Ranking the Best New Artist Winners of the Decade
This is usually the time of the year that I spend talking about the best-received Couch pieces of the last year. But COVID-19 has made our 4th blogaversary considerably more muted, for as you might have noticed, there has been a whole lot less to write about with the world under lockdown.
This is also the time of year where I’d start peppering with you some of the best film, music, sports and television of the first half of the year. But with COVID-19 greatly lessening the presence of new sports and music, and essentially halting new movies and television, we have had very little of that to write about. Instead, what I’m hoping to do over the next several weeks is do what many publications and TV channels alike have been doing over the last 5 months: retrospectives!
More specifically, I’m going to be looking back at the last decade in major awards show decisions. The Grammys and the Oscars— but really the Hollywood awards circuit in general —have become annual viewing experiences and emotional investments for me. They’re my favorite thing outside of actual sporting events to get needlessly worked up and competitive about, and it’s over the last decade that those annual loud and unsolicited opinions of mine really began.
First up: the Grammy for Best New Artist! Note that the years listed in the rankings denote the year of music that they were nominated for, not the year of the ceremony itself.
The Best New Artist is always one of the most interesting Grammy awards given out on the night, for largely the same reason the Album of the Year (another award we'll take a look at in this series) is: conventional wisdom always favors the most popular, but that's not always the case. And sometimes it is. Tracking thus far?
In a sense, what I mean is it's rare to have a year in which there's an obvious Best New Artist frontrunner, because the Grammy voters' criteria, both for what constitutes "new," and for who or what they deem as "best," is so unclear. More times than not, the biggest pop success of the nominees is the winner, but that is far from being annually true. And while that has led to a couple winners that aged very well, or were at least wonderful at the time, it has also led to some truly head-scratching decisions. This probably helps explain the infamous "Best New Artist curse."
Considering not just my personal opinion, but the general critical consensus of the artists in question, their popularity to date, and how much their win was deserved at the time, here is where I rank this decade's Grammy winners for Best New Artist:
10. Meghan Trainor (2015)
Other Nominees: Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly
Biggest Nominated Snub: Courtney Barnett
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Leon Bridges
In terms of the quality of artist, this is a clear last-place finisher. My apologies to the Megheads or Trainor Army or whatever her fanbase may be called, but, as the kids say, "that's facts." I'm not going to pick on Ms. Trainor too much, especially because this win made her very emotional and clearly meant a lot to her, but it was disheartening to see the Grammys award an artist who put forth a couple radio hits, sure, but by and large, makes a living on a bad affect and a hollow reprisal of doo-wop pop.
The one thing I will say in defense of this award is that in terms of the field Meghan was up against, this win was almost understandable. Leon Bridges and Chris Stapleton were inexplicably not even nominated (the latter perhaps because his prior work with The Steeldrivers and The Jompson Brothers disqualified him from being "new"? It's unclear), and of the five that did make the cut, she was by far the biggest mainstream radio presence.
9. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (2013)
Other Nominees: James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves, Ed Sheeran
Biggest Nominated Snub: Kendrick Lamar
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Lorde
Macklemore and his frequent collaborator avoid last place in my ranking because unlike the prior singer, the Seattle-based rapper did have a decent body of work and had brought something original to the table before winning. That said, this is the single-worst Best New Artist decision the Grammys have made in my lifetime. Macklemore's triumph over fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar in both this category and Best Rap Album was instantly infamous, a fact the artist himself acknowledged with a public apology soon after the ceremony.
But the outrage goes beyond the two rappers; if Macklemore's win was bad at the time, it has aged to be worse all these years later. Just look at that field of nominees! Kendrick Lamar, widely considered the best rapper in the game today. Kacey Musgraves, widely considered one of the best Country artists in the game today, and a future Album of the Year winner. Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest names in all of pop music. James Blake, one of the most respected producers and electronic/experimental pop artists today. And this field didn't even contain then-17 year old Lorde, whose music did and still does alter and define the pop landscape. Truly mind-numbing idiocy by the voters in this case.
