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Did Grammys nominations rob Rina Sawayama? Fans outrage over 'homophobic' and 'xenophobic' snub

Rina Sawayama, a rising star who received universal acclaim for her debut album 'SAWAYAMA', did not receive a single nomination in this year's Grammys

With many notable artistes getting unfairly snubbed from nominations of the upcoming Grammy Awards, social media users are enraged. Also, many artistes themselves have taken to their social media to voice their displeasure over the issue. One may cite logical points in an argument over who deserves to make it to the nominations this year and who don't, but when a truly deserving candidate is ousted, fans would not let the issue go without a fight.

Rina Sawayama, a rising star who received universal acclaim for her debut album 'SAWAYAMA', did not receive a single nomination in this year's Grammys. With widely praised hits such as 'XS' or 'STFU!', her album received a Metacritic score of 89/100. Naturally, one would expect the artiste to receive her dues. Instead, an unmerited silence is tethered to Sawayama by the Grammys which fans have made their mission to break with a torrent of comments online.

Some fans are calling out the Grammys for being "homophobic" or "xenophobic". One fan said, "rina sawayama not getting a grammy nomination is extremely homophobic."

"Very xenophobic of the brits to stop rina from getting nominated cos she wasn’t ‘british’ enough and now she was snubbed at the grammys too she really deserves better," said a fan while another wrote, "no i’m mad fr rina was completely excluded from the mercury and brit awards based off a xenophobic policy and now has been snubbed by the grammys despite releasing one of the best albums of the year these people are not seeing heaven." One fan shared, "the fact that rina sawayama isn’t even eligible for the brit awards because she was “not british enough” yet she got SNUBBED by the grammys i’m fucking upset."

Another wrote, "No one has EVER deserved the best new artist nomination than Rina Sawayama... but giving it to Noah Cyrus who has released two eps and twenty singles on a major label over the span of almost five years... while Rina signed to an indie in 2020 and just put out her debut... twisted." "Rina Sawayama literally released one of the best if not THE BEST album this year and got no nominations," said another fan. "Can't believe they didn't nominate rina sawayama ...that's embarrassing," added another.

The above fan comments of not being "British enough" refer to snubbing she received earlier this year by the Mercury awards and the BRITs, when she was expected to receive a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Around the time on Twitter, Sawayama said: "I've lived here 25 YEARS (most of my life) but I am not British enough to even be ELIGIBLE for the 2 biggest UK Music awards." She then spoke with VICE UK, noting, "If I was snubbed, I would be like, 'Well, OK, fine…let's just make a better record and move on." She said, "But the fact that I wasn't even eligible is like…I don't even know what that emotion was. It was othering."

Move on to the Grammys snub, and it's as if Sawayama's citizenship/nationality have no foothold in either the UK or the US, despite the fact that her music has blown up the past year with a loyal following from US listeners, hence the citing of "xenophobic" choices in comments by the above-such fans.

Meanwhile, Justin Bieber, who received four nominations this year, was also left scratching his head over some of the Grammy picks and said it was "strange" that his nominations fell under pop music classification when he planned on an R&B album. “I am very meticulous and intentional about my music," he wrote on Instagram. "With that being said I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me.”

Check out his post here.