The Grammys are in! And like any award show concerning celebrities, there is lots of debate and discussion surrounding it. But first, how exactly do the Grammys (officially known as “The Recording Academy”) work?
The Grammy Award is the only music award judged and awarded by peers. In the entry process, “All professional and voting members of the Recording Academy have five courtesy entries every year.” After the five courtesy entries, there is a fee for entries. Media companies must always pay a fee for their entries.
Then in the first round of voting to determine the nominees, the members of the Recording Academy are only allowed to vote within the area of their expertise. “After nominations have been determined and announced, Academy voting members vote in up to ten categories across up to three Fields in the genre Fields plus the four categories of the General Field to determine the winners. To ensure the quality of voting, members are directed to vote only in those Fields in which they are peers of the nominees.” Now, on to the actual nominees and winners!
Record of the Year was awarded to Miley Cyrus for “Flowers.” This is not surprising as “Flowers” was one of the biggest songs of the year and a masterpiece. Notable nominees include “Anti-Hero,” which I think was overplayed, “Vampire,” which I think is overrated, and “What Was I Made For,” which I believe was a suitable contender.
“What Was I Made For,” was also awarded Song of the Year. The difference between the “Record” and “Song” categories is that the award for the record goes to all the people involved in the creation of the track or single, while it only goes to the writer for the song categories.
With this distinction in mind, I find it difficult to see exactly how “What Was I Made For” won Song of the Year. It is a very good track/ record, but in terms of songwriting, “Flowers,” “Anti-Hero,” “Vampire,” and even “Kill Bill” were much more creative and original.
And then we arrive at Album of the Year– “Midnights.” To be perfectly fair, this album is fantastic but many people believe that Lana del Rey was overlooked in “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.” However, as good as Lana del Rey is, I believe this sentiment is only arising because of Taylor’s controversial moves to bring Lana up the stage with her and to seemingly dismiss Celine Dion, the award presenter.
Of course, “Endless Summer Vacation” and “The Age Pleasure” were rightly nominated. Whereas “GUTS” was probably just nominated due to the popularity of “Vampire.”
A category that is probably of interest on this campus are the Contemporary Christian ones. “Album” and “Song” both went to Lecrae, “Church Clothes 4” and “Your Power” respectively. “Your Power” is probably the best song in “Church Clothes 4” and it’s not that great because, in my opinion, it is repetitive and unoriginal. This year, Phil Wickham, FOR KING & COUNTRY, and Lauren Daigle were in the running and none of them won.
And, like everything this year, we return to the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” debate. “Barbie” won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Arts. Notable nominations in that category include “AURORA” from “Daisy Jones and the Six,” which I think really should have won, and “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix, Vol. 3,” which I think is good by itself, but compared to “Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2,” not that great. “Oppenheimer” won Best Score and Soundtrack for Visual Media, which I think is deserved. However, I don’t think “Indiana Jones and the Dials of Destiny” should have been nominated as I found it quite boring.
“Barbie” made history by having four nominations in the single category of “Best Song Written for Visual Media: “What Was I Made For,” which won, “I’m Just Ken,” “Dance the Night,” and “Barbie World.” The fifth remaining nomination went to “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
This of course is a limited view on the Grammys. There are many more categories, and I would love to hear the rest of UD’s thoughts!