Grimes alleges that the "irrelevant" Grammys told her she "wasn't allowed" to nominate Sophie
According to Grimes, the late electronic pioneer Sophie was blocked from an award nomination by the Recording Academy
In the cavernous wake of Renaissance’s Album Of The Year snub, another voice has entered the “Grammys Don’t Matter” choir: Grimes, who alleges that when she was a member of the voting body she was forbidden from nominating the late electronic music pioneer Sophie, and had to choose from a “pre-fabricated” list that left a bad taste in her mouth.
Grimes took her opportunity to read the Recording Academy in the comments of one of Charli XCX’s Instagram posts. In the post, Charli muses on her album Crash’s Grammys shutout, likening the situation to Pearl’s Mia Goth not receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Per Charli, her Grammys snub “only further proves that people don’t wanna see hot evil girls thrive.”
Tapping in with the empathy only another hot, evil girl can provide, Grimes comforted Charli by opining the Grammys are “literally not a relevant thing.”
“The Grammies are so irrelevant I wouldn’t even sweat it,” Grimes writes. “I stopped even clocking them in any capacity when I Was on the producer of the year board and they quite literally would not allow me to nominate anyone who wasn’t on a pre-fabricated list that was exceptionally boring.”
Grimes further alleges that she was one of only three women on the board, and “the only person under 40 for sure.”
“I tried to nominate Sophie and was told that wasn’t allowed,” she wrote. (Her ire is well-placed but begs another question: what are Grimes’ thoughts on the To Leslie Oscar campaign?)
Although Sophie passed away in 2019, the seminal artist received some flowers at this year’s ceremony by way of Kim Petras, who became the first transgender woman ever to win the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Grammy for her collaboration with Sam Smith, “Unholy.” During her acceptance speech—which Petras said Smith delegated to her as a means to properly honor the historic moment—Petras took a moment to thank Sophie specifically for paving the way.
“I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight. Sophie, especially, my friend who passed away two years ago, who told me this would happen and always believed in me,” Petras said. “Thank you so much for your inspiration, Sophie, I adore you and your inspiration will always be in your music.” Whether the Grammys get it or not, the game-changing girls do.