What does Gaga have to do to secure a general field Grammy?

[Cpeer 5,065]

Sadly many voters do still vote for a commercial success. Let’s be honest Gaga’s performance on Billboard is not ideal. Yes she and Bruno struck gold with DWAS, but Abracadabra didn’t have longevity in the US. Disease was not a hit. 
 

She needs an album cycle with 3-4 hits in the US ( and all of them ideally being solo). By hits I mean months spent in the top 10, peaking at #1 or top 3. Radio hits

[Cavadour 2,680]

In my opinion, a general field Grammy and Gaga seem to be polar opposites. Her talent is unpredictable and intimidating. Creating gp oriented stuff or winning awards are not part of her primary concerns. Yet she's multi-awarded anyway. Which is a clear reflexion on her multifaceted creativity.

I'm sorry to say, but a general field Grammy or award looks to me kinda mundane for her and would match the idea she has gone to the ranks, falled into line. Which I sincerely hope she never will.

I'm in love of the unconventional huge star she is. And the way her bizarreness has imposed and made her timeless and untouchable. In the end, fu©k @w@rds after all. Art is so much else than competition.

[sarahb 17,053]

 

[PartySick 171,031]

On 2/2/2026 at 4:54 PM, jacs vs looser said:

This is my biggest question, there has to be a specific reason for it, 14 times with no wins is not coincidence and it cannot be that  external reasons (context, other nominees etc) made her loose every single time.

After DWAS lost SOTY and wasn't even nominated for ROTY despite Bruno being a huge Grammy favorite I'm starting to believe there is a significant group within the Grammys voting committee that literally do not like her and will vote against her *every time*. What the reason for it might be? I don't know: I'm inclined to believe it's because she's seen as the full embodiment of pop music and the genre is seen as "less deserving", and anything she does is cataloged as such by them. Whatever it might be, it will continue to stop her from getting a general field win unless something seismic happens to dramatically shift the idea of those voters.

Imo, and feel free to disagree, I think her work just struggles to break out of queer spaces.

She'll occasionally have a hit that breaks away from the rest of her discography but her music is largely consumed by a smaller, loyal audience.

You don't even need to look further than Mayhem to know that tbh. Nearly 70% of Mayhem's streams come from just DWAS. And despite having the biggest solo concert in history, a TON of people haven't heard her name in years. Maybe since ASIB or the halftime show, maybe since BTW, or even TF/M.

Meanwhile, DtMF has a couple songs over a billion and even more that are nearly at a billion. Kendrick is a critical darling and out streams Gaga on a song-by-song basis easily.

Gaga's a true generational talent but people like Bad Bunny and Kendrick absolutely dominate the global and domestic music scene in ways she never could.

She's just not as widely popular as we like to believe she is. One of the biggest for sure but not big enough to immediately be anything but the underdog for these general field Grammys.

[RAMROD 115,612]

The problem is not with her, or her music.

But there were always bigger things happening last minute that co,ck blocked her.

 

[FameHookah 4,817]

On 2/2/2026 at 3:54 PM, jacs vs looser said:

This is my biggest question, there has to be a specific reason for it, 14 times with no wins is not coincidence and it cannot be that  external reasons (context, other nominees etc) made her loose every single time.

After DWAS lost SOTY and wasn't even nominated for ROTY despite Bruno being a huge Grammy favorite I'm starting to believe there is a significant group within the Grammys voting committee that literally do not like her and will vote against her *every time*. What the reason for it might be? I don't know: I'm inclined to believe it's because she's seen as the full embodiment of pop music and the genre is seen as "less deserving", and anything she does is cataloged as such by them. Whatever it might be, it will continue to stop her from getting a general field win unless something seismic happens to dramatically shift the idea of those voters.

