re-invented his sound and dominated charts with the “After Hours” album and his single “Blindling Lights,” the latter of which being the most successful song ever on the Billboard charts.

Still, the Ethiopian Canadian star didn’t even receive a single nomination at the 2021 show, which led him to boycott the ceremony for the next four years.

Last year, he made amends with the show and submitted work from this year’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow” album for review — a project that was commercially and critically successful.
However, this time around, The Weeknd was snubbed again, not even receiving a single nomination.

Grande is another artist whose snub isn’t new; she’s always had the short end of the stick at the Grammys, as she’s come up short many years where it feels like she’s been at the forefront of pop, with her aforementioned 2020 loss to Eilish being a notable example. She’s only ever won twice, and this year she received no nominations for the new songs from her latest project, “eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead.”

Lorde is another major artist who deserved more at this year’s ceremony, and again, it isn’t her first rodeo with Grammys controversy. In 2018, she was the only woman nominated for album of the year, and incidentally, the only nominee who was not offered to perform. Afterwards, she penned a letter to her fans thanking them for “believing in female musicians” and retweeted a post highlighting gender disparities at the Grammys.

Since then, she’s not only not won anything — she hasn’t even been nominated. Many fans thought this year would be different, given how much praise “Virgin” received for its sonic innovation, but once again, it received nothing.

Pointing out these discrepancies isn’t to discredit the artists who have won big at these shows — all of the winning artists deserve much of the praise they get, and it’s only natural that not everyone can win big at music’s biggest stage.

However, it’s disheartening to see these patterns of exclusion against certain musicians. It makes the bar for the event feel inconsistent, and as long as that’s the case, the Grammys’ legitimacy will always be in question.

Kailen Hicks is a junior writing about current trends, conflicts and discourse around music in his column “Noteworthy Noise,” which runs every other Wednesday.