By Kristine Pascual, Feb. 14, 2023
Every year, the greatest artists and bands gather to celebrate the best music, as well as the biggest and upcoming names in the industry. With awards such as Record of the Year and Album of the Year, I find it difficult to even select a handful of artists to be nominated.
Artists who released albums last year like J.I.D or Billy Woods deserve the recognition, but do not even receive half of what an artist like Taylor Swift receives. Every year, The Grammys fail to recognize the artists that genuinely deserve the awards being given out.
This year’s Grammys brought a lot of controversy particularly with the award category, Song of the Year, which was awarded to Bonnie Raitt for her single, “Just Like That.” Other nominees of that category included Steve Lacy, Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar and more. What angered many music fans is that not many knew Raitt, let alone her song. Raitt does have ten Grammys under her belt, but I don’t believe that that number equals musical success. Raitt is talented, but she did not deserve to win that award. I did not watch the Grammys, but I kept tabs on who was winning each category. When I found out that Raitt had won, my initial thought was, “Who?” When her name was announced as the category winner, she looked surprised to be taking home the award.
The qualifications to be nominated for a Grammy appear to be selective and competitive. Record labels submit songs and albums to be considered for the award show, then the nominees and winners are determined by a group of “qualified” people professionals known as the Academy. According to the official Grammy site, “The Technical GRAMMY is awarded to those individuals who have dramatically pushed boundaries and made groundbreaking, important, outstanding, and influential contributions of technical excellence and innovation to the recording field throughout their lifetime.”
Harry Styles took home one of the biggest awards of the night, Album of the Year with “Harry’s House.” I am a big Harry Styles fan, but as talented as he is, there were so many other possible contenders such as ABBA, Adele, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar that would have been more suited for the award because other artists’ music is more meaningful. It seems that the same artists who are getting nominated for these awards create music that appeals to the mainstream audience. By doing so, they become the same ten songs that play on repeat on the radio.
During Styles’ acceptance, an attendee in the crowd yelled, “Beyoncé should’ve won.” A similar incident happened to Taylor Swift at MTV’s Video Music Awards back in 2009, when Kanye West grabbed the microphone from Swift and said, “I’m going to let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” Compared to Beyoncé, Styles deserved the Grammy.
However, I do think there are many artists out there that go unnoticed for their music and deserve the same amount of recognition as Beyoncé or Harry Styles. I, along with other people I have discussed the Grammys with, were not even aware that Beyoncé came out with a new album. And besides that, Beyoncé has already made history by winning the most Grammys in history with 32 under her belt.
So many talented artists dropped albums last year that they failed to receive the recognition that they deserve. There were a ton of rap albums released last year by J.I.D, Danger Mouse, Denzel Curry and Little Simz that do not get half the praise that mediocre rappers like Drake and Travis Scott receive. These are the albums that deserve to be heard by more people and appreciated for their art.
A few of the songs that were nominated are considered as “TikTok songs” which primarily gained popularity from the app from people making videos with the songs in the background. One song that was somehow nominated for a Grammy this year was Gayle’s single “abcdefu,” which is an insult to talented artists who were not nominated for that same category. Her music is unoriginal and is created to get viral on TikTok. Her song that was nominated for a Grammy consists of a few guitar chords which are repeated througout the song. Nothing about “abcdefu” is unique or moving, it is simply annoying. Though Gayle lost to Adele, it is a crime that she was even nominated for a prestigious award like this. I think that Gayle being nominated for this award speaks for itself.
The Grammy’s cheating talented bands and artists is certainly not anything new. This is something they have been doing every single year. One of the greatest robberies happened back in 2014 when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were nominated for seven categories, winning awards in three rap categories. When Macklemore’s album, “The Heist” beat out albums from Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Kanye, rap fans were outraged. Even Macklemore himself admitted to texting Kendrick Lamar saying, “You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have. It’s weird and it sucks that I robbed you.”
One of the most disappointing events was Cardi B beating out Mac Miller for Best Rap Album in 2019. Cardi B was the first female rapper to take the award in 20 years since Lauryn Hill. Around this time, Miller passed from an overdose, and never knew if he won the award or not.
The difference between Cardi B and Lauryn Hill is that Hill deserved the award. She worked hard for it, and her music continues to make an impact in the rap and R&B community. All I know is that the award belongs to Miller, and I will forever believe that. Rest in peace Mac.
These types of awards show seem to nominate and award the safest of choices with the awards being given to the Bonnie Raitts and Macklemores of the world. Every year talented artists are placed in the shadows of those who are in the mainstream light. The truth is that the Grammys are not an accurate representation of an artist’s talent and success.
Feature image by Lauren Wong