Grammys Will Not Let Lady Gaga Compete for Best New Artist
Lady Gaga may have lost out to Gloriana for the Breakthrough Artist Award at last night’s American Music Awards — a loss so crushing, Gaga unleashed her anger by using a mic stand to smash a plate glass window during her AMAs performance — but there was some potential good news for The Fame Monster singer: According to EW’s Music Mix, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was going to consider a rule change to make her eligible for the Best New Artist category at the 2010 Grammys, even though Gaga’s “Just Dance” was nominated for Best Dance Recording in 2009. Unfortunately, by this afternoon, a Grammys rep debunked EW’s report and told Rolling Stone Gaga is still ineligible for the honor.
Check out Lady Gaga’s wildest wardrobe moments.
“The awards and nominations committee meets to review the rules every year. We change the rules frequently,” Grammy President Neil Portnow told EW. “We recognize that situation is not perfect, and we are looking at ways to figure it out.” Because “Just Dance” was nominated at the 2009 Grammys, Gaga is technically ineligible to be nominated for Best New Artist, even though that single was merely the opening salvo in what has pretty much become Gaga’s breakout year.
Inside The Monster Ball: Lady Gaga Reveals Plans for Ambitious New Tour
If our Hot Diva, whose Fame Monster is out today, did score a nod in the category, she wouldn’t face competition from two of 2009’s other breakthrough acts. According to Variety, both Kid Cudi, who didn’t release Man on the Moon: The End of Day before the Grammy cut-off date, and French rockers Phoenix, whose fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is one album more than the Best New Artist category mandates, have been ruled ineligible in the category.
A Grammy rep tells Rolling Stone that Portnow’s comments to EW.com were taken out of context and that Lady Gaga is still ineligible for the Best New Artist award at the 2010 Grammys. Speaking about Gaga’s disqualification from the category, Portnow said, “This particular issue in the Best New Artist category is on our radar and I would expect changes to address it in our next year’s voting.” So Gaga will not be eligible in 2010, as a Grammy rep tells RS that the first-round ballots for the category, which disallowed Gaga, were already received in mid-October.
Related Stories:
• Lady Gaga Premieres “Bad Romance,” Her Craziest Video Yet
• Lady Gaga Exclusive: Inside Her Plans for The Monster Ball Tour