LOS ANGELES — This year’s Grammy field is dominated by queens of pop — Taylor, Beyoncé and Billie, and now Chappell and Sabrina too. But with a recent deep changing of the guard in the academy’s voting ranks, the Grammys’ shifting tastes are reflected in who they rewarded — and left out. Here are a few of the notable surprises and snubs of this year’s crop.
Surprise:
André 3000 — the jazz-flute album of the year sleeper pick?
When the OutKast frontman dropped his experimental jazz-flute album “New Blue Sun” in November 2023, you had to admit, the guy followed his muse where it led him. But the Grammys love a freewheeling veteran updating jazz traditions. After handsomely rewarding bandleader Jon Batiste, André may also benefit from a crowded pop field and take home a big-category prize. At the very least, he’s the front-runner for instrumental composition for, yes, “I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
Snub:
Jack Antonoff’s producer streak lapses
After winning yet another Grammy for producer, nonclassical in February on the strength of Taylor Swifts’ “Midnights,” Antonoff seemed a shoo-in for a nom given that same artist’s massive follow-up, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n Sweet.” Antonoff had won that Grammy three years running, but he won’t be adding to his streak this year — this is the first time he hasn’t been at least nominated for that award since 2019.
Surprise:
The Beatles are back
AI has a lot to answer for — mangled fingers, election misinformation, siphoning the world’s water. But give credit where it’s due — new tech allowed producers to conjure a final Beatles song out of previously unsalvageable mixes. In terms of production innovation and craft, it’s hard to argue with what “Now and Then” accomplished. A win would notch the Beatles’ eighth Grammy, 60 years after their first in 1965.