“According to leading experts in the very scientific field of complaining about things, there is no pastime more popular than griping about all the instances where the Grammys screwed up and gave an award to the wrong person.” (Vulture.com)
Ha! Well, you can add me to the list of complainers in regards to last night’s Grammys.
Though I am not in the music industry, and I don’t decide which songs I purchase based upon the results of any award show, I must say that I am shocked that ‘Despacito’ did not win a Grammy last night. (It was nominated for Best Song of the Year, Best Record of the Year, and Best Performance by a Duo or Group.)
The outcry on social media suggests that I am one of many who were shocked by this outcome. (Check out these hashtags on Twitter: #Grammys, #Despacito.)
‘Despacito’ was the 2017 summer anthem. If you wanted to hear it on the radio, it seemed that all you had to do was wait five minutes. According to Forbes,
It sold nearly 7 million track-equivalent copies last year, outpacing runner-up Ed Sheeran (whose “Shape Of You” took home the trophy for Best Pop Solo Performance) by a million units. It tied the record for the longest-running No. 1 on the Hot 100 in history, topping charts for an astounding 16 straight weeks. It’s the only video in history to hit 4 billion views on YouTube, where it not only topped American charts but was also the most-watched video in more than 50 other countries across the globe.
Of course, Grammy winners are not decided by sales (“Voters shall not be influenced by personal friendships, company loyalties, regional preferences, or mass sales.” source), but if the Grammy awards are to remain a measure of achievement and prestige in the music industry, perhaps they should be decided by something measurable. (You can read about the voting process for the Grammy awards here.)
I like Bruno Mars, but if in five years, you ask me who won the Grammy for Best Song or Record in 2018, I’ll probably say, “Wasn’t that the year ‘Despacito’ should’ve won?”
It’s already been established that award shows are not ‘fair’ (#GrammysSoMale, #OscarsSoWhite), but I think the below quote (published by Variety last night) should be evaluated:
Recording Academy president Neil Portnow was asked by Variety about #GrammysSoMale and had this to say: ‘It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts 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… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s upon us — us as an industry — to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.’
Shoutout to fellow Canadian, Alessia Cara for being the first Canadian-born performer to win the Grammy for Best New Artist (!!) (and only female Grammy award winner last night), but is Neil Portnow actually asserting that- in comparison to men in the industry- women did not work hard enough to deserve a Grammy?! Is he saying that women didn’t want the win, or that the opportunity for women to achieve greatness in the music industry is not available to them because of the nature of the industry? Either way, it’s ridiculous. (I have to wonder why Neil Portnow made such a controversial statement at all, rather than simply passing the buck? He could have said that women were nominated in various categories, but the voters voted the way they saw fit.)
Personally, I don’t think that award shows should seek to fill quotas, but I do think that Portnow’s statement deserves further examination, as the above quote is highly subjective, and he is in the position to influence the industry. (Seriously, though… am I missing something here?)
Thanks for reading!
Amber Green