This article is tagged as #School. It was previously published on a different website as a part of Stephanie Pichardo's Senior Comprehensive Assignment.
Whenever Grammy season comes by, fans begin to predict who will win Album of the Year and Artist of the Year.
A wave of excitement hits them the moment they are about to announce which nominee will win a Grammy, the most prestigious award a musician can receive. They sit on the edge of their seat as the envelope is being opened, the names get announced and their stomach drops. Their favorite artist didn’t win and lost to one they consider to be mediocre.
Fans online, known as fandoms, try to analyze why their favorite didn’t win when they’ve worked hard on their music and had a much-deserved nomination.
The question: Are the Grammys fair when the same artists win every year?
Consequence of Sound wrote a post explaining how unfair the Grammys wins and nomination are.
Dan Weiss explains a scenario where the nominees for Album of the year consists of only one white woman, Lorde, and several other persons of color. “At just 21, she (Lorde) inherits the Grammys’ lifelong burden of saddling a young, white woman like Taylor Swift or Adele with an award that everyone in the room (including them) believes should’ve gone to a To Pimp a Butterfly or Lemonade, deeply meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime events by artists of color who are forced to compete with Perfectly Talented But Still artists like Taylor Swift.”
This scenario became a reality in the 2018 Grammy Awards where Lorde, was the only white woman nominated against Childish Gambino, Luis Fonsi, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Bruno Mars (all men of color) for record of the year.
However, contrary to what Weiss predicted, Lorde did not win.
In a way, it almost looks like the Grammys might be improving the diversity amongst its nominees. According to People, this year's 2018 Grammy Award Nominee list is the most diverse it’s been since 1999. “for the first time since 1999, no white man was nominated for the Album of the Year category.” says Madison Rossi, for People Magazine.
Not only does it make a difference to those in the music industry but to regular people as well. Music fans expressed on twitter how well it made them feel to see such a diverse roster.
Even though this year’s Grammys were the most diverse yet, they also hold the record for the lowest viewers to ever tune in to the award show.
Forbes Magazine says “the 2018 Grammys recorded the lowest ratings in several years. This year... brought in 19.8 million viewers, according to network officials. That’s down around 24% as compared to the 2017 Grammy Awards, which nabbed 26.1 million viewers.”
The reasoning behind it could be, as Forbes suggests because it is broadcasted late on a Sunday night which isn’t the best time to stay up late since there are work and school to attend on Monday morning.
Many people on twitter were saying the event was simply “boring”
James Lardizzone, Media and Communication Arts major at SUNY Old Westbury, got the opportunity to attend this year's Grammy Awards. As opposed to many online opinions deeming the award show boring, Lardizzone claims the atmosphere as being “great!” He continues, “being surrounded by so many talented artists and the excitement from the performances and nominations get you hyped [up].”
It may be different being present at the show than watching it in the comfort of your living room.
I hope to see diversity between the nominees continue to increase and the award show to create a more engaging night with the viewers.