The music world’s most important award ceremony already has a date confirmed: February 2nd, 2025. Some of the most popular names in the music industry are competing for the golden gramophone, including Taylor Swift, SZA, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, and Sabrina Carpenter. We know how highly anticipated the event is worldwide, but do you know how the Grammys began? Let’s figure it out together.
The first edition
In 1958, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), a non-profit organization, brought into being the Grammy Awards. Their goal was to recognize artist’s work and excellence, as well as reinforce the music as an essential element of culture.
The first Grammy Awards took place at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 4, 1959, gathering members of the musical elite, such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald. Sinatra led the nominations with six, but surprisingly, he only took home one gramophone. He won the – kind of overlooked – Best Album Cover category for Only the Lonely. One of the biggest winners of the night was Fitzgerald, who took home Best Jazz Performance and Best Female Vocal Performance.
The Latin Grammy Awards
In 2000, the Latin Grammy Awards were officially born. The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS) saw the opportunity to honor and praise Latin music, creating room for songs in Portuguese and Spanish to shine. Before that, Latin artists could only compete in three categories: Best Classical World Music Album, Best Contemporary World Music Album, and Best Latin Album. Now, besides the recognition of genres like reggaeton, there are many new awards available to honor these incredible artists, such as: Best Latin Electronic Music Performance and Best Contemporary Mexican Music Album. A few of the past years’ winners are Shakira, Bad Bunny, Rosalía, and Anitta.
Grammys have still been involved in racist and sexist controversies
In 2018, the hashtag “#GrammySoMale broke the internet when women won only 11 of the 84 awards. Alessia Cara was the only woman to win one of the major awards individually and the only woman whose award was televised. A very similar situation occurs with Black artists. Even though Beyoncé is the biggest Grammy winner of all time, she has never won in any of the major categories.
The Grammys nowadays
Last year, The Recording Academy debuted three new categories at the awards: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording. The addition of categories over the years shows the Academy’s effort to expand the awards and bring more inclusion to the event. However, we cannot affirm that this is enough to bring true inclusion.
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The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase.
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