The Albums That Win Grammys: Yea or Nay?
I understand if you've already sort of forgotten the 66th Grammys happened 10 days ago. First of all, it's Valentine's Day, and I would sure hope you're spending it in the company of a lover and not putting the finishing touches on an organized Grammys rant, like me. Furthermore, there has been so much exciting new music during and since the ceremony (Dua Lipa! Taylor Swift! Kacey Musgraves! Lana Del Rey! BEYONCE!!!!) that your mind might have understandably already turned to next year's Grammys. But perhaps most significantly, the post-awards show news cycle just doesn't last long, barring a "Moonlight, not La La Land" snafu. There are celebrations, frustrations, and hot takes galore the night of the ceremony, but chatter seems to die down by hour 48 or so, post-Grammys.
So why Grammys piece 10 days after the occasion? Well, because often times the ceremony I have a love-hate relationship with elicits a strong IMMEDIATE reaction that I want to vent about or, on rarer occasion, cheerfully chirp about. But this year the Grammys were just actually generally very good, with some fantastic performances and solid winners, but ultimately predictable in most every category on the night. Yet, the thing that has been stuck in my craw ever since last Sunday is the biggest award of them all, and the one that has drawn the most ire from all corners of the internet: Album of the Year.
Why is it that even in years that the Recording Academy get so many things right, they so consistently mess up the ultimate award? Were it as simple as being an excuse to reward the BIGGEST album of each year, or really, if there were some sort of consistency in the types of records that tend to win this Grammy, I imagine you wouldn't hear so much hemming and hawing every year. But truly, the only thing consistent about the albums that win Album of the Year is that a. they're usually undeserving, but more so b. they very often come at the expense of more deserving Black artists.
Several years ago, Michael Rondello and myself envisioned an alternate history in which the Grammys actually consistently recognized the best albums of years past. This piece is a variation on that same concept. Starting with our newly crowned winner 10 days ago, I'll be running back through the winners of each year, examining their merits in comparison with their fellow nominees, and shouting out an album from each year that wasn't even included in the mix (and should have been). To spare all of you from reading my unhinged rambling all night long, I'll only go back about as far as I've actually been paying regular attention to the Grammys, which coincidentally is when I went off to college.
2024
Midnights, Taylor Swift
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
SOS, SZA
Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd., Lana Del Rey
the record, boygenius
GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo
The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monaé
Biggest snub for this award:
Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, Caroline Polachek
Here's the deal:
It would have been shocking if what would end up as Taylor Swift's 4th Grammy-winning album wasn't at least in contention- after all, it was the biggest album of the last year by sales and streams, and I’m not sure it was even particularly close. It also launched a wildly successful and acclaimed worldwide stadium tour and ensuing movie, and arguably helped propel Taylor to “Time’s Person of the Year” status. So there was no question it deserved to get nominated, especially in a field of 8 nominees. But WIN? WIN the award? THIS album? Bestie. Be for real. Swift is a renowned songwriter, but this was far from her best lyrically, and while the general concept of the album was interesting, it didn’t translate to a particularly musically interesting record. Considering some of the other bodies of work in contention, this win felt a little egregious. SOS also spawned a massive, successful stadium tour and landed SZA her first-ever #1 album and lead single ("Kill Bill"), and gave the Grammys a golden opportunity to give a black woman major honors after 30 long years. (Yes, thirty.) But even if the Academy were to continue their troublesome trend and pass a SZA or a Janelle over, they could have gone with one of two terrific albums from adored indie icons, Lana Del Rey or the trio that comprise boygenius. Or, even if they wanted to go the pop star route, why not pop ingenue Olivia Rodrigo, who has now released two massive and critically-lauded albums and is quite clearly one of the princesses of the pop scene?
2023
Harry's House, Harry Styles
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
RENAISSANCE, Beyoncé
Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Kendrick Lamar
Un verano sin ti, Bad Bunny
Biggest snub for this award:
It's Almost Dry, Pusha T
Here's the deal:
In terms of sheer number of "albums better than it," this wasn't as egregious a win as most other Grammy outcomes in this piece. Harry's House was a great pop album, and was one of my favorites of 2022, and given the artist's mega-popularity, it was no surprise it was amongst an absolutely loaded field. But if we're talking quality gap? Even coming from a fan of Harry's, the jump in artistry and musicianship from his nice little record to Kendrick Lamar's extended therapy session and groundbreaking vulnerability is hilarious. And that's before we even get to the one that undoubtedly deserved its coronation above all others, Beyoncé's RENAISSANCE, which not only did serious numbers despite zero promotion from Queen B herself, not only was yet another genre-bending, game-changing, directional shift from the artist, it also just was damn good, an infectious, airtight record from start to end. It's actually criminal that neither Beyoncé nor Kendrick heard their name called, and spoiler alert!!! It won't be the last time you hear me say that in this article.
