Content Warning: This article has mention of rape.
I watched the annual Grammy Awards with my mom, and about an hour in, she muttered, “You know, the Grammys are not the same anymore.”
That got me thinking: I didn’t even know the Grammys were on that night until it had already started; neither did most of my friends.
For years, people stopped what they were doing to tune into the annual Grammy Awards. Whether one is a hardcore music lover or just a casual viewer, many people try to see what—arguably—the most influential celebrities are saying, wearing or winning.
For the past couple of years, I have not cared for the Grammys. I do not care what their acceptance speeches are; I do not care what they are wearing. I do not care what they win, which is funny because the Grammy Awards are supposed to be one of the most prestigious music awards to win.
The Grammys have lost the jubilant, special feeling that used to surround them; from scandals within the Academy to how awards are chosen to the alienation of certain artists, it has only proven that, in the grand scheme of things, the Grammys really do not matter.
A major controversy surrounding the Grammys came from the former president and CEO of the Academy, Neil Portrow, who stated during the 2018 Grammys ceremony that women should “improve their performances” when asked about lack of gender representation.
“It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their heart and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level need to step up,” said Portrow backstage during the ceremony.
The only female artist to have their award presented to them live that year was Alessia Cara when she won the Best New Artist award in 2018, adding fuel to the fire that when these women do “step up,” they will not be recognized for their achievements on broadcast, with only the male winners being recognized.
The drama does not end there, as one of the biggest scandals surrounding the Grammys in recent memory involves Portrow’s predecessor Deborah Dugan, the first female president and CEO of the Recording Academy. Her tenure started back in 2019 and only lasted five months and was riddled with controversy and toxicity.
Ten days before the 2020 Grammy Awards, the attention was directed from the event to Dugan when the Academy put out a statement announcing that Dugan was put on administrative leave “in light of concerns raised to the Recording Academy board of trustees, including a formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female member of the Recording Academy team.”
The New York Times reported that Dugan was removed because Neil Portnow, who, at the time, was the assistant to the former Academy president, filed a complaint against Dugan for having a “bullying management style.”
Dugan brought forth her own set of allegations against the Academy, alleging that she was sexually harassed by the Academy’s general legal counsel Joel Katz, outlining multiple rape allegations within the Academy and its artists and that there is a “boys club” mentality that leads to the women being treated differently.
Dugan also took aim at Portrow when she alleged that he raped her after an event at Carnegie Hall, which is complex on its own.
Dugan also alleged “voting irregularities” within the board, saying that the board does not “promote a transparent nomination process,” specifically alleging that artists Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande were snubbed for the Song of the Year in 2019 because of this. Do not worry; we will touch back on this.
How is any of this supposed to encourage people to watch the Grammys? Music’s biggest night should not have such a heavy and dramatic asterisk looming.
In addition to all this chaos, the Grammys have a serious problem with their nominations process, and many are calling them out for their blatant discrimination towards non-white artists.
According to USC Annenberg, nearly half of the Billboard Top 100 Year-End Charts performers over the last nine years were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. DraftFCB states that from 2012 to 2020, musicians of colour received only 26.7% of Grammy nominations.
This is an obvious snub towards musicians of colour, especially when DraftFCB also states that more than 81% of Billboard Top 10 best-selling albums are now made by either non-white or multiracial artists.
While the Grammys had dozens of Black artists perform this year to celebrate the 50 years of hip hop, it could be argued that the Grammys have not always celebrated this music genre.
So many talented Black artists were snubbed of nominations, such as Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, SZA and Denzel Curry — all of which release hip-hop music.
And how could we forget that Beyoncé was obviously snubbed for the Album of the Year award this year?
This is the fourth consecutive time she has lost in this category, having lost in 2011, 2015, 2017 and now 2023.
So many artists have also spoken out about how the Grammys have snubbed them from nominations and have even stopped submitting their music to the Academy.
The Weeknd was one of the most recent and outspoken artists to do so, saying that the trust between the Academy and artists is broken and that artists need to take a stand.
“I think the industry and the public alike need to see the transparent system truly at play for the win to be celebrated, but it’s an important start,” he said. “I remain uninterested in being a part of the Grammys, especially with their own admission of corruption for all these decades. I will not be submitting in the future.”
Drake also criticized the Academy for not nominating The Weeknd for any awards back in 2020, acknowledging himself that winning a Grammy is no longer the greatest achievement an artist can have.
“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 artist that exists now and the ones that come after,” he wrote on Instagram.
Drake also withdrew from the 2022 Grammy nominations but actually won a Grammy and had four nominations this year despite not submitting any music again.
This is because he was featured on Future’s song “WAIT FOR U,” which won Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Not to mention other artists who have been notably snubbed from nominations in the past and now, such as Selena Gomez, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande.
These questionable moves have made the Grammys unappealing to watch for those who support these artists and music genres. This begs the question of why the Grammys seemingly get in their own way.
Millions of people have simply stopped watching the Grammys altogether, proving that the interest in the Grammys is slowly fading away and becoming less prominent.
According to Variety, the 2022 Grammys had 9.6 million viewers, while the year before that was 8.8 million viewers. The most notable drop off was between 2017 and 2018 with 26.05 million viewers and 19.81 million viewers, respectively.
Most of the time, when a celebrity wins and goes onstage to give their speech, they rant and rave about maintaining peace and harmony, positivity and inclusivity. Yet the Grammys seemingly do not support that.
The glitz and glamour surrounding each Grammy Awards show overshadow the real problems and issues that hang over the Academy. The awards, nominations, fashion, celebrities and media attention distract us from what is really wrong with the “biggest night in music.”