Many people get excited for the annual Grammy Awards to finally roll around. After all, they are the second most popular awards show, just behind the Oscars. Every year the Grammy Awards broadcast grows in viewers. And every year, the Grammys, more specifically the Recording Academy, grows even more corrupt.
Devoted music fans, as well as the general public, find it exciting and thrilling to see musical artists get recognized for their hard work and dedication to their craft. Although, over the years, the much anticipated Grammy Awards have become problematic.
By definition, a Grammy award is an award presented annually in the United States by the Recording Academy, formerly known as the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. This award’s purpose is to recognize achievement in the music industry, as well as highlight the best music and artists of the year. Only the Recording Academy votes on the Grammys, not the general public. This has proven itself to be an issue. Of course, the Recording Academy is meant to be trustworthy and reliable in its nominations and voting. However, in the past, people have reported that the Recording Academy has had a tendency to favor certain types of artists and music when choosing nominees and winners.
Multiple celebrities have spoken out about this, including the well-known artist and singer, The Weeknd, who decided to boycott the Grammys after his negative experience at the 2021 awards show. His album “After Hours” spent four consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, as well as his hit single “Blinding Lights” became Billboard’s biggest Hot 100 song of all time. Fans were anticipating a good year at the Grammys for him, but not only did he not bring home an award that night, but he also wasn’t even nominated. It seems that the reason for The Weeknd’s shut-out was due to a certain kind of bias within the Recording Academy because statistically, he should have at least been nominated.
A similar situation occurred in 2016, when artist Frank Ocean decided not to submit his album for Grammy consideration, which shocked fans. He told the New York Times that he believed the awards were not very representative, and that was the reason behind him withholding his album “Blonde” from the awards show. The common trend of celebrities having negative experiences at the Grammys include mostly female artists, people of color and artists who make music in the hip-hop and R&B genre. This does not seem to be an accident, and the Recording Academy needs to avoid this unfair bias when voting on winners.
The biggest thing that sets the Grammys aside from other music awards shows is the fact that the public receives no say in nominations or awards. Since the fans of the music do not actually get a vote for what is arguably the most important and popular awards show of the year, it can be very difficult to trust the decisions of the Recording Academy, which without fail leaves people disappointed every year.
Tying into the fact that the fans have no say in the nominees or winners of the Grammys, people will never be happy with the winners because they do not feel like their voices and opinions are being considered. This alone causes controversy every year when the Grammys roll around, and in turn, gives the Recording Academy a bad name. If the fans felt as if they had a voice in the biggest awards show of the year, the controversy would subside, and the Grammys would become more reliable.
Even though it may seem unfair that the Recording Academy has all the power when it comes to the Grammy Awards, that is the point of the Grammys, is that the fans were never meant to have a say. The purpose of the Grammys is to look at the objectives, such as the statistical popularity of an album or song. While this may be true and the Grammy’s may have always been ruled by the Recording Academy, there is a change that could be made even after all these years the annual awards show has taken place. The Recording Academy should have a category of awards dedicated to the fan’s opinions and thoughts about nominated artists and music to keep the authenticity of the Grammys, as well as recognize what keeps the industry standing. The fans.
