Award season comes with its sweeps, snubs, scores and sores.
On Sunday, the 67th Annual Grammy Awards took place in Los Angeles. The Recording Academy votes on these awards in exclusive committees, which blurs the process to outsiders, easily leading to discrepancies with who fans believe should win and who the Academy hands the award to.
The voting process is meant to be specialized, yet fans question how the Recording Academy qualifies nominated and winning works.
“Sometimes, they don’t always vote for the best work in the genre, and they look at other things like commercial success… I think that takes away from the musical value of the work,” said sophomore Kate Zelko.
Zelko, who transferred to Belmont for its music business program, doesn’t view the Grammys as wholly reflective of all music forms in the industry.
Rather, current nominations signal to her which artists record labels promote the most.
“No matter how much experience you have in something, there are always different tastes,” said junior music technology major David Maturo. “That’s a widely flawed process. We’re insisting on this one award ceremony… with people claiming expertise in their specialized fields. Having select people with expertise doesn’t mean they represent the greater masses.”
Even with their expertise, the Grammys have missed the mark in terms of pleasing their audience and artists.
In 2020, The Weeknd tweeted “The Grammys remain corrupt” after not receiving nominations for his album “After Hours”, which recorded the highest first week sales on the Billboard 200 that year. He boycotted the awards for years until Sunday, when he gave a surprise performance.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has since declared the expanded diversity of the Academy’s voting panel and accepted The Weeknd’s criticism.
Similarly, Tyler, the Creator called out the Recording Academy that year for his “Igor” win being for Best Rap Album when he felt he created a pop record, saying he felt the Academy made that distinction based on his race.
Beyoncé is on a similar journey with her foray into country music with the album “Cowboy Carter.”
While scoring no nominations from the Country Music Association, it won awards for Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance at this year’s Grammys.
These awards may represent her in the genre she sought, but fans like Zelko are not convinced of its accolades.
“I’m surprised it won Best Country Album. I think it’s Beyoncé’s take on country, and I don’t think that is quite the best of country,” said Zelko.
Meanwhile, sophomore theatre education major Conner Boggs thought Beyonce deserved her awards.
“I know a lot of people are mad about Beyonce winning for Best Country Album,” said Boggs. “My thing with it is: what is real country?”
Artists like Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton also won in country categories, showing the Academy’s broader acceptance of different styles within the genre.
Beyoncé also went on to win Album of the Year on Sunday after her previous three albums failed to win, a topic that Jay-Z, her husband, starkly reflected on the matter while accepting a Grammy in 2024.
“The Grammys are definitely trying to please people, especially with The Weeknd coming back after five years,” said Boggs. “Jay-Z may have swayed the Academy’s thoughts. It’s definitely up to interpretation, but who knows?”
“Cowboy Carter” may have been the Academy’s choice, but not Zelko’s.
“I thought it was a really good album, but it wasn’t the album of the year,” said Zelko.
Maturo also believes this year’s results reflect missed opportunities for other artists.
“It makes sense that “Not Like Us” won Song of the Year, but it could’ve been cool to see “Birds of a Feather” or “Good Luck, Babe” win,” said Maturo.
Kendrick Lamar swept all five nominations for “Not Like Us,” which include Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Billie Eilish won no Grammys this year despite earning seven nominations, including three for “Birds of a Feather.” Chappell Roan won a Grammy for Best New Artist, but none for “Good Luck, Babe” or her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Roan is a first-time winner like Sabrina Carpenter, who won Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance and Charli XCX, who won Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Dance Pop Recording and Best Recording Package.
Boggs is please please pleased with Carpenter’s wins.
“That was Sabrina Carpenter’s sixth studio album, but I feel like this is her first commercial one. She had a specific vibe curated with it, which I think was really cool,” said Boggs.
He additionally could not envision the Grammys leaving Charli XCX without recognition this year.
“She was such a phenomenon this year, it would’ve been hard for her not to go home with an award,” said Boggs.
Despite the losses, the 67th Grammys saw people of color, queer people and women winning at historical rates. However, that does not resolve qualms fans have with the transparency of the voting process and the motives that lead to their final decisions.
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This article was written by Ria Skyer.
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