On Sunday February 12th the 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was aired and quickly became the most talked about show that night. Most people turned their attention to the “Album of the Year” category when they heard the nominees and the winner being announced. Adele’s “25” album was announced as the winner over Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album and social media went wild. People were confused as to how Adele won over Beyoncé when “Lemonade” was not only a great album; it came with visuals, a message, and not to mention it was a secret album. Beyoncé did not give any warnings meaning there were no signs, no interviews were made, or album promotions and she still topped the charts when her album was released. When things weren’t adding up the people started to question the voters that were in charge of declaring the winner in the category. The next morning an article was released and confirmed how unaware the voters were, in the article it stated “The members of the Recording Academy, who decide which musicians receive Grammy’s, aren’t necessarily the most diverse group of individuals, critics often claim. One Grammy voter told Billboard earlier this month that many voters are older white males, while others are out of touch with some of the newer genres, therefore limiting the artists awarded” (Hautman). Judging by the given information it would be safe to say that the votes are indeed a little unfair.
There are many things that can make voting unfair when it comes to music but in this case it would be the lack of knowledge and voters that only like one genre/sound. A grammy voter by the name of Rob Kenner explained how unfair the voting is and how he chose to go about it. In the article Rob quoted, “The vast majority of the nominations are chosen by people who have little real expertise in a given field. I refrained from voting in heavy metal and classical because I know very little about those genres. But I could have if I wanted to, and that strikes me as a problem” (Kenner). Now that articles are surfacing about the unfairness, people began questioning if this is history repeating itself racially. In this article Nicholas stated, “The Grammys have historically overlooked black artist through the years. The last black artist to win Album of the Year was Herbie Hancock in 2008. The last black woman? Lauryn Hill in 1999” (Hautman). Although race may not be the case, it became a popular question after hearing about what goes on behind the scene.
Adele and Beyoncé both had great albums and according to the billboards they both held the number one title when their albums were released. However, their strategies were a bit different and could have been the reason why “Lemonade” did not win. Beyoncé did a more modern day release and made it exclusive to hear; she released her album on Tidal and blocked any other sites from downloading it as well as any physical copies being made. Adele on the other hand did the opposite in the article it stated, “It’s also possible that voters simply appreciated the old-school release of Adele’s 25. The album was originally sold only as a physical CD and on digital retailers, such as iTunes, rather than streaming platforms like Spotify and Tidal. The strategy worked as Adele sold nearly 7.5 million units by the end of 2015, a near impossible feat in today’s streaming age” (Hautman). Being that most of the voters were older white males made a little more since to me than any of the other accusations. There is a possibility that they are just a little out of touch with “Lemonade”, it is an album made to empower women.
If you want to read more here is the link to the article usmagazinearticle .
