When winter rolls around, awards season begins for every artistic medium. For music, it is the Grammys. The Grammys serve as the industry’s equivalent to the Oscars by honoring the best music of the year.
First held in 1959, the Grammy Awards have become one of the most anticipated annual ceremonies. Over the decades, the Grammys have helped secure the legacies of some of music’s biggest names such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Lauryn Hill, and OutKast.
However, the Grammys have declined in popularity as some critics argue the awards prioritize what is popular over what music truly deserves to win. Fans and artists alike have complained about the Grammys’ questionable nominees.
In 2018, Eminem said that he and other artists are only used as “selling points” to build excitement for the shows.
“But don’t fucking get us all here to use your selling point for your fucking show and stiff everybody every single fucking time,” Eminem said when discussing the hypocrisy of the Grammys.
In 2020, The Weeknd, after getting snubbed for his universally acclaimed album, After Hours, tweeted, calling them ‘corrupt’ and criticizing the lack of transparency.
“The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency…” The Weeknd said in a now-archived quote.
The perception fans have of the Grammys is hard to ignore, especially for this year’s Album of the Year (AOTY) candidates.
Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, MAYHEM by Lady Gaga, and SWAG by Justin Bieber were the weakest of the bunch. The projects lack innovation compared to past work, making their nomination for AOTY seem questionable.
While Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have been creating music since the 2000s, their most recent albums lack substance when compared to newer artists. The nomination pays tribute to legacy rather than artists who take risks.
Sabrina Carpenter’s nomination appears to be driven by her rise to national prominence. Since releasing her blockbuster album, “emails i can’t send” in 2022, Sabrina has been popular, but her recent work lacks much creativity, only prioritizing mainstream appeal.
MUTT by Leon Thomas and GNX by Kendrick Lamar are decent albums, but are still questionable choices. Leon Thomas can be considered an ‘underdog’ nomination as he is a newer mainstream artist with significantly less popularity compared to the other nominees.
Kendrick Lamar has received AOTY nominations for each album since good kid, m.A.A.d city, for which he was nominated in 2014. With this many nominations, his nomination is predictable. Even though GNX is a good quality album, the nomination is driven by his legacy, rather than any innovative work.
In contrast, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny, Chromakopia by Tyler, The Creator, and Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse are the albums most worthy of winning the AOTY.
Bad Bunny is the only one to have been nominated for this category before, with Un Verano Sin Ti. Bad Bunny’s work shows that the artist serves to keep authenticity and creativity in his work. Bad Bunny consistently takes risks with his musical work, and the experimentation is noticed.
Tyler, The Creator has been nominated for Best Rap Album since Flower Boy, which came out in 2017, and even won awards for IGOR and Call Me If You Get Lost. Even with all these nominations, he has never been nominated for AOTY.
Making music since 2007, Tyler, The Creator, has consistently taken risks. Playing with genres such as hip-hop, rap, jazz rap, and horrorcore, if he were nominated for an album like Chromakopia, it would be a massive win for him.
The album most deserving of winning AOTY is Let God Sort Em Out. Clipse can be considered a “veteran” nomination, saved for artists who have been in the industry for a long time. Just for some context, this is Clipse’s first release since 2009 and their first nomination in this category.
Clipse getting the win would not only be a milestone in their long career but also a win for hip hop, which is underrepresented in this category despite the music genres it influenced.
The album was incredibly well made; its production, its ability to juggle themes, and its thought-provoking nature make it the ideal candidate for AOTY. It is an album full of passion by both members of Clipse, and it is most worthy of winning.
The Grammys might pick and choose the year’s most popular artists, but that doesn’t mean the artists deserve to win. If the Grammys want to reward legacy over creativity, it will lose its credibility as a fair awards show more than it already has.
Until then, the Grammys stand for rewarding the ability to be able to release an album rather than the ability to create a meaningful one.