2022
WE ARE, Jon Batiste
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
No
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
MONTERO, Lil Nas X
SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo
Happier Than Ever, Billie Eilish
evermore, Taylor Swift
DONDA, Kanye West
Back of My Mind, H.E.R.
Biggest snub for this award:
Shore, Fleet Foxes
Here's the deal:
I know this might sound contrary to my rants earlier (and still coming later) about how just because an album is the biggest doesn't mean it deserves awards-- but I do think an album's cultural impact should be one of the arguments considered in choosing a winner! Not THE argument, obviously; that's what I have problems with. But it's not totally irrelevant! And Jon Batiste, as wildly talented as he is, and as delightful a human being as he seems to be, simply did not make an album with WE ARE that made any waves in the music world. Nor did it have much reason to! It was a fine album, but not particularly memorable, from an artist that is deeply loved but not widely known. For that reason, I found its nomination bizarre and surprising, but chalked it up to a wacky and fairly unimpressive year in music. But then it won!!!! Over massive full-length debut successes from Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo, the two buzziest stars of 2021! Over a second straight terrific album from Billie Eilish! Over so many great albums, like Fleet Foxes' Shore, that didn't even make the cut! Hell, even Taylor Swift's rerun of her reigning Album of the Year winner or Kanye West's 8th-best album would have been more sensible choices.
2021
folklore, Taylor Swift
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Yes and No
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Other nominees that would have been deserving:
Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa
Women In Music, Pt. III, HAIM
Biggest snub for this award:
After Hours, The Weeknd
Here's the deal:
The Album of the Year race in 2021 was most notable for how batshit crazy the nominee field was. The Academy nailed the two obvious candidates in Swift and Dua Lipa, but everything else was fairly off the wall; so much so that over half the field was comprised of albums that didn't even make my annual preview of contenders for the top award. And while HAIM's and Coldplay's inclusions were pleasant surprises, the other four (Black Pumas, Jacob Collier, Jhene Aiko, Post Malone) were extremely bizarre and unexpected choices, almost as bizarre as the decision to not nominate The Weeknd's massive After Hours nor its massiv-er lead single "Blinding Lights" for anything. Anyways, the most unexpected, hodgepodge field of nominees this award has likely ever seen only made it clearer that this award should have gone to folklore or Future Nostalgia, which were two of the biggest AND best releases to emerge from the pandemic. The reason I only give the Academy partial credit for this pick is that, given Taylor had won this award twice before, I think they should have opted for the new star on the block who could have marked her breakout into pop stardom with her first major Grammy win. But I can't in good faith argue that, in a vaccuum, folklore isn't a deserving Grammy winner. So. You know. Partial credit.
2020
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Billie Eilish
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Yes!
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Other nominees that would have been deserving:
Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey
Cuz I Love You (Deluxe), Lizzo
Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend
Biggest snub for this award:
IGOR, Tyler the Creator
Here's the deal:
The only real disappointment from these Grammys, which were very solid in terms of both performances and winners on the night, was Billie Eilish winning what felt like every last award on the night, including all four major ones. Was a clean sweep necessary? After what was an amazing music year that featured equally noteworthy breakouts from Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Maggie Rogers? No, I don't think so. But putting aside that context, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was the deserving winner. Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell! might be the objective superior, and terrific albums from Lizzo and Vampire Weekend would have also been deserving victors (as would have several that didn't even make the cut, from Tyler the Creator, Beyoncé, James Blake and others). But 2019 in music was more about Billie than any one artist, and not only was her full-length debut a sensation that swept the nation, it was damn good, and vastly different than just about any major album before it. It's not often an album checks every box of: commercially successful, critically acclaimed, a breakout statement from an exciting new artist, and a cultural touchpoint.
2019
Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Yes!
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Other nominees that would have been deserving:
Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe
Black Panther: The Album, Kendrick Lamar and various artists
By The Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile
Biggest snub for this award:
ASTROWORLD, Travis Scott
Here's the deal:
I know! Three (or at least 2.5) good picks from the Academy in a row! They haven't always gotten it wrong, and Kacey's surprise win in 2019 kicked off a brief era of abnormally good decisions at the Grammys. 2019 was actually probably the only ceremony I can think of in my entire history of watching the Grammys that I didn't come away from with some level of disappointment about the winners of the major awards, a happenstance so abnormal I wrote an entire piece around that sentiment. Genre wins for Dua Lipa, Beyoncé and Jay-Z's joint album, and St. Vincent! Dua also winning Best New Artist! Childish Gambino winning both Record and Song of the Year in an unprecedented victory for rap! And for the biggest award of all, a surprive victory for what easily took the crown as my favorite release in 2018! Do I wish the incomparable Janelle Monáe also could have won for her brilliant Dirty Computer? Absolutely. Would Brandi Carlile or Cardi B or the collaborative Black Panther album also have made exciting winners? Definitely. But Golden Hour is a great underdog success story, and is a near-flawless body of work.
