Who didn’t make the 2025 nominations list that should have

On November 9, 2024By Littum

The Grammy Awards are a fickle bunch.

One year you need a cart to haul off your horde of gold gramophones, and the next you’re persona non grata.

Just ask Dolly Parton. Or Ed Sheeran. Or Justin Timberlake.

The list of nominees for 67^th Grammy Awards94 Categories can be applauded for its undeniable diversity, with pop, country and hip-hop artists crossing categories and reinforcing the notion that genre boundaries can be bent. Just look at this year’s leader, Beyoncé, who earned an impressive 11 nods tied to her “Cowboy Carter” album. And women dominate the record and album of the year categories, with Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan earning nominations in both main categories.

Still, there’s always a sprinkling of artists who were expected to garner love from Recording Academy voters, but instead were either shut out or barely recognized for the upcoming February 2nd ceremony.

Even Taylor Swift, despite her six nominations, including the prestigious triumvirate of record, song and album of the year related to “The Tortured Poets Department,” apparently should have gotten a few extra nods, specifically for her record-setting Eras Tour film (best musical film) and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” (Best Pop Solo Performance), one of the most melodically impeccable and lyrically penetrating entries in her massive oeuvre.

And actress Michelle Williams, widely praised for making Britney Spears’ memoir digestible with her audiobook retelling of “The Woman in Me,” could have earned a rare Grammy to accompany her nominations for Oscars, Tonys and Emmys (as she won in 2019 for her captivating performance in “Fosse/Verdon”).

Alas, the narrative category will be left to Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton and former President Jimmy Carter to duke it out.

Here are some other notable layoffs.

Dua Lipa

The three-time Grammy winner dropped the dance-flavored “Houdini” in November 2023. Considering the Grammy submission period is from September 16, 2003 to August 30, 2024, it feels like a lifetime since she released the Tame Impala-produced mirror ball twirler , the prelude to her third studio album, “Radical Optimism,” which landed in May. While “Houdini” nearly cracked the US top 10, follow-up singles “Training Season” and “Illusion” disappointed, and the album, a decent if unspectacular follow-up to 2020’s “Future Nostalgia” breakthrough, fell out of the public consciousness and . apparently the head of Grammy voters, who ignored her output completely.

Megan Thee stallion

The cachet of a three-time Grammy Award winner — including Best New Artist of 2021 — didn’t equal any love for the rapper’s third album, “Megan.” Neither did the success of the singles “Cobra,” “Boa,” “Mamushi” and her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Hiss,” which is probably what Megan wants to do for the Recording Academy.

K-pop

Way back in 2021, BTS became the first K-pop group to earn a Grammy nomination. In the years that followed, the genre flourished in the US, generating stadium-filling acts including Tomorrow X Together, Blackpink (and solo breakout Lisa) and Seventeen. Yet the Grammys still haven’t found room for Korean music stars, as evidenced by another year of zero nominations for some of K-pop’s biggest names. BTS members Jung Kook and RM dropped solo offerings (“Golden,” in November and “Right Place, Wrong Person,” in May, respectively), while Lisa (aka Lalisa Manobal) launched her solo album debut with the worldwide hits “Rockstar” and ” New woman”. The Grammys have admirably beefed up their category lineup in recent years. How about one more for K-pop fans?

Dolly Parton

We’re assuming that Grammy voters weren’t sure where or how to categorize Parton’s well-intentioned, star-studded “Rockstar” album, which led to it going unnoticed. Although cover songs cannot specifically be nominated in songwriting categories—and of its 30 songs, 21 are previously released rock anthems—there is no rule against the album’s eligibility or any of her nine originals, including the title track with Richie Sambora, the single “World on Fire” or ” What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You” with Stevie Nicks receiving the nod. And those duets with Steven Tyler, Pink, John Fogerty, Sting and other luminaries could have been recognized in performance categories. This was Parton’s 49th^th album. Maybe the big 5-0 will do better.

Nicki Minaj

Since 2011, the feisty rapper has been conjuring a dozen Grammy nominationsbut no victory. Her debut, “Pink Friday,” got a nod at the ceremony in 2012, so conventional wisdom pointed to “Pink Friday 2,” which debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart when it was released in December, because at least to be considered for a Grammy. Or maybe some of the album’s hits? “Last time I saw you”? “FTCU”? “All”? No? Nothing? Well, it’s a sad day in Gag City.

Justin Timberlake

Although he wasn’t completely ignored — he earned a co-writing nod for “Better Place” from the movie “Trolls Band Together” in Best Song Written for Visual Media — Timberlake drew zero attention for his sixth studio album, “Everything I Thought it Was . ” In another era, the moderate hit “Selfish” — which earns co-writer Amy Allen’s Songwriter of the Year non-classical nomination — would have been an instant inclusion in some pop category. But that era is over.

Lenny Kravitz

The searing “Blue Electric Light,” on which Kravitz composed almost every song solo and played almost every instrument, is funky, fun and as muscular as the man’s oft-boasted glasses. It won’t win any Grammys either thanks to zero nominations.

Luke Combs

At the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony, the country singer wrapped everyone in a bear hug with his soulful performance of “Fast Car” with the song’s original writer, the elusive Tracy Chapman. But he didn’t win for best country solo performance, and the album that spawned the hit remake, “Gettin’ Old,” wasn’t nominated. It’s déjà vu for Combs, whose “Fathers & Sons,” released in June, was also rejected. But one bright spot: His “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from the “Twisters” soundtrack will compete for best song written for visual media.