The 2020 Grammy Awards was the biggest night of music but had some of music’s biggest names very noticeably absent. Like every year, some artistes did not attend the Grammys because they had prior engagements.
But this year, multiple Grammy-nominated artistes skipped the ceremony altogether. Here’s a list of the seven artistes that ghosted the Grammys and why.
1. Beyoncé (and by implication, Jay-Z)
This was a huge no-show considering Beyoncé was up for three awards including Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.
She even ended up winning Best Music Film for her Netflix concert documentary Homecoming at the early Grammys show.
It’s unclear why the couple did not attend. Perhaps because they were not slated to perform. But Jay-Z and Beyoncé weren’t at the 2019 Grammys either.
Clearly, the Carters are bigger than the awards.
2. Lady Gaga
Although she got multiple nominations for the A Star is Born album, Lady Gaga skipped the Grammys for the first time since 2014!
A Star Is Born won the award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Another song, I’ll Never Love Again took home the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
The film’s track Always Remember Us This Way was also up for Song of the Year, but was beaten out by Billie Eilish‘s Bad Guy.
The star hasn’t made any public announcements about her absence, but she may have skipped because she didn’t have any new music from 2019 nominated.
3. Rihanna
Rihanna hasn’t released an album since ANTI — one of the biggest albums of the 2010s.
She is allegedly currently working on a follow-up album. But she neither got any nominations nor bookings to perform this year, so it makes sense that she would sit this one out.
Rihanna is one of the celebrities that repeatedly sits out the Grammys, as this is the second year in a row the Fenty mogul has missed the awards.
Rihanna was in Los Angeles on Sunday morning though. She was present at the Roc Nation Brunch — an event that fellow absentees Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended as well.
4. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift got three Grammy nominations at the 2020 award show: Best Pop Vocal Album for Lover, Best Pop Solo Performance for You Need to Calm Down, and Song of the Year for Lover.
Multiple sources told Variety that Swift was initially working on a set consisting of tracks from her latest album Lover, but that it fell through for unexplained reasons.
There has been no comment from Swift or the Recording Academy. But it was likely because the events leading up to the Awards were shrouded in drama and sexist scandals.
On Thursday, just a few days before the Grammys, Swift attended the premiere of her Miss Americana documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, which takes in Park City, Utah. So there’s also a chance she was just not in California.
5. Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez just released her album Rare this month. Since it dropped a few weeks before the Grammys, it was not eligible for awards.
She didn’t make an appearance at the show, likely because she is in the midst of promoting her album.
That said, it seems the singer was watching from home. On Sunday night, Gomez posted on social media about Demi Lovato‘s emotional performance of Anyone.
“I wish there were words to describe how beautiful, inspirational, and DESERVED this moment was,” Gomez wrote in her Instagram stories after the show, speaking of Lovato’s performance.
6. Adele
Two-time album of the year winner Adele hasn’t released new music since “25,” which absolutely killed it back at the 2017 Grammys.
Despite being a Grammys favorite, Adele was one of the artistes not in attendance this year. This may be because she is currently working on new music for 2020, according to her manager.
7. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus‘s 2019 She Is Coming EP was not especially popular with critics; and apparently the Recording Academy (which historically fails to recognize EPs) wasn’t impressed either.
The artiste didn’t receive any nominations this year. But her absence was felt since her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, got a nomination and performed Old Town Road during the show. Plus, her sister Noah and mother Tish were in the audience.