It’s my favorite time of the year – and for once, I’m not talking about Christmas. Within the past week, The Recording Academy has released their nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards. As soon as I got into college, my eyes had opened to the Grammy Awards and everything that goes along both behind the scenes and before the show. At my school, there’s a group on campus called Grammy U where students can pay a small fee to subscribe to The Recording Academy and receive e-mails all about the music industry and the Grammy Awards. When the season rolls around, we get to go to Grammy viewing parties or even the award show itself if we can fly over to LA; but the rest of the year allows opportunities to network with industry professionals and other students like ourselves. It’s a great experience for me and others who have an interest or major like me in music industry. But enough about the group – it’s time to discuss the nominees of the 2017 Grammy Awards.

The biggest award of the night is most definitely the Album of the Year award in the Pop category. This year, Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, and Sturgill Simpson, a name most people into mainstream music won’t recognize (I don’t recognize it, either; it’s okay). These albums all came out after the last Grammy Awards nominations in 2016, so it may seem like forever ago that these came out; it could be as early as October 2015 that some of these nominees released their work. While I’m personally rooting for Adele, many people have been buzzing about Beyoncé’s multiple nominations. With nine award nominations lined up, she’s killing the game – and bound to win at least a few. But for me, the surprising nominations aren’t for Beyoncé.

This year is the first time both Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande have been nominated for Grammys. To me, these two women have worked very hard in this industry, even if they don’t have the years or credentials that some other nominees have. People don’t tend to take pop artists seriously when it comes to the Grammy’s (unless they’re Beyoncé or Adele), so it’s nice to finally see some recognition for these incredible individuals. For me, it feels like I’m growing up with my favorite artists; I have listened to Demi’s music since middle school and Ariana’s since she started a few years ago. To see your role models be granted such a high honor is so awe-inspiring and gratifying because you have seen them progress so far. It’s just so comforting to see names on this list who have such an emotional connection to you.

Now, speaking of recognizing names of Grammy nominees, I want to bring up something that I personally think is a big deal when it comes to the Grammys: category recognition. What I mean by this is how the only big categories we see results for on TV live are pop, rock, rap, country and R&B. All the mainstream artists get the biggest recognition since they make the most money in this industry. But is it really fair to leave so little time to recognize the other hardworking, talented artists and industry professionals who have been nominated in the less popular genres? The answer is obviously no, but because their names aren’t known nationwide, they’re given little to no air time or praise.

Firstly, the artists in categories such as jazz, classical, latin, gospel, etc. all have just as incredible and high-honor award nominations. Secondly, the people behind the industry (managers, producers, sound engineers, etc.) are the reason all these artists make it this far; the fact that they don’t get the reactions we give to artists is something that is unfortunately common. We tend to not recognize them when the list comes out since we don’t know their names or their work. It’s important we spread the love and congratulations across the entire music industry since the music we know and love wouldn’t actually exist without these other important genres.

Basically, in the end, I just want to recognize all these hardworking individuals and thank them for giving something I’m so passionate about. I’m excited to see the show and see if my predictions come true. This is such a great night for music and music lovers; to be rewarded for their creations is something I always love watching. Tune in February 12^th, 2017 for a big night of performances, groundbreaking award winnings, and a room full of passionate music lovers who all are in that room for something so dear to them: music.