1 hour ago
Was Zara Larsson Asked to Replace Camila Cabello in Fifth Harmony? She Says...
Actually, the thing with Zara Larsson’s ambition is not everything’s a competition.
As the “Ambition” singer sees it, her massive success in the past year shouldn’t qualify her for Best New Artist at the 2027 Grammys because she’s been a performer for more than a decade.
“I was speaking to my former label about this,” Larsson told Perfect Magazine in an interview published Aug. 27, “and they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to see if we can put you in Best New Artist for the Grammys.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t even want that. That would downplay the 13 years of me being an artist. I’m not a new artist.’”
Although the 28-year-old—who won Talang, the Swedish version of America’s Got Talent, when she was 10—has found success with previous songs including 2015’s “Lush Life” and 2017’s “Symphony,” her fifth studio album Midnight Sun skyrocketed her notoriety after its release in September.
But while Larsson admitted she’s certainly felt “a shift” recently, she is still looking at her career as a whole.
“That’s why I like ‘breakthrough,’” she continued. “It feels like the whole world is looking at me at the same time. Before, this song was successful over here, and another song a year later was successful over there. Now it feels like it’s all coming together quite nicely.”
As it turns out, though, Larsson’s wish has already been granted, because she actually isn’t eligible for Best New Artist because her song “Midnight Sun”—released as a single in June 2025—received a nomination for Best Dance Pop Recording at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Matthew Baker/Getty Images
As the Recording Academy states in its rules for the Best New Artist category, an artist is not eligible if they have “a previous Grammy nomination as a performer, including a nomination as an established member of a nominated group.”
Her Midnight Sun album, however, is eligible for consideration for the 2027 Grammys. Nominations will be announced in November.
In the end, though, Larsson’s personal measure of success isn’t awards—it’s the fans.
Matthew Baker/Getty Images
“The older I get, it’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that my passion and what I really care about is people coming to my shows,” she continued to Perfect. “People have taken time out of their real lives. They paid money to experience this with their friends, and I get to be on stage and sing live. The live culture of it all is what I really, really care about.”
As Larsson put it, “What’s been so amazing about Midnight Sun is I feel like it’s gone beyond just a good album or a good song. People are being invited into my world by putting on their outfits and their flowers and the glitter and the colours. The culture around it is how I feel successful.”
Ahead of the 2027 Grammy nominations being announced in November, read on to look back at artists who have never won a Grammy.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Katy Perry
She’s pretty without any makeup on, but Katy Perry has 13 nominations, including Album of the Year for 2010’s Teenage Dream, and no wins.
Derrek Kupish/Variety via Getty Images
Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton’s got armloads of country-specific awards, but—much to Kelly Clarkson’s surprise—the Grammys have left him hanging nine times.
OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images
ABBA
Mamma mia! The cheery Swedish pop group ABBA racked up hits in the 1970s, but the Recording Academy didn’t even take a chance on ABBA until 2022 when they received their first nomination, Record of the Year for “I Still Have Faith in You.” Which, alas, they lost to Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open.”
But then they were nominated for four more the next year, including Album of the Year for Voyage, so the journey continues.
Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez
Maybe that look on Ben Affleck’s face at the 2023 Grammys was from finding out then-wife Jennifer Lopez didn’t win either of the Grammys she was nominated for in 2000 and 2001.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson has two, but wouldn’t it be nice if The Beach Boys had ridden one of their four nominations—three for 1966’s “Good Vibrations” and another for 1988’s “Kokomo,” off the Cocktail soundtrack—to a win? The signature SoCal group was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award when they were older in 2001.
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Who
While they’re Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, The Who only have two Grammy nominations to the group’s name and no wins.
To which we say, What?
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
Backstreet Boys
The Recording Academy kept on playing games with the Backstreet Boys’ hearts, leaving them 0-for-9 between 1999 (when, fair, they lost Best New Artist to Lauryn Hill) and 2019.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
*NSYNC
Well, at least the Backstreet Boys can take solace knowing *NSYNC didn’t win any of their nine nominations either. Otherwise they might drive themselves crazy.
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
One Direction
But yeesh, at least BSB and *NSYNC were nominated. (Of course, One Direction alum Harry Styles has since won three, including Album of the Year in 2023 for Harry’s House.)
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Bob Marley
One love, no Grammy nominations for revered Jamaican artist Bob Marley, who cranked out countless worthy tunes before his untimely death in 1981 at the age of 36. He was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Avril Lavigne
It may not be very obvious, but Avril Lavigne has never won once in the eight nominations she's received since her first trip to the Grammys during the early aughts.
Frans Schellekens/Redferns
Chuck Berry
It’s fine, Chuck Berry just helped invent rock and roll, no big deal. The “Johnny B. Goode” singer was ultimately given the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.
RB/Redferns
Queen
Lifetime Achievement Award recipients in 2018, Queen was nominated for four Grammys in frontman Freddie Mercury’s lifetime, but they were never the champions.
SIPA/Shutterstock
Lana Del Rey
Of course Taylor Swift meant well when she insisted Lana del Rey join her onstage in accepting Album of the Year in 2024 for Midnights, but surely Lana would rather have made the trip to accept one of her own Grammys after 11 nominations in 10 years.
Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj, then 0-for-10 in her career at the Grammys (now 0-for-12 since 2024), had thoughts after her song “Super Freaky Girl” was categorized as a pop vocal instead of a rap performance in 2022.
“They don't want the people who they have in the industry to have to go up against me,” she wrote on Instagram. “But why? If you're great, if a song is great, you should be able to be put together in the same category.”
Mickey Bernal/NBC via Getty Images
Toby Keith
Toby Keith, who died in 2024, was one of the biggest country artists of all time, but his seven nominations never resulted in the ultimate tip of the hat.
Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images
Josh Groban
You’ve just been running around, living your life, assuming Josh Groban was a Grammy winner for “You Raise Me Up.” But no. And he’s only been nominated five times, includinbg in 2005 for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
The Supremes
Reflections of the way the Grammys used to be: Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson of The Supremes were only nominated twice—for Motown bangers “Baby Love” and “Stop! in the Name of Love”—and never won.
Ross, meanwhile, has 11 competitive nominations outside of her work with the trio, most recently in 2023, and no wins. But she has two Lifetime Achievement Awards, one as a solo artist and one with the Supremes.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
English (US) ·