Bon Iver surprised a lot of people, their own fans included, when they were nominated for Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Alternative Album. To make matters terribly ironic, it came out last December that frontman Justin Vernon thought of the Grammys as being "ridiculous". In an unpublished interview segment done around the time of Arcade Fire's big Grammy win last year, Vernon said of the awards show:
"I was like 'I would go and I would' — and I don’t think the Bon Iver record is the kind of record that would get nominated for a Grammy — 'I would get up there and be like, "This is for my parents, because they supported me," ' because I know they would think it would be stupid of me not to go up there. But I kinda felt like going up there and being like: 'Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending that this is important.' That’s what I would say."