8. Esperanza Spalding (2010)
Other Nominees: Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence + The Machine, Mumford and Sons
Biggest Nominated Snub: Florence + The Machine
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Janelle Monáe
Let me start by reiterating that this article is not just "Ranking Daniel's Favorite Winners," and this particular ranking is an example of this fact. Esperanza Spalding, the terrific jazz bassist and singer, is a wonderful talent and her win, in retrospect, was a delightful surprise, a reminder of instances in which the Grammys award quality over quantity.
That said, there's a good chance you scrolled down to this and asked "who is Esperanza Spalding?" Therein lies the problem. It wasn't quite the murderers' row that 2013 would prove to be, but this field of nominees did include Mumford and Sons, who were EVERYWHERE for about 2 years (and ultimately won an Album of the Year Grammy), as well as Drake and Justin Bieber, two artists I guarantee you have heard multiple songs by if you've touched a radio this decade. There of course is an argument to be made that Best New Artist shouldn't just go to who is likeliest to be the biggest future star. However, I would argue that fellow nominee Florence + The Machine, as well as the snubbed Janelle Monáe, could have also been picked to recognize terrific musicianship, while being slightly more of a household name themselves.
7. fun. (2012)
Other Nominees: Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers, Frank Ocean, Alabama Shakes
Biggest Nominated Snub: Frank Ocean
On the surface, it’s easy to see fun. as just another example of a prominent Grammy winner fading into obscurity. But that doesn’t tell the whole story— it’s easy to forget just how omnipresent the alt-pop group was in 2012-13. Their track “We Are Young” won the Song of the Year at that same ceremony, and hit singles “Some Nights” and “Carry On” were also radio mainstays. That they have since disappeared isn’t due to a sudden downturn in quality or even popularity; rather, the group just stopped making music together after the smashing success of that album.
fun.’s win was a fine win, no doubt. But, in an awards show that so often snubs artists of color, the fact that they beat out Blues Rock powerhouses Alabama Shakes and especially Frank Ocean, one of music’s most revered and respected current artists, was tough to swallow at the time. It’s even tougher now.
6. Alessia Cara (2017)
Other Nominees: Khalid, Julia Michaels, SZA, Li'l Uzi Vert
Biggest Nominated Snub: SZA
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Vince Staples
Alessia Cara winning Best New Artist in January 2018 was a bit surreal, considering her smash hit “Here” was all the rage...in 2015. And, though it’s way too early to make this call, she might prove to be another victim of the Best New Artist Curse: her post-Grammy singles have largely failed to land, and her win over the pioneering SZA looks worse in retrospect.
That said, Alessia’s radio singles leading up to her win were quite good, and she is a refreshing pop voice and personality. Her triumph probably won’t be remembered as a defining moment for the music landscape, but it was far from the worst.
5. Sam Smith (2014)
Other Nominees: Iggy Azalea, Bastille, Brandy Clark, HAIM
Biggest Nominated Snub: HAIM
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Hozier
As soon as they exploded onto the scene in 2013-14, Sam Smith was being labelled as the "male Adele," and that partially manifested itself when they followed Adele's trajectory of trans-Atlantic breakthrough success > big night at the Grammys punctuated by a Best New Artist win > winning the Oscar for "Best Original Song" thanks to their single for a Bond film.
Like Adele, Sam is a bit of a one-trick pony, and while a soulful crooner can tug at your heartstrings, it's a bit uninspiring to give them a "new" artist award when they're essentially harkening back to the music of the 50s and before. That said, also like Adele, Sam pulls off that one trick very very well, and has remained prominent in the music scene to date. Whether you liked them or found them bland, there's no debate that their win in that Grammy ceremony was both inevitable and deserved.
4. Dua Lipa (2018)
Other Nominees: Luke Combs, Chloe X Halle, H.E.R., Greta Van Fleet, Margo Price, Bebe Rexha, Jorja Smith
Biggest Nominated Snub: H.E.R.
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: Cardi B
Dua Lipa, like Sam Smith and Alessia Cara before her, was an obvious winner on the basis of being the only really big name out of her category, a feat that's especially impressive considering hers was the first year of an expanded field of 8 nominees. And while it would have been nice to see any of the several nominated women of R&B take the title, Dua's smash hits "Blow Your Mind," "Be The One," "One Kiss," and "New Rules" made her a deserving winner.
