The prestigious Grammys award show rolled in this year, COVID-safe styled, with its 63rd annual production. Amongst the music award shows, The Grammys is without a doubt one of, if not the most reputable event, as it is often equated to that of The Golden Globes, The Emmys, and The Oscars that are about television and film. Artists usually aspire to perform on the Grammy stage or receive a nomination, a significant sign of recognition or validation for the work they’ve done. This year’s Grammys had an interesting lead-up involving controversy of the recording academy, snubs, and artists that called out the academy, which makes us question, Should We Boycott The Grammys?
As usual, there were tons of guests, performers, and nominees. Performers included Billie Eilish, Dababy, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, Bruno Mars, and Anderson .Paak (Silk Sonic), Cardi B, Doja Cat, Black Pumas, HAIM, Taylor Swift, and more.
Trevor Noah hosted the award show, which made for plenty of awkward yet laughable jokes and additional charm. He tried to make light of the phenomenon of the coronavirus pandemic this past year, claiming that the night has been about “Bringing us all together as only music can; music and vaccines.”
Music helped people not only get through the pandemic but also through the tougher times of police brutality and violence against marginalized communities all over the country. We saw this reflected in some of the Grammy Nominated songs, winnings, and performances: H.E.R was nominated and won Song of The Year for her song, “I Can’t Breathe,” which was inspired by the gruesome murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin on May 25th of 2020. This song captured the event and was used as inspiration for activism and justice.
Atlanta-born rapper Lil Baby continued this demonstration of social activism in his performance of “The Bigger Picture.” Along with rapper and activist Killer Mike, and words from activist Tamika Mallory, who said a few encouraging words urging for justice and pushing president Biden to help enact change; Lil Baby came to the Grammys with a hugely significant performance about police brutality. Most importantly, he did this while commemorating/reenacting the reality of Rayshard Brooks’ death by the police in Atlanta, Georgia, just a month after the death of George Floyd.
The Bigger Picture was also nominated for Rap Song and Rap Performance of the Year, which both ultimately went to Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce, who was featured on Megan’s remix of “Savage.”
Beyonce won Best Music Video for “BROWN SKIN GIRL” and Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade.” These two songs celebrate black people’s beauty, abilities, and accomplishments. With all four wins, she made Grammys history, holding the record for the most Grammy wins by any artist or singer, regardless of gender. Many accomplishments were also shown at The Grammys with numerous black artists performing and accepting awards on-stage (such as Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Dababy, and Eric Burton.)
However, even with Beyonce and numerous other Black artists performing and accepting awards, The Grammys was still under fire for its racist and elitist tendencies. In recent years high profile celebrities have spoken out against The Grammys more publicly. The most recent celebrity to speak out against the awards is the Weeknd. The Weeknd had a massive year musically with his highly successful album, After Hours, with his chart-topping song, Blinding Lights. Neither song nor album was nominated for a Grammy this year, widely agreed to be a complete snub.
A big rumor sparked through the controversy included the fact that the Recording Academy, the parent of The Grammys, had offered The Weeknd a performance at the show this year, but that he declined and decided to do the Super Bowl performance instead. He announced to the NYTimes that he’d boycott the awards show from now on due to the “secret committees.” “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” He announced that this choice was “because of the secret committees.”
For clarity, The Grammys nominations and winners do not come at the choice of fans worldwide, like various other award shows such as the Video Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, or People’s Choice Awards.
According to Rolling Stone, “The Recording Academy, the Grammy Awards’ parent organization, receives an avalanche of submissions, organizes them by category, and sends them to its 12,000 eligible voting members, who select around 20 contenders per category by popular vote. That shortlist then goes to Academy-organized review committees, which whittle it down to a slate of nominees to be sent back for a final popular vote that chooses the winner.”
This is the usual order and conduct for how the nominees are chosen, but according to several sources like The Weeknd, and the Former CEO of The Recording Academy from 2019-2020, Deborah Dugan, there are “secret committees” that corrupt the Grammys outcome. The validity of The Recording Academy was challenged by Dugan when she attempted to raise awareness in the issues within the board and the review committees they deem “secret” because the names of the people in the committee are supposedly ‘unknown.’ Participants are corruptly booting names on the list for their own favorite songs and artists, which may not initially be in the top 20 selected by the voting membership. Due to this controversy being brought into the light, Deborah Dugan was involuntarily put on administrative leave by the board of The Recording Academy in 2020.
Others have described the tactics of those inside of the academy as “financial lobbying.” Because there is an honor system, it isn’t questioned too much, and some would say is thus a “flawed system.”
Zayn Malik, English singer and songwriter, cosigned these claims by suggesting that the academy takes bribes, tweeting, “Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations.”
Tyler The Creator had also spoken up against the Grammys in a backstage interview after The Grammys talking about his 2019 award win for Best Rap Album for his album IGOR. He complained that the academy often placed people like him in the rap and urban categories, while his album would not fit that criteria or those categories.
"It sucks that whenever we...and I mean guys that look like me... do anything that's genre-bending or that's anything they always put it in rap or urban category. I don't like that 'urban' word...it's just a politically correct way to say the n-word to me," he said.
This is not the first time that the Grammys have been called out for their white supremacist tendencies and disrespect of black artists. Legendary artist,
Highly influential female rapper Nicki Minaj has been known to be snubbed by the Grammys. It has been rumored that her controversial performance of Roman Holiday in 2012 received a lot of flack for her depicting a crucifixion. Ever since then, she has been nominated for very few Grammys from her myriad catalogue of songs and features and has received zero wins overall.
“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation," she wrote. "They gave it to the white man Bon Iver."
Black artists in particular, among many other artists, have felt dismayed about the Grammys; Drake and Sean “Diddy” Combs have urged their fans and peers to work on creating/envisioning an alternative mode of prestige. Sean Combs speaks on the reactions that people exhibit when there are snubs. He stated in a speech at the 2020 Clive Davis white-hot pre-Grammys gala that the Grammys never respected Black music and therefore it’s silly that "institutions that have never had our best interest at heart, to judge us.” He goes on to say “We need transparency. We need diversity. This is the room that has the power to make the change. It needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us.”
Drake, Hip-Hop sensation with numerous accolades including four Grammys, took to social media to cosign similar feelings and address the alarm with 2021’s snubs: "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after." He went on to say, "this is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come."
While we have seen this year's Grammy Awards recognize a diverse range of artists, it is important for us to question whether or not boycotting the Grammys or calling them out is necessary. With receipts and insight from the aforementioned artists, including Halsey, Jay-Z, Teyana Taylor, Justin Bieber, P!nk, and Eminem, who report the issues with the nominations being exclusive in terms of gender, race and records being miscategorized, it may seem so.
We know that television and media impact and socialize the perceptions we have of ourselves and our society. Therefore, it’s essential to be aware of what we’re seeing happening in front of us. What we consume is curated by a very select few people that have pre-existing prejudices due to the fact popular culture is often influenced by dominant groups of society that lack diversity of BIPOC, gender and queer voices. Of course, the Grammys are highly prestigious and won’t be going anywhere for a while, but in the meantime, it is possible to construct a new awards show with a more inclusive committee and system that could be historic and momentous for years to come.
Sources Used:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/arts/music/grammys-the-weeknd-beyonce.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/
Photos Used:
https://www.tmz.com/2021/03/14/2021-grammys-kept-it-covid-19-safe-with-plenty-of-performances/
https://pitchfork.com/news/grammys-2021-winners-see-the-full-list-here/
Images used for cover photo:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0WP5P-ufpRfjbNrmOWwLBQ