Washington D.C.: According to music insiders, the real reason why American singer Taylor Swift didn’t attend the Grammys 2020 is that the organisers wouldn’t guarantee that she would win the Song of the Year award.
The 30-year-old singer’s team talked to show big wigs a few days ahead of the live event and said that Swift will only attend and perform if she was to win a big Grammy, confirmed multiple sources to Page Six. But Swift’s team was told that the winners are not known to the planners of the show, also that they would not bend the rules for her.
One insider said, “[Her team] called and wanted to be assured that she would win the Grammy. And while it wasn’t an explicit demand, they certainly were fishing to find out if Taylor was a winner. It was understood in the conversation that if she’s not winning, she’s not coming to the Grammys.” According to another music insider, “it is widely known in the industry that Swift’s team called to find out if she was getting a Grammy, they wouldn’t tell her so she didn’t go. It’s not uncommon [for an artist] to want to know. And everyone knows Taylor loves to win, win, win.” “I am on the record: These statements by anonymous, unidentified ‘sources’ are absolutely 100 per cent false and laughable. She just didn’t go to the Grammys. You guys need to calm down,” a spokesperson for Swift said.
The ‘You Need to Calm Down’ singer was also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance. She lost the Song of the Year to Billie Eilish. There was also buzz that the ‘Bad Blood’ singer was protesting the show after ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan claimed that its general counsel had sexually harassed her and that Grammy votes were rigged.
According to Ken Ehrlich, Grammys producer who held a spot in the show for Swift in case she did decide to go, “There had been conversations with Swift’s team, reported Variety. One of her rep called and said, specifically, that she wanted to do the show for me.” Ehrlich further added, and then it was not confirmed and “I’m really not at liberty to go into why ultimately she did not confirm” and said that “I understood her reasoning.”