That said, had I been writing this article in February of 2020, she would likely be ranked a little lower on this list. But March's release of Future Nostalgia, arguably the best album of the year thus far, showed that she was not just a flash in the pan 3 years ago: Dua Lipa is a pop force here to stay.
3. Chance The Rapper (2016)
Other Nominees: Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Maren Morris, Anderson.Paak
Biggest Nominated Snub: Anderson.Paak
Chance's victory was certainly the most excited I've ever been about a Best New Artist win, and I was tempted to give him the top spot on this list for that reason. This was not only an instance in which the actual best artist won-- no offense intended to the lovely Maren Morris or the incredibly talented Anderson.Paak, who I also would have been thrilled with for winning-- it was also a big upset. Not only do Rap artists so rarely break through in the General awards, here was one doing so without the assistance of any major label! And honestly, he deserves a hero's reception for saving us from The Chainsmokers winning the trophy, which seemed the likeliest outcome.
The reason I ended up selecting Chance at the #3 spot is that last year's The Big Day was enough of a thud that it raises concerns over whether he will remain the star in the Rap galaxy that he promised to be after Acid Rap and Coloring Book. Nevertheless, this will always be a bright spot in this award's history.
2. Billie Eilish (2019)
Other Nominees: Tank and the Bangas, Lizzo, Black Pumas, Maggie Rogers, Rosalía,
Li'l Nas X, Yola
Biggest Nominated Snub: Lizzo
Billie Eilish, the reigning Best New Artist, might have been the least surprising winner on this list. But that speaks more to her prowess than it does her competition. Last year's Best New Artist field was absolutely loaded, first with talents who deserve more time in the public eye than they've gotten, such as Black Pumas, Yola, and Tank and the Bangas. But also with Li'l Nas X, whose hit "Old Town Road" broke barriers and records. Rosalía, the crossover Flamenco sensation. Maggie Rogers, whose rapid rise from music school student to arena artist could not be more deserved. And of course, the unstoppable Lizzo, who pumped out anthem after anthem in 2019.
Yet, standing above all of them was 18-year old Billie, who completely exploded onto the scene last year, aided by legions upon legions of young fans and the app TikTok. Her win wasn't just merited on popularity, though she is currently one of the biggest artists in the entire World, bar none. It was also merited on musical ingenuity; her brand of whisper electropop was unlike anything to hit mainstream radio, and it led to a sweep of the other General awards: Album, Record and Song of the Year. The only reason she comes up short of the #1 spot is for something she has no control over: her young age means we only have a very limited discography to draw on thus far, and therefore we don't know how exactly her career is going to shake out. But it's safe to say that if the current trajectory continues, she may turn out to be one this award's most impressive winners in history.
1. Bon Iver (2011)
Other Nominees: J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, The Band Perry, Skrillex
Biggest Nominated Snub: J. Cole
Biggest Non-nominated Snub: The Civil Wars
"Bon Iver is a surprising winner"... is a sentence you might say about this article, but a sentence people definitely were saying about his Grammy victory. Not many people expected a disheveled-looking, falsetto-singing Wisconsinite to beat out breakout rap stars J. Cole and Nicki Minaj, nor even Skrillex, whose dupstep had become the genre du jour of America's youth at that time. In fact, if you watch the video of this award being given, you can almost hear an arena-wide reaction of "who?" over the polite applause.
With this win, as well as surprising nominations for Record and Song of the Year, one could argue that Bon Iver was riding the wave of the folk-indie revival which saw groups like The Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes, The Head and the Heart, The Lumineers, and Mumford and Sons thrust into the limelight. But as we've seen over the last decade, Bon Iver has had a staying power that transcended all his folk-indie peers. He continues to pump out some of the most acclaimed experimental music, notching nominations for Best Alternative Album on each ensuing album he's had since his victory, and just last year, his first nomination for Album of the Year. And his acclaim doesn't just come from critics; fellow musicians of all shapes and sizes flock to him as a collaborator. His most famous coworker is Kanye West, who he has partnered with on many occasions, but here's a little list of the other artists who have come to him for collaborations over the years: Jay-Z, James Blake, Vince Staples, Kid Cudi, The National, Eminem and Taylor Swift. Recognize any names in there?
Ironically, given his famed discomfort with the limelight, Bon Iver is one of music's brightest stars today.