This past weekend I watched the 2021 Grammy music awards as lots of others did. I watch the Grammys every year and look forward to it, but I’ve come to realize many flaws in the award system. Many artists are deserving of these awards and I wouldn’t say otherwise, but that doesn’t make it right that many artists get no recognition when it's deserved. To start, the way the awards are supposed to be run is by the board receiving a multitude of artists, albums, and songs that get filtered down into a list of 20 applicants for each award. From there, they (supposedly) use stats of how influential the options are to then narrow it down to a total of approximately 5 nominees per category. This, however, is not how the awards are run. After some research, I discovered that the board of directors operating the Grammys, aren’t as knowledgeable, diverse, or non-biased as you may think. They don’t even have to listen to all the songs nominated. This means that when it comes down to the final nominees, most of the people giving their input and votes are people from the same background and living environments. Most of them are also rich, white, old, males. This can heavily impact the outcome of the Grammy winner. Not only is this an issue, but the process of voting is to simply click who they like the most, and submit it. There are also “secret committees”. This creates discussion as to whether or not they have the ability to accept money for voting for a specific artist and how the people voting can choose their favorites even if statistically, they aren’t qualified to beat another nominee. According to Rolling Stone, they interviewed people who previously worked for the Grammys. They were fired because they spoke up about the corruption around the awards, and how one of them even “engaged in financial lobbying for votes during the nomination process”. While all this may be true, it doesn’t mean that all of the people behind the Grammys partake in these actions and many take their jobs very seriously. Whether or not there are major flaws in the voting system, doesn’t mean this is an excuse to blatantly state that the winners of any award are undeserving. Artists work hard for what they do and to receive such a major award is a big deal. My points just open up the discussion that other artists should be given the spotlight too. Some artists who have spoken up about this are the Weeknd who boycotted the awards due to his chart-topping album being snubbed by the Grammys, Zayn Malik who tweeted about the show, Nicki Minaj who spoke up about the lack of recognition she received for her music, and Teyana Taylor who spoke up about the sexism within the R&B category. (NBC News) Eminem has also on several occasions over the years spoken up about being snubbed at the awards. This year, I saw more POC recognized during the show, and could see a degree of effort was made but there is still much work to be done. One major example is BTS. This world-renowned Korean group was nominated for best pop group performance at the 2021 Grammys but lost to Rain on Me by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. Good for them for their win but there are some speculations I had while researching this award. Seeing as it goes to the best ‘performance’ specifically; BTS gave an entertaining show several times for their hit single Dynamite, topping charts and beating records while Rain on Me gave a total of one live performance. Gaga and Ari are undoubtedly talented women in music and I have no intention of taking their achievements away from them but for this specific award, my personal opinion is that BTS could have at least been recognized. Originally, BTS requested one of their Korean tracks, Black Swan, to be up for the award but it was immediately turned down due to it not being in English. They created Dynamite to be played in the states by purposefully creating an upbeat sound with English lyrics the Western industry would allow to be played on the radio. The issue is that they had to create something for Western culture in English which isn’t their first language, to cater to the Grammys before even being considered. This is a major disadvantage to any international artist shooting their shot at a Grammy. Many other Kpop groups are just as influential but don’t have the opportunity to be in the limelight due to this. My personal favourites are NCT, EXO, and SuperM. Some other popular groups not acknowledged are Black Pink and Shinee. These are the members of SuperM: International music is minimally represented at the awards other than some honorable mentions such as Bad Bunny; a Puerto Rican rapper who won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. Eventually, it would be interesting to see more diverse genres of music represented at the awards such as Kpop, and Bollywood. With the rise in popularity of K-pop, the degree they are brushed under the rug is astounding to me. Many people have internalized racism towards Kpop and Bollywood music. This doesn’t mean that if you don’t like the genre that you automatically are racist, but if you don’t like it because they’re international genres; that’s a different story. Some of the many heavily influential albums/ songs that haven’t won Grammy’s over the years are; Michael Jackson’s Purple Rain, Beat it, & Billy Jean, No Doubt’s Don’t Speak, The backstreet boys I want it that way, Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, and Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.
The overall meaning behind my words is that even if your favorite artist isn’t nominated for a Grammy, it doesn’t mean they’re any less popular or talented. Brianna S Sources: https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/ https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/musicians-call-out-grammys-weeknd-boycotts-awards-ceremony-n1260918 https://www.vulture.com/article/the-greatest-grammys-snubs-of-all-time.html
11 Comments
Nyah Gentry
4/13/2021 09:58:51 pm
I think we as humans like to group each other into boxes. We like to label and separate people for ridiculous things. I believe that music is a diverse subject with many varieties. Not everyone is bound to have the same taste so how are we to judge artists on likability rather than quality of music. I think that because there are so many different interpretations of music it is not necessary to rank them, but to enjoy them all individually or with that being said, together.
