Grammys 2021: History Made, Controversy Stirred, and Socially Distanced

The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, an award show that recognizes the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020, looked very different compared to other years. Hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, this year’s music awards were located outside of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Usually hosted inside the Staples Center, the Grammys were forced to host the event outside with socially distanced tables for the limited number of artists, producers, and other guests who attended due to Covid-19 protocols. Also, different from previous award shows, there was no in-person attendance for fans and other people that usually make up the event. Even though the award show was very unlike the usual, the Grammys performances and other elements of the show still pulled off a celebration of the integrated power of music. 

  There was a very diverse bunch of performances from many artists representing their genres- these performers included Bad Bunny, Cardi B, BTS, Black Pumas, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, HAI, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Tamika D. Mallory, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift. In a recent survey about the Grammys with 32 responses, we asked what artist(s) people were most looking forward to watching perform. The top results from this question were 43.8% said Taylor Swift, DaBaby, Billie Eilish, and/or Post Malone, 40.6% replied Roddy Rich, 37.5% with Harry Styles, and 34.4% answered Megan Thee Stallion. Liv Power, a student at Pennridge and a big music fan, when asked if any performances especially stood out or deserved more recognition, answered “I think that Haim’s performance of their song ‘The Steps’ deserves more recognition. The band consists of three women and the sound that they provide is something that is so few and far between in today’s industry. They offer a really cool rock and roll vibe with homages to Fleetwood Mac. The set that they performed in front of was also really unique and was something that wasn’t really seen throughout the night.”

  The award show was made up of 83 categories, with several artists having multiple nominations- Beyonce leading the group with a total of 9 nominations. For some of the big awards, there were mixed opinions on whether or not the winner deserved it over the other nominees, although this is commonly seen in any award show. For Record of the Year, which goes towards the artist of the record, producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s), and mastering engineer(s), if other than the artist, was awarded to Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish. She won over other big nominees- Black Parade by Beyonce, Colors by Black Pumas, Rockstar by DaBaby and Roddy Ricch, Say So by Doja Cat, Don’t Start Now, Circles by Post Malone, and Savage by Megan Thee Stallion. For Album of the Year, the nominees were Jhene Aiko’s Chilombo, Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) by Black Pumas, Everyday Life from Coldplay, Djesse Vol. 3 by Jacob Collier, Women in Music Pt. III from Haim, Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone, and Taylor Swift’s Folklore, which was the big winner of the night. 43.8% of the survey’s responses agreed with the result of the award, but there was a close 34.4% that thought Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding deserved the award. Song of the Year was another tough category with the nominees being Black Parade (Beyonce), The Box (Roddy Ricch), Cardigan (Taylor Swift), Circles (Post Malone), Don’t Start Now (Dua Lipa), Everything I Wanted (Billie Eilish), If The World Was Ending (Julia Michaels and JP Saxe), and I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R., who walked away with one of the biggest awards of the night. This award was one of the most talked about because of the diversity of artists of different genres in the category and many big-name stars included. 25% of the survey respondents thought that The Box from Roddy Ricch should have won, following with 18.8% agreeing that H.E.R. deserved to win Song of the Year. Best New Artist was awarded to Megan Thee Stallion, which 53.1% of the survey agreed with, was up against Noah Cyrus, Doja Cat, D. Smoke, Chika, and several others. Best Pop Solo Performance went to Harry Styles with Watermelon Sugar and the awards for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song were awarded to Megan Thee Stallion for her hit song, Savage, featuring Beyonce. Other big awards of the night included Best Rap Album, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, and Best Alternative Music Album.

  Aside from the musical performances and awards, a lot of attention was brought to the Grammys because of a large controversy many have been talking about. The 2021 Grammy Awards have stirred up controversy since they announced their nominations in November. Behind the scenes of the award show, the industry is pursuing a war against the Grammys following years of accusations of bias against women and Black artists, and complaints over an opaque voting system that critics say is unfair and out of touch. The Weeknd immediately voiced his feelings toward the Recording Academy after he received zero nominations for his album After Hours, his single “Blinding Lights”, which made history as the first song to spend a year on the Hot 100’s top 10 list, and his amazing year of breaking chart records. In a statement to the New York Times, The Weeknd said he will no longer submit music to the Grammys. “Because of the secret committees,” he revealed, “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” Many do not understand the Grammy process, which includes the role of anonymous expert committees, which review initial nomination choices by the thousands of music professionals who make up the voting membership of the Recording Academy, the nonprofit group behind the awards, and for 61 of the Grammys’ 84 categories have the final say about who makes the cut. 

The Weeknd is not the only artist who has publicly displayed their frustration towards this issue. He joins a long list of other artists, including Drake, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Zayn Malik, Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, Teyana Taylor, Fiona Apple, and many more. Multiple of these artists have taken their opinions to social media- Zayn Malik recently tweeted both “@recordingacad are moving in inches and we need to move in miles. I’m keeping the pressure on & fighting for transparency & inclusion. We need to make sure we are honoring and celebrating “creative excellence” of ALL. End the secret committees.” Female rapper, Nicki Minaj posted “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday”. Wiz Khalifa also tweeting, “Yea that’s a surprise but it’s politics. If you don’t show up to their parties they don’t throw your name around.” The lack of representation for black and other ethnic artists in the top award categories is extremely frustrating- the last time a black artist took Album of the Year was in 2008. The conflict with the Weeknd goes to the heart of concerns that the Grammys’ voting procedure is flawed, and also illustrates the fact that the Grammys are supposed to represent between art and commerce: “Its purpose is to recognize the work that its members — artists, producers, and songwriters — value most highly, but the academy inevitably faces pressure to reward success.” Although the Grammys are trying to fix this issue by inviting more members, hiring a diversity officer, and bringing in more women and people of color into the committees and leadership, it still is not enough. 

  Like any award show or large event, everyone has a different opinion on the overall show and the different aspects that go into it. Liv Power noting, “I wasn’t surprised by the winners, but each category was stacked with so many incredible artists and music so every time an award was announced it was also a surprise as to who was chosen to win that award. Everyone was deserving to win their nominated awards, so it was always interesting to see who came out on top. Overall, I think everyone who won their awards deserved them.” The Grammys definitely do a good job at making the categories full of many great choices, which makes it tough to predict who will win the award and keeps everyone at the edge of their seats when the winner is announced. When asked about the 2021 Grammys controversy, the majority of the survey respondents agreed that the Grammys are corrupt and play favorites, believing that change needs to be made. Our interviewee, Liv, also agreed, expressing her support towards the outraged artists, “I think it 100% is justified. Obviously, these academies can’t satisfy everyone, there are only so many awards to give out, however, there were multiple artists this year that were ignored by the academy and weren’t recognized.” Liv also told us that, “Again, there are too many artists to recognize in one awards season, however, there have been past issues and present issues involving representing and recognizing different artists of color. They are being overlooked which is something that needs to be noticed and talked about, however, talk is nothing without change. These issues are being seen in the movie and TV business as well, not just the music industry. However, that doesn’t make it right. It’s impossible to satisfy and represent everyone in these award shows, however, a larger effort should be made in including different artists of color and representing the different sounds of the music industry instead of just highlighting the mainstream sounds that we are hearing on our radios today.” Overall, the Grammys did do a nice job putting on a show given the circumstances that we are currently in a pandemic, but we are all eager to see what changes are made next year with the continuous lack of representation and corruption in the award show industry.