On Sunday, Jan. 28, CBS aired the 60th Annual Grammy Awards and to say that they were disappointing would be an understatement.
Every single one of the major awards given out except for Best New Artist, which went to Alessia Cara, went to men. Ed Sheeran beat out powerful female artists like P!nk, Kesha and Lady Gaga for Best Pop Song for a song about a woman’s body. Every male nominee for Album of the Year either performed or was at least given the opportunity to perform while Lorde, who was the only female nominee, was not even offered a chance.
When Grammy executives were asked for a reason as to why she was the only one without the prestigious opportunity, they claimed that it was “hard to have a balanced show.” As a final nail in the coffin, the Album of the Year Award went to the big winner of the night, Bruno Mars’ 2016 album, "24K Magic."
While I do appreciate Mars and his work, I do not believe that the victory was well-deserved.
The album was met with fairly harsh criticism upon its debut, receiving mostly 3 out of 5 star reviews. The website MetaCritic only gave the album a score of 70/100, which is essentially a C. However, Lorde’s album, "Melodrama" received high critical acclaim. Ten different publications ranked the album as the best of 2017 and it was placed high on the list of over a dozen more. It also received multiple 5 star and A+ ratings from critics. MetaCritic gave the album a 91/100, which is difficult to attain.
Lorde and her co-writer Jack Antonoff’s work on "Melodrama" is nothing short of brilliant. The pair wrote every single song together unassisted except for the track “Homemade Dynamite”, which was a collaboration with singer-songwriter Tove Lo. While Mars helped write every song on "24K Magic", at least four other co-writers were needed for every single track.
"Melodrama" truly captures the journey of love and relationships during young adulthood. The opener, “Green Light” pretty much summarizes trying to get over a breakup while “The Louvre” depicts a whirlwind summer romance. Songs like “Sober” and “Homemade Dynamite” highlight the uncertainty you experience when you are not exclusive with someone.
“Writer in the Dark” and “Liability” are stunning ballads that show how permeant heartbreak feels during your late teens and early 20's. “Supercut” is told from the standpoint of looking back on a past relationship and seeing where it went wrong. The album’s longest track “Hard Feelings/Loveless” features one of the album’s greatest lyrics: “I care for myself the way I used to care about you.”
Try and find something as stunning as that on "24K Magic."
The entire album is a celebration of young love and all the crazy and confusing emotions you experience. It absolutely deserved much more consideration for the highest honor of the night. Lorde as an artist also deserved a lot more respect and the opportunity to perform a song from her lyrically stunning album.
Hopefully, next year the Academy will get it right and give the Album of the Year award to an album that truly deserves it (hint: Taylor Swift’s "reputation").
