Why Lorde Is the Only GRAMMYs Album of the Year Nominee Not Asked to Perform Solo
Why isn’t Lorde taking the GRAMMY stage?
A source confirms to ET that Lorde, the only female Album of Year nominee for her LP, Melodrama, was approached by the GRAMMYs to perform at Sunday’s awards show with other artists as part of a tribute to Tom Petty, but not asked to perform solo.
As a result, the 21-year-old singer (whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor) declined to perform at the GRAMMYs, ET’s source said. Variety first reported the news.
The other Album of the Year nominees -- notably all men: Childish Gambino, JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars -- were offered solo performance slots on music’s biggest night. Currently, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars are on the official GRAMMYs performers list. ET reached out to reps for the GRAMMYs and Lorde for comment.
On Friday, Lorde’s mother, Sonja Yelich, posted an excerpt of a New York Times article calling out the lack of female representation in the GRAMMY nominations. “Of the 899 people nominated in the last six GRAMMY Awards, the report four, 9 percent were women,” the article noted, with Yelich tweeting, “This says it all.”
Lorde has been keeping busy in the week leading up to the GRAMMYs, performing several songs for Jack Antonoff’s Ally Coalition on Wednesday and performing at MusiCares’ Fleetwood Mac tribute on Friday. The two-time GRAMMY winner also received diamond certification for her breakthrough 2013 single, "Royals," from the RIAA on Friday
Even though Lorde won’t be stepping behind the mic on Sunday, she doesn’t seem to be letting that get her down, sharing several killer photos from the past few days -- including one with Stevie Nicks.
The GRAMMY Awards, hosted by James Corden, air live from Madison Square Garden at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on CBS.
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