2018
24K Magic, Bruno Mars
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
I guess?
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
DAMN., Kendrick Lamar
4:44, Jay-Z
Melodrama, Lorde
"Awaken, My Love!", Childish Gambino
Biggest snub for this award:
Ctrl, SZA
Here's the deal:
Sigh. But go just one year back in time, and you'll dive right back into the tail-end of one of the more frustrating eras in Grammy history. The 2018 ceremony left such a bad taste in my mouth I wrote a piece the complete tonal opposite of 2019's debrief. As I mentioned in that article, the great tragedy of this Grammys is that it had so much potential; it was one of the best nominating jobs the Academy did for the four major awards across the board that I can recall. We really could have ended that night with Album of the Year winner Jay-Z, Record of the Year winner Childish Gambino, Song of the Year winner Kendrick Lamar, and Best New Artist winner SZA, and we would have had good reason to expect to! All would have been deserving and not at all surprising! But we got none of that. What we got instead was Bruno Mars collecting every major award for his perfectly fine, unremarkable colleciton of fun songs that I guess technically counted as an album. Look, I like Bruno's music. It's fun! And I honestly didn't have a problem 24K Magic landing an Album of the Year nod, as it was everywhere in late 2016-2017, and the only other major pop release that rivaled its prowess was Ed Sheeran's god-awful record, which mercifully (and shockingly) was not nominated for top honors. But Album of the Year?? ALBUM of the YEAR?!?! Over some of the best, most nuanced lyrical and musical work Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Lorde have ever done? Gtfo.
2017
25, Adele
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
Lemonade, Beyoncé
A Sailor's Guide To Earth, Sturgill Simpson
Biggest snub for this award:
Coloring Book, Chance The Rapper
Here's the deal:
With the possible exception of last year (Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, and Mary J. Blige, who were nominated; The Weeknd, Pusha T, Silk Sonic, Steve Lacy and J.I.D., who were snubbed), 2016 may have been the greatest year for black artists on record. The Grammys threw a bone in that regard to Beyoncé and Drake, but missed a chance to create a killer all-Black artist lineup for Album of the Year with some combination of Lemonade, Frank Ocean's Blonde, Solange's A Seat at the Table, Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book, Rihanna's Anti, and Kanye West's Life of Pablo. That said, I can accept the field was richer for having Sturgill Simpson's phenomenal country album in it, and Adele was a no-brainer after her late 2015 release ruled the radio airwaves the following year. But should our favorite British crooner have swept Song/Record/Album of the Year for the second time in five years? I don't know, ask her. Adele's tearful apology onstage was warranted, not because the artist herself did anything wrong. But what on earth was the Academy thinking passing over the most critically-acclaimed album of the year, by one of the biggest names in the entire world? A work of art that was a cohesive, fully realized concept album with ventures into Rap, Pop, R&B, Country, and Rock, that at once told a vulnerable story of heartbreak and served to empower Black women everywhere?
2016
1989, Taylor Swift
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
I suppose so
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar
Traveller, Chris Stapleton
Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes
Biggest snub for this award:
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, Florence + The Machine
Here's the deal:
This decision was also objectively wrong, but more so than any other since I've started watching the Grammys, this Album of the Year decision subjectively was the worst for me. It haunts me to this day. The 1989 era came amidst my peak Taylor Swift hater days, and that album did nothing to quell it, with many a radio single from it that ground my gears. And though Kendrick Lamar is still one of my favorite artists ever, and certainly my Rap G.O.A.T., I think those sentiments were at a fever pitch circa 2015-2016. Now, putting aside my personal bias, I can recognize why Taylor was nominated this year, and I feel about 1989's inclusion the way I would feel about Bruno Mars' two years later: in a field of five nominees, it doesn't feel as necessary to save a spot for the biggest release of the year, but let's be real, it was the biggest release of the year (and by some margin). So fine! Let Swift be nominated. But this album, crowd-pleasing as it is, was just not even in the same ballpark of quality as so much of the music of 2015, an incredible year, was: two Southern acts in Chris Stapleton and Alabama Shakes would have made delightful winners for their terrific Country and Blues albums, respectively. Florence + The Machine and Sufjan Stevens deserved to be on the stage for their gorgeous albums, and in an expanded field, I would have expected Tame Impala and Father John Misty in there as well. Any of those would have been better winners than the pastiche pop album that did win, and yet ALL of them pale in comparison to MY one true winner: the best-reviewed album of the 21st century, a gamechanger in American hip-hop, a socio-political treatise that drew public praise form sitting president Barack Obama, a Library of Congress inductee: Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. King Kendrick, we will avenge you!!!!
