Grammys: Sam Smith wins, Taylor Swift invokes Shake It Off lyrics

By Frank Florio | February 9, 2015

Sam Smith won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2015, but presenter Taylor Swift had a message for those nominees who lost to him: shake it off. The pop singer managed to quote her own most popular lyric in explaining that she herself lost the Best New Artist award when she was nominated. Smith had a big night full of wins, but should he be worried that Best New Artist may be a kiss of death?

Taylor Swift lost the award in 2008 to Amy Winehouse, who went on to have a strong career before being cut short by her untimely passing. But in other years, Best New Artist has been an aberration for one hit wonders or those who never again cracked the mainstream. Esperanza Spalding defeated Drake and Justin Bieber in 2011 and was never heard from again. The same goes for Bon Iver in 2012. And in the biggest faux pas of all, there is no winner from 1990 after the award given to Milli Vanilli was vacated when it was revealed that the two members of that group didn’t even sing on the album.

But Sam Smith might not want to quit the business just yet. Others from Adele to Carrie Underwood to Maroon 5 to John Legend have won Best New Artist and then gone on to have careers worthy of that particular Grammy award. And then there’s Taylor Swift, who is arguably the biggest pop star in the world seven years after losing. That means that the likes of Iggy Azalea, Haim, Bastille and Brandy Clark, who all lost to Smith in 2015, should indeed probably just shake it off.