Beyoncé, Beck, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell Williams will compete for Album of the Year during the 2015 Grammys. It only took all of Friday to find out.
Instead of a straightforward, traditional, on-camera announcement ceremony, The Grammys turned to more social avenues for divulging the 2015 nominees.
Pharrell and Ed Sheeran kicked off the event during CBS This Morning with the first round of names. Then, specific social media big fish began revealing category nominees on their Twitter accounts, including YouTube star Troye Sivan, who announced Song of the Year. Sivan, who has 2.13 million followers on Twitter, began releasing his own music in 2014—with his debut album hitting the top 10 on the Billboard charts upon release.
Congrats to @theGRAMMYs Song Of The Year noms @Meghan_Trainor, @sia, @taylorswift13, @samsmithworld & @hozier! <3https://t.co/xqncX3LrSb
— 👼🏼 (@troyesivan) December 5, 2014
Sivan was not the only celebrity on social media to take part in the stunt. Alanis Morissette, Jared Leto, and LL Cool J all also participated. Each celebrity included a video of them announcing the nominees with their tweet.
Congrats @theGRAMMYs Best Rock Album noms @TheRyanAdams @beck @theblackkeys @tompetty @u2!https://t.co/RnJZCcMv3D
— JARED LETO (@JaredLeto) December 5, 2014
Congrats @theGRAMMYs Best New Artist noms @bastilledan @IGGYAZALEA @TheBrandyClark @HAIMtheband @samsmithworldhttps://t.co/sFBz4aYigk
— Alanis Morissette (@Alanis) December 5, 2014
Congrats @theGRAMMYs Best Rap Performance noms @donaldglover @drake @eminem @kendricklamar @lecraehttps://t.co/I3xJ5HkI77
— LLCOOLJ (@llcoolj) December 5, 2014
While the plan may be an interesting way to increase the award show’s digital presence, it also threw a wrench in coverage plans for many reporters used to the status quo of award show nominee announcements.
The Grammys revealed the final and biggest category, Album of the Year, during Friday’s A Very Grammy Christmas special. Here’s the full list of nominees.
H/T Tubefilter | Screengrab via Troye Sivan/Twitter