2015
Morning Phase, Beck
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
Beyoncé, Beyoncé
Biggest snub for this award:
St. Vincent, St. Vincent
Here's the deal:
There's still plenty of time for it to be topped (a happenstance I find sadly feasible), but for now, I will maintain this was tactually he worst Beyoncé snub of any and all. It's gotten somewhat forgotten in the near-decade since it happened, thanks largely to two albums that somehow transcended the acclaim for and cultural impact of this one. And it's true that I feel slightly less personal loyalty for Beyoncé's self-titled album than for Lemonade and RENAISSANCE in future years. But still this album was SO. GOOD. Its complete surprise release completely changed the 'album announcement' game, its coupling of pop tunes and trap beats with complex, nuanced lyricism ushered in an era of "poptimism" from historically snarky music critics , and the 'shockingly' over and brazen sexual turn from the wife and mother helped aide the rise of fourth-wave feminism. Beyoncé was easily the biggest AND easily the best album in what was such a bad year for music. I mean, there were zero albums in 2014 worth writing home about, which is why I'm honestly fine with Beck's solid but unremarkable Morning Phase being among the nominees, when most years such a choice would have elicited an enormous eyeroll. But winning?? Don't make me laugh. There is not a single person that isn't the most ardent Beck fan that could tell you more than one song off that album. Kanye charged the stage after this announcement, jokingly this time, but I suspect had he done it earnestly, more of America would have been on his side this time.
2014
Random Access Memories, Daft Punk
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Yes and No
Should it have been nominated, even?:
Yes
Other nominees that would have been deserving:
good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar
Biggest snubs for this award:
Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend
Pure Heroine, Lorde
Yeezus, Kanye West
The 20/20 Experience: Part 1, Justin Timberlake
AM, Arctic Monkeys
Love in the Future, John Legend
Trouble Will Find Me, The National
Here's the deal:
This Grammys ceremony is most often remembered notoriously, as the one in which the most loaded Best Rap Album field ever went to Macklemore, who then went on to also win perhaps one of the most loaded Best New Artist fields ever over Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Kacey Musgraves and James Blake. But the Academy's Album of the Year decision that year was actually a pleasant surprise! This race was similar to 2021 after it, in that there were clearly only two albums amongst the nominees that should have won, and though they ultimately went with the one I liked slightly less, it was still a great, great pick. Beyond just how good Random Access Memories is (the best Album of the Year winner in the last 16 years, according to last year's Daniel Woodiwiss!), pioneers and icons Daft Punk also had never won a major Grammy. I just would have slightly preferred good kid, m.A.A.d city, since it's a truly all-time great hip-hop album, and with the gift of hindsight, we now know Kendrick will likely end his music career also having never won a major Grammy. But overall, in another parallel to 2021, this race was more about who wasn't nominated. I broke from my rule to only name one snub for this year alone, because I think of all the years in my life of voraciously seeking out new tunes, 2013 was the deepest year in music. Look at all those terrific albums from those big names that didn't even get picked up for this award!
2013
Babel, Mumford and Sons
Did the Grammys get it right?:
Nope
Should it have been nominated, even?:
No
Nominees that deserved to win ahead of it:
channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean
El Camino, The Black Keys
Blunderbuss, Jack White
Some Nights, fun.
Biggest snub for this award:
Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
Here's the deal:
I want to close this piece with a rare little bit of grace for the Grammys: in fairness to the Academy, this decision was very much going with what was on trend at the time. It's just that this particular trend aged so poorly. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to argue that Mumford Mania, culminating in this massive moment for faux-bluegrass revival, helped bring an end to what was a golden era of Indie/Folk muisc, an era in which we regularly saw artists like The Avett Brothers and Bon Iver at the Grammys, and heard groups like MGMT, Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes on mainstream radio. With the wild success of Mumford and Sons, though, and their various spinoff acts (The Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, American Idol winner Phillip Phillips), the 'moment' had officially jumped the shark. and a completely forgettable 'cosplay Americana' album like this winning over a good and massive Pop album from breakout artists fun., or phenomenal Rock albums from two of the biggest names in American rock music at the time, or an instant classic from new kid on the block Frank Ocean, is one big reason why.
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