Ikr? IM SO SO MAD still i havent recovered from grammys night

I know its something silly but it really hurts, she works SO HARD she SINGS WRITES DANCES AND PERFORMS like no one

 

like WHY 

 

I fkng hate the industry so much, she is like literally the last pop legend alive and they pay her DUST

I HATE IT AHHHHH😭 gaga we love you and at the end of the day you will be remembered as the legend you always were, is, and ARE

[FameHookah 4,817]

OT: She need to go FULL shallow, ARUTW, Taylor on folklore mode 

ditch the fame themes, be more personal, and do powerfull ballads

I love her pop stuff but somehow her ballads are more appreciated by the go and academy

[Mr S 8,781]

It was frustrating no doubt. Once she lost Pop Solo I knew she was not winning the big 3. I think she needs multi genre support. Seems like she will split the vote a lot with other big pop names. As a result, something left fields takes it (rap which never wins, non english speaking, etc). It shows she is lacking in support somewhere. Beyonce garners votes in R&b and pop, and finally won when country embraced her. If Gaga got that rock nom, won Pop Solo, then I would have predicted a GF win.

Only thing she can do is keep at it. Remi, Beyonce made 3 stellar albums in a row before finally winning. If Gaga can pull that off, she will get the overdue narrative.

[chathonnete 965]

She lost over Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny and his last album have a strong meaning for many people worldwide, he's a symbol a resistance and protest 

Mayhem is commercially successful and have amazing visuals but don't have the same impact it's just a fact and it's ok

[mamo 20,309]

21 hours ago, Cpeer said:

Sadly many voters do still vote for a commercial success. Let’s be honest Gaga’s performance on Billboard is not ideal. Yes she and Bruno struck gold with DWAS, but Abracadabra didn’t have longevity in the US. Disease was not a hit. 
 

She needs an album cycle with 3-4 hits in the US ( and all of them ideally being solo). By hits I mean months spent in the top 10, peaking at #1 or top 3. Radio hits

I agree, had Abracadabra gone no.1 or at least top 5 I think we'd be having a different conversation potentially. Same with Disease, if that went no.1 or top 5 then I think she could have won pop solo too. I don't understand why they didn't release physicals for either of them tbh? Interscope let the ball drop with that imo. 

It would have also been nice to have a televised Disease performance. Quite crazy when you think it's the only lead single without one. But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining too much because overall the era was incredible and we still have so much more left to come. 

3 hours ago, Mr S said:

It was frustrating no doubt. Once she lost Pop Solo I knew she was not winning the big 3. I think she needs multi genre support. Seems like she will split the vote a lot with other big pop names. As a result, something left fields takes it (rap which never wins, non english speaking, etc). It shows she is lacking in support somewhere. Beyonce garners votes in R&b and pop, and finally won when country embraced her. If Gaga got that rock nom, won Pop Solo, then I would have predicted a GF win.

Only thing she can do is keep at it. Remi, Beyonce made 3 stellar albums in a row before finally winning. If Gaga can pull that off, she will get the overdue narrative.

I agree. I think the pop votes in the main categories were split between her, Sabrina and Chappell unfortunately.

However, I don't think she needs to release another 2/3 albums to get an overdue narrative as she's already firmly WAY overdue. She's been nominated now for AOTY 5x making her the artist with most AOTY nominations without winning.  She's also now the artist with the most general field nominations (14 in total) without a single win too. That's a significant amount of snubbing imo. Some of the winners who have won over her aren't even as memorable anymore. 

17 hours ago, FameHookah said:

OT: She need to go FULL shallow, ARUTW, Taylor on folklore mode 

ditch the fame themes, be more personal, and do powerfull ballads

I love her pop stuff but somehow her ballads are more appreciated by the go and academy

I think Gaga can make whatever record she wants but it just has to be strong, cohesive and pushing the boundaries of what she's already released. If she made a rock/industrial record and focused less on making it sound too pop/commercial, I think she'd kill it. 

