I’d keep my expectations low, Taylor Nation.
I think nobody outside the fandom has noticed that Taylor is keeping her appearances down to a minimum. She did obliged to British Vogue’s January 2018 cover story. She also did appear in some festive holiday concerts but that’s it. She’s made really close to no interviews, no appearances in talk shows. Yes, she was Jimmy Fallon’s musical guest for his return show as a favour. And yes, she was the musical guest on SNL back in November 11, 2018. She’s mostly let the music do the talking.
And now… The 60th GRAMMYs happen tonight. Taylor Swift’s reputation is not eligible yet. The Blonde With The Sparkly Snake Microphone only has two nominations:
- Best Song Written for Visual Media with Zayn for “I Don’t Want To Live Forever”.
- Best Country Song as songwriter for “Better Man” as performed by Little Big Town.
Update: She didn’t win any of them. However, Little Big Town did get Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their performance of the song.
I really don’t count this as a snub. Look What You Made Me Do and …Ready For It? where the only tracks released as singles before the cutoff date of September 30, 2017. I don’t think they were strong enough offerings to be considered for GRAMMY nominations. Call It What You Want is what I would call (pun!) more of a contender but it was released in November.
Given that Taylor has only let the music do the talking, there’s very little chances we’ll see her tonight. Yes, I’d like to be proven wrong, but I think the odds of seeing Taylor randomly dancing in the first row are downright slim. Again, I’d love to be proven wrong here… Hint, hint.
Watching is completely voluntary, of course. According to Billboard, Jay-Z has the most nominations with eight: album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best rap album. He’s followed by Kendrick Lamar with seven and Bruno Mars with six. All three of them are nominated for album of the year. I love Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic although it would be really sweet for Lorde’s Melodrama to take it, albeit unlikely.
According to Variety, all the male nominees for album of the year were offered a solo spot to perform. Lorde was only offered a group performance of American Girl as a tribute to Tom Petty. That’s kind of awkward considering she’s from New Zealand. Of course, this is the typical unnamed source, so take this information with a grain of salt.
The 60th GRAMMYs happen tonight, January 28th live on CBS at 7:30pm Eastern / 4:30pm Pacific. James Corden is hosting.
(Sources: GRAMMY.com, Billboard, Variety)
The Swift Agency 
Flashback to before I was born. Paula Cole releases her highly underrated debut album ‘Harbinger’ in 1994, it vastly lacks promotion due to the foreclosure of her label Imago Records. Though she signed on to Warner Bros. in ’95 and they redistributed ‘Harbinger,’ it still lacked the sales it deserved (hold on, I’ll get there). 1996, Cole releases her magnificent, 2x platinum ‘This Fire,’ which garnered her 7 Grammy nominations. In 1997 (awards were held in 1998) she won one Grammy. One. For Best New Artist. She cried after the show, because she really thought she was going to get something and that’s the only Grammy she ever won. But here’s my point. If you’re a Paula Cole fan like me, then you know how awesome her music is. I feel like Grammy nominations don’t represent what everyone thinks is the “best” or what everyone likes. Let’s be real, there are arguments over nominations every year. People all have their own interpretations or what great music is. Personally, I feel Lorde deserved more nominations. But it’s not about that. What it’s about is how people understand the messages musicians are putting out there and someone, if anyone, is recognizing that. So I think its okay if we all disagree as long as we all under understand the purpose: to celebrate music that is meant to unite us, something I think we all need during this time