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Abbey
4/14/2021 12:44:44 am
Hey Brianna! I totally agree with the point you are trying to make that many poc / international artists are being snubbed and overlooked for awards. I'm not super familiar with this topic so it was great to hear about it in your blog. I don't usually watch the Grammys so I was surprised to hear about the corruption behind the scenes. I agree that other artists should receive more recognition for their work, especially because there are so many fantastic artists out there who don't receive the praise they deserve. I get that the artists who do win work hard and deserve the awards as well, but with the unreliable voting system it makes you wonder. Thank you for sharing!
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Riley Matthews
4/14/2021 10:13:52 am
This is a great social justice issue that you are talking about. Yes the grammy's are flawed and so are the Tony's and the Oscar's. I have seen the same problems arise in the world of different countries not being recognized by their achievements. Like Ghilbli films in Japan are masters at creating art but yet when some were nominated . Shawn the Sheep an American cartoon won. It can also go the other way when HER won song of the year "I can't Breathe" showing that media can have an effect on what awards the grammy committee can have control over. With also the Rap awards going to many female artists which don't get me wrong that is amazing! But there were so many talented other male artists that worked just as hard to produce their own music and not one won an award in their category. Many sides can be picked apart by the media and the un qualified judges of the awards. I believe you made some great points and the judging system should be changed. Thank you for sharing this is such an interesting topic.
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Devon
4/14/2021 11:30:36 am
Thanks for sharing Brianna! I have not watched the grammys many times, but whenever I have, I always found myself very confused or disagreeing with the results. I found your blog very informative as I had no idea how biased the process of picking the winners was. You explained the issues with the grammys very well and it is evident you have really informed yourself of the topic; I feel I now have a good understanding of the processes and the issues it presents. There are so many amazing artists and it is upsetting to hear about how many aren't being recognized for their work.
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Avery
4/14/2021 12:20:38 pm
Hey Brianna, I enjoyed the topic you chose and reading further about it. I don't usually watch the grammy's because I have always been aware of the scamming behind it for other artists to win, I usually just hope to see my favourite artists celebrating afterwards. I liked hearing about your insight and I agree with you. Learning about the process behind the award show was something new to me as I had no idea how they really chose the winners. I hope in the future things can change and that artists get the recognition they deserve. Great blog!!
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Lucy Greene
4/14/2021 12:35:16 pm
I LOVE THIS. Thank you so much for talking about this, my family and I always watch the Grammys and every year were like, ummmm i dont think it should of went that way. This year an artist who I love and was supposed to see in concert last year was completely robbed on one of his. His name is Jacob Collier hes 26 and he can seriously play every single instrument. And honestly half the time i think the people who are most deserving dont win just because they aren't "well know" or because minority wouldn't choose them. anyways love this
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Cole
4/14/2021 01:26:17 pm
I have always wondered how the nominees and winners for awards shows were chosen. After reading your blog I now have a bit more insight on how they can be rigged and not necessarily "the best" artist. I also agree that there should be more acknowledgement for the other artists in the categories and that there should be more diverse categories. They need to change their voting system and let the general public put their input in.
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Caiti
4/14/2021 01:27:38 pm
Yes I absolutely agree! There is definitely a conversation that needs to be had surrounding the way the Grammies chose their winners. I really liked your point about maybe adding new and more diverse categories that don’t only surround American culture.
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Madison
4/14/2021 01:33:40 pm
This is something that should be talked about more. Thank you for writing about this and opening up the conversation. Personally, I had no idea of the injustices and recognition in the music industry and reading your blog helped open my eyes to this. There are so many talented artists, especially POC and international artists, who create amazing thing and go unrecognized for their hard work. There are so so many injustices all over the world, and in almost everything, that things like this topic aren't widely covered or shared. Everything deserves to talked about especially injustices like the grammys and it's processes.
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amelie g
4/14/2021 01:42:53 pm
i love this topic, something i wouldn't see on a blog, good for you! but wow thank you for bringing this topic to light, i didn't really imagine that this has become a problem. i believe that all artist wether you are well known or not you should be recognized for creating a song or just being an artist, cause i hear its not easy. thank you for sharing this topic with us, i learnt a lot from it!
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Kaysey
4/17/2021 12:21:32 am
I really like this topic. I'm not really one to follow the updates with events like this, nor would I analyze the corruptness of it. I can agree that the concept of the grammy's tho is controversial. One perspective I've read about is that takes away from artists drive. Instead of creating music for themselves and staying true to their sound, artists can stray away from that in order to satisfy the generic "pop" standards these days. And what you talked about with BTS and having to sing a song in English to be considered I think is horribly and sad. Im glad you brought this topic up because the more it becomes known and talked about, the closer we are to changing.
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