Carnival of Soul

Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X led the Grammy nominations on Wednesday, putting a new generation of pop stars in the spotlight after they stormed both streaming and radio on their way to becoming household names. But who got left out, and what do the nominees say about the past year in music and the direction the Grammys are heading? Here’s a guide to the day’s big takeaways, snubs and surprises.

Taylor Swift has 10 Grammy wins in her career, including two album of the year trophies, and three more nominations this year bring her total number of nods to 35. And yet … Swift’s absence from the two biggest categories — record and album of the year — can’t help but feel like a major slight given the strong reviews and monster opening-week sales for “Lover.” (The title track was nominated for song of the year, “You Need to Calm Down” got a spot in best pop solo performance and the album is up for best pop vocal album.) Swift’s previous release, “Reputation,” was also snubbed, but that album was reflective of a strange time for the singer. “Lover” was a return-to-form record, and it felt like a shoo-in, even without a dominant hit single.

The offense only grows when you consider the left-field choices that did land one of the eight album spots: Lil Nas X’s “7” is not an album at all, but an 8-track EP built around a smash single that appears in two different versions on the short project. H.E.R.’s “I Used to Know Her,” a compilation that combines two earlier EPs, peaked at No. 86 on the Billboard album chart, and even after her five nominations, two wins and a strong performance at last year’s show, the R&B singer did not really penetrate the mainstream further. And then there’s “i,i” by Bon Iver and “Father of the Bride” by Vampire Weekend, two well-received capital-A albums, but from bands that have grown up and settled into their own little worlds.

The question now, as Swift publicly spars with Scooter Braun (whose client Ariana Grande was nominated for both album and record), is if she’ll push back against another institution by speaking out or not even showing up, or if she’ll put on a good face and agree to perform in an attempt to show the Grammys what they overlooked.

Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” was undeniably a cultural sensation — it became the longest-running No. 1 single ever, a streak that probably would not have happened without Lil Nas’s own bountiful charm and internet acumen. But the Recording Academy has made the bold choice not to treat him like a fleeting novelty or vessel for a big song, but as an artist with a body of work. He received six nominations overall — as many as Eilish and two fewer than Lizzo, who led with eight — including for best new artist and best rap/sung performance for “Panini,” the follow-up single that has overperformed but does not feel substantial.

That’s a big step up when compared to other hits that became Moments, like Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” or Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” which did not get nominated, or even Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” which got recognized for song of the year and in a pop category (but didn’t win). Even Billy Ray Cyrus, who is nominated with Lil Nas X for his feature on “Old Town Road,” didn’t do as well during peak “Achy Breaky Heart,” earning only three nominations in 1993. (Cyrus lost best new artist to Arrested Development.) If Lil Nas X wins big on Grammy night, it will only increase the pressure on whatever he does next.

After a few consecutive big years for rappers in the major categories — Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Drake, Post Malone, Jay-Z, Cardi B — hip-hop is only a seasoning on this year’s nominations. Yes, Lil Nas X and Lizzo (and even Eilish and Grande) use rap when it suits them, but albums and songs from DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion, Juice WRLD, Tyler, the Creator, Chance the Rapper, J. Cole, 21 Savage and Nipsey Hussle were relegated to the genre categories or passed over entirely. (Remember when Lil Uzi Vert was nominated for best new artist?)

Another place that could have recognized hip-hop? Producer of the year, which turns out to be all white men, including Jack Antonoff, Ricky Reed and Eilish’s brother and collaborator, Finneas. The Grammys’ relationship with rap could generously be described as strained, and it’s hard to see how this year’s show is going to help, unless they pull off a legit tribute to Hussle, who received three posthumous nominations.

And this time, it’s aggressively indie (though maybe on a major label). Vampire Weekend has been nominated twice in the past, and won best alternative album for “Modern Vampires of the City,” but its nod for best album is maybe this year’s least-predicted shock, given the sprawling eclecticism and jam-band influence of “Father of the Bride.” Bon Iver started its career as a potential Grammy darling, winning best new artist over Nicki Minaj and J. Cole and punching above its weight with song and record of the year nominations for the song “Holocene,” but the group has only gotten stranger and more experimental in the years since.

Appearing here with Lana Del Rey, who made a classic-sounding, piano-and-guitar songwriter LP with “Norman _______ Rockwell!,” it’s amusing to watch these midcareer alt darlings come to represent traditionalism and what passes for rock ’n’ roll on a stage this size. (Also worth noting: Black Pumas, a psychedelic soul-rock duo, sneaked into best new artist, alongside heavyweights like Lizzo, Eilish, Lil Nas X and Rosalía.)

Rosalía, the flamenco-futurist whose 2018 album “El Mal Querer” introduced the world to an auteur-in-the-making and just took home three Latin Grammys, is a much-deserved statement pick in the best new artist lineup and may be the first such nominee to sing almost entirely in Spanish during her eligibility period. (José Feliciano, who had sung primarily in Spanish, won best new artist in 1969, following the release of his English-language crossover album “Feliciano!”) Bad Bunny, the lovable Latin trap oddity, is nominated twice in the (bizarrely crammed together) best Latin rock, urban or alternative album category. These are artists on the forefront of a global pop movement that rethinks what it means to cross over, and fingers crossed they get a spot on the actual show. But the Grammys didn’t go fully international, overlooking K-pop, for instance, and the world-beating group BTS, who released a No. 1 EP, “Map of the Soul: Persona,” featuring a hit with Halsey, in the Grammys window. These acts aren’t going anywhere, so these feel like baby steps.