Singer Taylor Swift was nominated in Album of the Year category in the 2022 Grammys, for more than just her own album. Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album ‘Sour’ had Taylor Swift and St. Vincent under songwriting credits, along with Jack Antonoff as producer.
After intense criticism over her song “Deja Vu” being a ripoff of “Cruel Summer,” Rodrigo credited the latter song as an interpolation in her own hit song. Taylor Swift and St. Vincent were songwriters for the “Lover” album track, with Antonoff as producer, which made all three of them liable for the Grammy nomination when “Sour” was nominated.
However, the Academy recently released a statement regarding the submission error, and how their policy does not include those involved in the interpolated songs in nominations, thus all Swift, Vincent, Antonoff were dropped from Album of the Year nomination of Sour.
“During the submission process, the Academy received credits from the label for the track ‘Deja Vu’. Last week, we received the correct credits from the label that recognize Annie Clark, Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift as songwriters of an interpolation on the track ‘Deja Vu.’ In keeping with current Grammy guidelines, as songwriters of an interpolated track, Clark, Antonoff and Swift are not nominees in the album of the year category for ‘Sour.’” said the statement.
Both Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff are however still nominated for Swift’s own album, “Evermore.” The duo already won Album of the Year for Swift’s “Folklore” in 2021. While St. Vincent is nominated for the alternative album award for “Daddy’s Home.” Rodrigo and company listed the above as an error, as they were not supposed to be as part of the policy. She also had Paramore’s “Misery Business” as another interpolation song in her hit song “Good for you,” however, that submission went smoothly as Paramore’s Hayley Williams was not submitted as songwriter for “Sour.”
With the above three names dropped, “Sour” becomes the second album with the least number of writers credited, including Olivia Rodrigo, Daniel Nigro and Casey Smith, mildly beating Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” which only includes two, herself and her brother, Finneas. Kanye West’s “Donda” has the most number of writers with 77 names credited for songwriting, followed by Justin Bieber’s “Justice” that lists 73 songwriters as nominees. Taylor Swift’s “Evermore” has a small list with Jack Antonoff, William Bowery, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon.
