Firstly, she's awesome.

Secondly, not having a hit record should not exclude you from being nominated. I mean, Alicia Keys didn't have one before her triumph at the Grammys and hopefully like in Alicia's case more people will become aware of her talents off the back of her nominations/wins.

Lastly, not all the judges are 'old white men' they have to be experts in their field...their colour or age doesn' change that.

One more thing, about the Grammys being 5 yrs behing - there is an eligibility period/window which means only recent works are nominated.