[StrawberryBlond 15,370]

This is just it - she's done all there is for her to possibly do. She's created massive hits, beloved hits, put in memorable performances and great music videos, done anthemic pop and stripped down ballads, done some genre expanding, collabed with big names and made music with a message. She's performed excellence artistically, commercially, critically, done it all and in the academy's eyes IT STILL ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH. It feels downright disrespectful at this point, in a "if you don't think I'm good enough, stop nominating me" kinda way. I'm tired of constantly hearing "I'm sure she'll turn out an album that's even better next time" and "her time will come." According to the critics, she made her best album and it wasn't good enough, so yeah. How many chances does she have to avoid bad timing? When's it going to be "her turn?" She's paid her dues, she's at Beyonce's level and she got AOTY last year, so it's it's time for the long overdue narrative, stat. I don't get why so many of her fans are playing all nicey nice. We have every right to be angry when she loses when other, smaller, younger, newer names can win big straight out the gate. When people who are inspired by her win and she doesn't. When she loses out on the same category time and time again. When she gets 4 wins off the ASIB album but it doesn't even get an AOTY nomination (yes, I'm still bitter about that will forever be so until she wins AOTY). 

20 hours ago, PartySick said:

Imo, and feel free to disagree, I think her work just struggles to break out of queer spaces.

She'll occasionally have a hit that breaks away from the rest of her discography but her music is largely consumed by a smaller, loyal audience.

You don't even need to look further than Mayhem to know that tbh. Nearly 70% of Mayhem's streams come from just DWAS. And despite having the biggest solo concert in history, a TON of people haven't heard her name in years. Maybe since ASIB or the halftime show, maybe since BTW, or even TF/M.

Meanwhile, DtMF has a couple songs over a billion and even more that are nearly at a billion. Kendrick is a critical darling and out streams Gaga on a song-by-song basis easily.

Gaga's a true generational talent but people like Bad Bunny and Kendrick absolutely dominate the global and domestic music scene in ways she never could.

She's just not as widely popular as we like to believe she is. One of the biggest for sure but not big enough to immediately be anything but the underdog for these general field Grammys.

I really disagree. Her music was massive during her first two albums and came back with a vengeance from ASIB onwards, when she really won the GP respect. More straight people listen to Gaga than ever before, especially new listeners. Bad Bunny's success on the international market is mostly limited to the Americas, though. He only just made a world tour despite being around since 2018 and he couldn't extensively tour places like Oceania and Asia and DTMF only went #13 in the UK with 60k. Kendrick is much bigger internationally but his fans are as hip hop focused as Gaga fans are pop focused, yet we're told he has much more global reach. Most people I know couldn't name any BB or Kendrick songs if you put a gun to their head but they can name several Gaga songs. That's the ultimate impact to me. I feel all these artists demographics are the ones who pay the most attention them and ones outside their fandoms largely won't get it, it's the same for everyone. So I don't know why we try to claim that Gaga's such an outsider whose music is less mainstream and only fans listen to it. You could literally say the same for BB and Kendrick.

I don't know how she can be the underdog for a general field win when she made undeniable commercial and critical smashes with Shallow and DWAS. Even Bruno couldn't help her get there and he's great at getting general field wins. I feel like her fans are just reluctant to admit that there's an issue with academy voters view of her that doesn't match the public's view.

[PartySick 171,031]

27 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Most people I know couldn't name any BB or Kendrick songs if you put a gun to their head but they can name several Gaga songs

Well of course people in your circle would know the artists you know. Go ask complete strangers though, especially bilingual Americans, and BB is way bigger than Gaga. Especially in the south and urban areas.

I can tell you as someone who lives in f*ck ass red state Florida and interacts with the straights™️ all day every day, next to nobody is keeping up with Gaga but they are casual fans of BB, Kendrick, and artists like them.

Hip-hop, rap, and reggaeton are the most popular genres here aside from country and that's generally true for the majority of the US.

