On February 4, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences held the 66th annual Grammy Awards. Groups and individuals selected to receive Grammys are considered the best contemporary artists. But were those chosen this year indeed the most deserving? In our opinion, the answer is no.
Awarding Taylor Swift Album of the Year for Midnights is a prime example of how the Grammys have lost their credibility. Rather than using the award as an opportunity to honor the most artistically excellent album, the Grammys took the easy way out and used popularity as their primary metric for judging.
Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights, was the most commercially successful album of 2022; by the end of the year, she had garnered more fans than ever. Anything she released would sell absurd numbers and break Spotify records.
Given Swift’s indomitable position in the entertainment industry, it is likely that her win was not a direct reflection of the album’s quality; rather, it is representative of the Grammys sacrificing their critical integrity in the face of public pressure.
If the Academy were to have awarded best album based purely on merit, SZA’s sprawling, ambitious sophomore album, SOS, should have won.
Miley Cyrus’ winning Record of the Year for “Flowers” defines what it means to reward mediocrity.
According to Wikipedia, “Flowers” was one of the year’s most popular songs, with “634.4 million on-demand audio streams, 428,000 downloads, and 3.9 billion radio audience impressions.” Regardless of its best-selling status, however, let’s face the facts: the song isn’t that good.
If they had honored the truly superior record, SZA’s “Kill Bill,” a vibrant blend of R&B, soul, and indie influences that create a beautiful auditory experience, would have taken home Record of the Year. The song captures her heartbreak, revenge, and the complex nature of emotional healing.
“Flowers,’’ on the other hand, merely tells listeners to love themselves on top of a catchy tune. Even when compared with Boygenius’, as described by Pitchfork, “skydiving country-pop” track “Not Strong Enough” or Olivia Rodrigo’s dramatic, crescendoing hit “Vampire,” the party music that is Cyrus’s “Flowers” falls short.
Despite the night’s shortcomings, two other major categories, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, were awarded on the metric of artistic excellence rather than popularity.
Billie Eilish’s song, “What Was I Made For?,” which was featured on the Barbie soundtrack, has captured hearts worldwide. The song provides a stark insight into what it means to be a woman today.
Victoria Monét did deserved the award for Best New Artist. For fourteen years, she has climbed the musical ladder, writing hit songs for other artists like Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez while simultaneously pursuing a solo career.
Ultimately, there were dubs and snubs at this year’s Grammys. The night demonstrated a trend in pop culture: mistaking popularity for excellence.
Once the most credible academy in the industry, now the Grammys is a night where what used to be a measurement of talent is confused with streaming counts and radio plays.
But that’s just how awards shows go…
