Every year millions of viewers tune in to the Grammy awards to see the best in music get recognized for their work. Often seen as one of the most prestigious honors in the music industry, receiving a Gramophone demonstrates genuine artistry and mastering of the musical craft. It is meant to award artists who are unique and have defined the sound of the past year. But the Grammy Awards seemed to miss that mark this year.
When promoting the show, the Grammy's heavily pushed the notion that the night would be filled with 'Grammy moments' that would be both exciting and memorable. In reality, the show was anything but that. For example, there were heavily publicized nominees like SZA, who had the most nominations of any woman that night with five. You would think that with 5 nominations, a GAP commercial running during the show, and her critically-acclaimed debut album CTRL, SZA would be bound to get an award. But that was not the case, and SZA ended the night without winning anything.
The same theme was prevalent with Kesha, another nominee on Sunday night. Kesha was nominated for her album Rainbow, which was finally released after a nasty legal battle with her former producer. Both critically acclaimed and a #1 on the US Albums Chart, the album and Kesha's triumph speaks directly to our times in the midst of the #TimeIsUp and #MeToo movement. The Grammy's knew this and orchestrated a moving performance of the song 'Praying' that many saw as one of the best parts of the show.
As for Kesha herself, she walked away without any awards, losing in both Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance categories to Ed Sheeran, who was not in attendance. Again, the Grammy's were quick to make a huge deal over honoring an artist overcoming their tragedy and creating a top album but did not see their work as award-worthy. It seems that the show was more interested in marketing artists to generate buzz rather than rewarding them for their music.
Perhaps even more frustrating was the absence of Lorde - who despite not making any performance or big appearances during the show, was in attendance and nominated for Album of the Year. Reports state that Lorde refused to perform after not being offered a solo spot like her fellow male nominees. Meanwhile, the award show made ample time for Sting and Shaggy to appear twice during the show, who were both not nominated for anything. It makes no sense that an artist nominated for arguably the biggest award would be put as a second priority to two musicians that had no nominations that night.
Overall, the 2018 Grammy Awards wanted to give viewers a moving evening, and while it succeeded in some aspects, it fell profoundly short in others. Rather than rightfully awarding artists for their work, the show focused more on using them to generate interest, which was misleading to viewers and possibly the musicians. Hopefully next year the Grammy's will do a better job at both giving rightfully deserving artists a platform to perform, and an award to boot.