And if you do mention Gaga to someone, it's always "meat dress, Bad Romance, and Poker Face". Occasionally a mention of ASIB. Even if DWAS is playing on the radio right beside them, you can say "this song is actually Gaga too" and they'll say "oh really? Cool" and then they'll never listen to it intentionally  

You have the appeal backwards tbh. Gaga's core audience is white gays and white women while BB and Kendrick have universal appeal. We are the ones in a bubble  it's a fabulous bubble, but a bubble nonetheless.

I know the stans hate this particular argument but consider that, barring the success found due to ASIB, her major hits since 2011 have been collabs with artists that already have established streaming power.

She gets general field noms despite all this. That's a testament to the quality of her work and we should celebrate that instead of lamenting coming second or third place.

[Gaga Scholar 232]

On 2/3/2026 at 6:43 PM, Cavadour said:

In my opinion, a general field Grammy and Gaga seem to be polar opposites. Her talent is unpredictable and intimidating. Creating gp oriented stuff or winning awards are not part of her primary concerns. Yet she's multi-awarded anyway. Which is a clear reflexion on her multifaceted creativity.

I'm sorry to say, but a general field Grammy or award looks to me kinda mundane for her and would match the idea she has gone to the ranks, falled into line. Which I sincerely hope she never will.

I'm in love of the unconventional huge star she is. And the way her bizarreness has imposed and made her timeless and untouchable. In the end, fu©k @w@rds after all. Art is so much else than competition.

Well-said. This is how I wish my brain would think 24/7. Trying.

[StrawberryBlond 15,370]

On 2/5/2026 at 12:28 AM, PartySick said:

Well of course people in your circle would know the artists you know. Go ask complete strangers though, especially bilingual Americans, and BB is way bigger than Gaga. Especially in the south and urban areas.

I can tell you as someone who lives in f*ck ass red state Florida and interacts with the straights™️ all day every day, next to nobody is keeping up with Gaga but they are casual fans of BB, Kendrick, and artists like them.

Hip-hop, rap, and reggaeton are the most popular genres here aside from country and that's generally true for the majority of the US.

And if you do mention Gaga to someone, it's always "meat dress, Bad Romance, and Poker Face". Occasionally a mention of ASIB. Even if DWAS is playing on the radio right beside them, you can say "this song is actually Gaga too" and they'll say "oh really? Cool" and then they'll never listen to it intentionally  

You have the appeal backwards tbh. Gaga's core audience is white gays and white women while BB and Kendrick have universal appeal. We are the ones in a bubble  it's a fabulous bubble, but a bubble nonetheless.

I know the stans hate this particular argument but consider that, barring the success found due to ASIB, her major hits since 2011 have been collabs with artists that already have established streaming power.

She gets general field noms despite all this. That's a testament to the quality of her work and we should celebrate that instead of lamenting coming second or third place.

I don't just mean people I know, I'm talking occasional acquaintances and family who don't even know I like her as well as complete strangers. Ask Europeans and they'll definitely know. Of course certain areas will have different demographic ratios. Maybe the UK public is just a lot more embracing and forgiving but we've given Gaga a huge comeback ever since 2018. Her international tour figures show she can still pull in stadium crowds all these years later, which is so much more a proof of impact to me than an artist in the first decade of their career. As far as I've seen, the only people who truly like BB are Latin fans and Kendrick's are hip hop fans. I like hip hop and I don't listen to Kendrick. It's like fans of any genre - those who are into it listen to it and those who don't couldn't care less. Pop is a lot more all-consuming because it's very radio friendly and it's what most people will be aware of, no matter which language it's in.

Yes, a lot of her most recent hits have come courtesy of collabs but most of rap is made up of collabs and nobody ever says that those artists are only popular because of who they work with. And collabing in the pop game is almost as common now too, especially for a lead single. For some reason, it's only seen as an attempt to get a hit and maintain relevancy when Gaga does it. But I do get why she struggles among more mainstream safer names. The fact she wins and they don't says a lot.