Grammys 2018: 7 of the biggest snubs
Fans of artists including Demi Lovato and One Direction were disappointed to see their favourites miss out, while Q-Tip and Vince Staples called out the academy for ignoring their work
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Following the Grammy nominations announcement for the 60th awards ceremony in 2018, much was made out of the artists who missed out on a nod.
While the choices were praised by many for finally acknowledging a more diverse range of artists after years of controversy where white singers often won over black musicians, there were some that many feel were left out.
Several artists took to social media to air their grievances at being ignored in the nominations, including Vince Staples and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.
Here are some of the most notable snubs of the 2018 Grammy nominations.
Ed Sheeran
The British singer-songwriter went home from the 2016 Grammys with awards for Song of the Year and Pop Solo Performance for his song "Thinking Out Loud".
But while he has been nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Pop Vocal Album, this year he was omitted from the four major categories, which many critics believed he would be a dead cert for. His record-breaking album Divide, released earlier this year, is 2017's best-selling album after Taylor Swift's reputation, and was widely viewed to be Grammy bait.
A Tribe Called Quest
The legendary hip hop group released their final, critically acclaimed album We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service in November 2016 -their first in 18 years - and made a powerful performance at the 2017 ceremony, but were not nominated for any category at the 2018 awards.
Producer Q-Tip took to Instagram where he vented his upset at being missed out, saying: "I'm sick of y'all f***ing Grammy n***as man. You got us to get out there to perform last year and s*** and y'all don't give us no f***ing nominations? What happened?"
In the series of five videos he went onto express his anger at the awards show, criticising trustees for omitting "the most cultured black group out".
"That's all we stood on. That's what we represented," he said. "This f***ing album that we just put out, this last Tribe album, it stands with everybody else's s*** that's up there. I don't give a f***, respect to everybody who is nominated but whatever, I'm speaking for mine."
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Vince Staples
It made The Independent's list of this year's 30 best albums, and Vince Staples himself had tweeted about hopes for a Grammy before the nominations were announced.
Yet the LA rapper tweeted his disappointment following the list of categories that showed he had been missed out. He later deleted the tweets and posted: "Mark Anthony Green from GQ just called to apologise for me not getting nominated and I just realised you people really care about this. I apologise if I hurt anyones feelings with my disregard for the trophy. I'm in Glasgow and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is on television. Goodnight."
Despite critical and commercial success with his 2017 release Starboy, The Weeknd only received one nomination at next year's Grammys, for Urban Contemporary Album. He won two Grammys in 2015, for Urban Contemporary Album and R&B performance.
Taylor Swift
Swift's sixth album reputation - the best-selling record of 2017 - was not eligible for the 2018 Grammy awards (it will be for 2019), but could have received a nod for the album's first single "Look What You Made Me Do".
However she did receive acknowledgement for her song "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", which she performed with Zayn Malik on the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, and for her songwriting on Little Big Town's acclaimed song "Better Man".
One Direction
One Direction fans were upset to find that three One Direction members - Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Liam Payne - had been ignored in the nominations. While Payne was a less likely contender, both Styles and Horan received generally positive reviews for the debut solo efforts, and both achieved a UK and US No.1 albums respectively.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato followed her Grammy nomination for Confident in 2016 with a new album this year: Tell Me You Love Me, but apparently it failed to impress critics, and she was left off the nominees list for 2018.
The 60th Grammy Awards take place on 28 January 2018 at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.
Follow Independent Culture on Facebook
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments