Last weekend marked the 66th annual Grammy Awards, one of the most anticipated and biggest celebrations of music in the United States. The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, commonly known as the Recording Academy, spent the night recognizing outstanding achievements in music, presenting a miniature golden replica of a gramophone to the 94 honorees across more than 25 fields.
Attendees included powerhouses like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, SZA, Travis Scott, Luke Combs, and Billie Eilish. This was a momentous night in many ways, including Taylor Swift making history as the most-awarded artist for Album of the Year in the Grammy’s history. Her album Midnights earned Swift her fourth award in this category and her fourteenth Grammy overall. Midnights is Swift’s eleventh studio album, a heavily decorated album that has broken 73 international records, including making Swift the most streamed artist in a single day (184.6 million streams) and the first artist in history to hold the top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift used her acceptance speeches to thank her fans and announce the release date of her upcoming album, titled The Tortured Poets Department, out on April 19th.
However, following the Grammys there has been disappointment expressed at the Midnights win, as some believe other artists’ works were more deserving of the title. If you’re wondering how the Grammy’s judging process works, you’re not alone. Luckily, for the 2024 cycle, the general public got a sneak peek into the decision-making process after CEO Harvey Mason Jr. enacted new transparency and fairness rules.
To break it down, the Grammy process begins every September with a nominating period overseen by a panel of 350 experts, with nominations restricted to releases from the previous twelve months. First-Round-Voting occurs in October, narrowing down the pool of nominations to only a few per award category. Known as the only peer-voted award in music, the Grammy voting members are artists, producers, songwriters, and other creators who are currently working in the recording industry. They are restricted to voting only in their area of expertise to protect the quality of the awarding process. The Final Round of Voting occurs in December, with the voting members submitting their ballots to decide the leading music of the year based on their artistic and technical caliber. An independent accounting firm, Deloitte, is entrusted with tabulating the final results and delivering the sealed golden envelope with the winner’s name to be opened at the Grammys.
Despite this rigorous process, the Grammy Awards often are criticized in one way or another after the winners are announced. The amount of people watching the Grammys is less than half of what it was a decade ago, potentially hinting at the fact that people are not as satisfied with the award outcomes as they once were. This year, in one of the most shocking moments of the night, Jay-Z used his acceptance speech to call out systemic issues within the Grammys. “Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed,” he said. “Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category.” In his very candid speech, he noted that Beyoncé, his wife, has the most Grammy wins in history and yet has never won the coveted Album of the Year award. It does beg the question: why hasn’t her success translated into wins for the biggest Grammy categories?
While we might not get an answer to that question, one thing this Grammy season proved was the undeniable triumph of a year for women in the music industry. The four biggest categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist) were awarded to Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, and Victoria Monet. We saw incredible pop performances from Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo, an emotional and captivating rendition from Joni Mitchell, and appearances from iconic artists such as Celine Dion. While the system might not be perfect, the Grammy Awards offer a reminder of just how much there is to celebrate in the music industry and how we continue to be inspired by how the artists leave their mark on our society.
