Grammys 2021: The biggest snubs and surprises

Washington [US], March 15 : The 2021 Grammys, which were held a little differently this year owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, was one star-studded event. While the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards toggled between an outdoor setup and an indoor performance stage, Billie Eilish won the record of the year for the second time in a row. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift and Beyonce both made history in their own ways.
According to Variety, Eilish certainly was surprised to win the Best Record category for 'Everything I Wanted' at the Grammys ceremony. In her acceptance speech, she said that Megan Thee Stallion actually deserved to win the award that she had just won. Eilish's highly-popular song 'No Time To Die' won the best song written for visual media.
While many expected Megan Thee Stallion to have a good award night, she led the wins with three awards, Best New Artist, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance, the latter two were for the remix of 'Savage', featuring Beyonce.
Meanwhile, looking at the big four categories, some people were also surprised that H.E.R.'s Black Lives Matter anthem, 'I Can't Breathe', won the Song of the Year award. But it seems less unlikely looking at the fact that Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' won Best Song and Best Record awards, back in 2019.
Beyonce racked up four wins, two of them for her feature 'Savage' and other big nominees like Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Brittany Howard, took home one award each, but not an armload. Taylor Swift's win at the 2021 Grammys made her the first woman to win the Album of the Year award thrice.
Though Justin Bieber was up for four trophies, he only won one as a featured artist on Dan and Shay's '10,000 Hours'.
It wasn't surprising to witness Anderson .Paak beat out Drake for Best Melodic Rap Performance, nor was the fact that Fiona Apple racked up two wins for her innovative and challenging album, 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters'.
The Highwomen winning over Maren Morris' smash 'The Bones' for the best country song, was indeed a surprise, and so was Vince Gill's unexpected win for country solo performance.
It was new to see Andrew Watt getting recognized for his work with Dua Lipa, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Miley Cyrus, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Ozzy Osbourne. He won the Grammy for Best Producer, Non-Classical, over Jack Antonoff.
The biggest surprise of all was the fact that the Grammy winners list, led off with a pair of victories for Canadian electronic music artist Kaytranada, for Best Dance Recording, '10%' and Best Dance/Electronic Album, 'Bubba'.
Obviously with so many surprises come a fair share of snubs too. The first and most prominent one was the fact that the Weeknd, who'd had the kind of year that usually results in four or six Grammy wins, was not even nominated, but that has already been discussed.
Coming back without trophies from the 2021 Grammys were five-time nominee Roddy Ricch, four-time nominee and Variety cover star Phoebe Bridgers, and four-time nominee DaBaby. Jhene Aiko, who was up for three awards including Album of the Year and also hosted the Premiere ceremony, came away with no trophies as well.
Anyone who is nominated for a Grammy is a winner in its own sense, and it should be noted that veteran singer James Taylor won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album with 'American Standard', which shares its name with that of a toilet brand.
The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards were delayed owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The annual show shifted from its original January 31 broadcast to March 14. The ceremony honours musical artists, compositions, and albums across 84 categories.
Comedian and talk show host Trevor Noah hosted this year's Grammys. It marks Noah's first time hosting the award ceremony.
Though usually held at the Staples Center, this year's festivities will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The nominations for music's biggest night were announced on November 24, 2020. The legendary Beyonce topped the list of having the most nominations this year -- amassing nine nominations in the process.
Since the pandemic, a number of award shows have been postponed and later revamped due to COVID-19 restrictions.