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For every surprising win at the Grammy Awards, you can bet there’s always a snub (or several) right around the corner, too.
This year, the 67th annual ceremony, hosted by Trevor Noah, was filled with shocking moments — from Beyoncé’s long overdue Album of the Year win to Kendrick Lamar sweeping Record and Song of the Year with his scathing diss track, “Not Like Us.” However, between those victories were stunning losses for some of music’s biggest stars.
In a rare turn of events, Taylor Swift — whose chart-topping “The Tortured Poets Department” album yielded five nominations, including the big three categories (Record, Song and Album of the Year) — walked away with zero gramophones for the first time in quite a while.
The same goes for Billie Eilish, who received seven total nominations — including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for “Hit Me Hard and Soft” — but also left Sunday’s ceremony empty-handed.
To be fair, this year’s major category nominations were undeniably stacked, and Swift and Eilish have taken those wins home before, so it’s hard to think of their recent losses as snubs. Swift holds the record for most Album of the Year wins of anyone in Grammy history, and Eilish has won the big three on at least one occasion (not to mention she also has two Oscars).
Still, that didn’t stop fans from calling out the singers’ Ls online.
Finneas, Eilish’s older brother and longtime collaborator, issued a statement to fans on Sunday to quell the commotion surrounding his sister’s losses.
“I don’t wanna see ANYONE with a photo of me or billie as their PFP gettin’ in fights with other artists’ fans in comment sections!!!” the producer wrote on his Instagram story. “Be at peace! Congratulations to all!!”
Other notable artists who missed out on snagging gramophones this year are Post Malone, who extended his near-record losing streak again with no trophies for his eight 2025 nominations (he has 18 career nominations and zero wins); André 3000, whose “New Blue Sun” debut instrumental LP was nominated for Album of the Year; and Shaboozey, who, despite having one of the longest-running No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — and six nominations, did not become a first-time Grammy winner.
Some have argued that this year’s Grammys felt like the Recording Academy made up for past upsets, pointing to prime examples like Beyoncé’s top prize, more major awards for Black artists, and The Weeknd ending his yearslong boycott of the show with a surprise performance. Perhaps that factored into why Swift, Eilish, and others didn’t sweep categories as some expected.
In my humble opinion, the 2025 Grammys felt like the Recording Academy finally got a lot of things right for a change: a woman winning Best Rap Album for the third time in history, a rap record snagging two of the big three trophies and a Black woman becoming a first-time Best Country Album winner (that Quincy Jones tribute could’ve been better, though).
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It’s been a while since we’ve been able to comfortably say good things about the Grammys, given its controversial history. That by no means absolves the Recording Academy of its flaws — the fact that we’re still celebrating “firsts” and “historic wins” in the year 2025 is proof of that. (I hold this critique for all award shows that weren’t designed with people of color in mind).
Still, while Swift, Eilish, Malone and others may have been shut out from victories this year, we can hold onto this memory that many 2025 wins were justly deserved. That may not be the case next year, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
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