Every once in a while, the Grammys will make a pick that is instantly polarizing, and one of the best examples is Bon Iver’s Best New Artist win in 2012. To many, the win showed how the Grammys might choose quality and artistry over sales. But to others, the win might’ve represented the Grammys’ persistent bias against hip-hop artists and disrespect towards the genre. How exactly did Bon Iver even win, though?
While Bon Iver, a musical project led by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, won in 2012, the band was far from new by that time. Bon Iver’s debut record, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” was released independently in 2007, slowly but surely building enough of a fan base to warrant an indie label to sign the band and give the album a proper release in 2008. The band then started to gain popularity in indie circles, leading to collaborations with St. Vincent and, most importantly, Kanye West. This latter collaboration truly put Bon Iver on the map for a lot of people, which helped his second record, the self-titled 2011 release “Bon Iver,” to debut at number-two on the Billboard 200 chart with over 100k sales. So while Bon Iver was definitely not the biggest hit-maker, he wasn’t really unknown either.
The success and acclaim of the self-titled record earned Bon Iver four Grammy nominations, including Song and Record of the Year for “Holocene,” plus Best New Artist. Alongside Bon Iver in that last category were four artists who ended up having major success in their own right. The first of these were The Band Perry, best known for their hit song “If I Die Young.” The group earned a Grammy as well, taking home Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their cover of Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind.” Next was J. Cole, who is now one of the biggest rappers in music and has released multiple hit songs and albums throughout the years; Cole also won a Grammy in 2020 for his 21 Savage collaboration “A Lot for Best Rap Song. Also nominated in that lineup was electronic musician Skrillex; he ended up winning three Grammys that night and became somewhat of a Grammy darling in the dance/electronic fields, so he’s probably not upset at the loss. However, the most notorious loss that night, and the reason Bon Iver’s win is the most controversial, is Nicki Minaj.
Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver, who had actually collaborated on Kanye West’s song “Monster,” went into the night as the front-runners for the award. Media outlets like Paste and Entertainment Weekly were sure of Bon Iver’s winning fate, while others like Rolling Stone and Slant were more divided between the two artists. Historically speaking, Bon Iver had a few advantages over Minaj. Perhaps the most apparent is that the Grammys rarely award hip-hop in the general field, especially when it isn’t more R&B leaning like Lauryn Hill, more pop-friendly like OutKast, or thematically important like Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.” As such, a lot of voters probably weren’t voting for Minaj already, and her over-the-top, camp persona and image probably weren’t helping considering these were the people who chose Robert Plant and Alison Krauss over Lil Wayne and Radiohead just a few years earlier. But even without Minaj’s more unconventional style, Bon Iver might’ve just been too irresistibly Grammy-bait for the Grammys to resist; their intricate singer-songwriter style goes well with the line of previous category winners ranging from Shelby Lynne to John Legend, and he had two other general field nominations, something no one else in the category had.
So Grammy night came and Bon Iver picked up two awards, Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album. While Grammy predictors might’ve been prepared for a Bon Iver win given his statistical advantages, the general public was a bit more confused. Searches for “Who Is Bon Iver?” (most times written “Bonnie Bear”) lit up the internet and led to more people discovering the band, who are now pretty known to avid music consumers (including Nicki Minaj fans).
Judging Bon Iver’s win is tough, though. As of 2022, Nicki Minaj is one of the biggest female rappers to make it in the music industry, yet is the only one from her BNA class without a Grammy. Minaj’s achievements have been important in opening the door for more women in rap (like later Best New Artist champ Megan Thee Stallion). However, Bon Iver is still a hot music commodity and is still getting Grammy nominations (his most recent album, “I, I” even got into Album of the Year in 2020). Ultimately, should the Grammys give the spotlight to amazing but lesser-known artists? Or should Best New Artist be truly about recognizing the next pioneers in music with the longest possible shelf life, especially ones with huge breakout success? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
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