Are the Grammys rigged?
By: María Paula Marín
The Grammy Awards are an annual ceremony held in the USA, which celebrate outstanding achievement in the music industry. These awards are seen as the most important and respected prizes in the music business. Winners are chosen by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
84 classifications in 30 fields are included in the Grammy Awards. There are a variety of categories for each genre (general, classical, pop, country, etc). For instance, the general field includes the categories of all-genre Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist, while the country field includes Best Country Album, Best Country Song, and more. Members of the Recording Academy and licensed media companies are encouraged to submit recordings of' submissions' submitted for consideration. Grammy Awards ballots are tabulated by Deloitte, an independent accounting firm, and results are not known until the night of the Grammy Awards. Deloitte delivers each winner's name in a sealed envelope that is not opened until the ceremony.
However, even though this is the way Grammys work, some might say the academy’s system is rigged and a scam. Personally, I agree with this statement. I consider the Grammy Awards portray the music Industry as shallow and devoid of meaning, to the point that it’s insulting to even call it art. Furthermore, I see these awards more as crowd pleasers rather than actual talent recognition. In fact, it’s sad but most artists nowadays go for charts, numbers, and recognition. Music lyrics nowadays rarely have meaning or show passion, and I’m not even referring to a specific music genre. However, going back to the main point, I consider these prizes shameful even more what’s left off of art. At the end of the day, it’s just an award but facts still need to be stated. The Grammy Awards chose winners based on marketing sales, are crowd pleaser awards, intentionally provoke controversy to remain relevant, and deprecate art. For instance, some of the best artists whose talent was taken for granted by the academy and therefore never won an award are: Diana Ross, Queen, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Guns N’ Roses, and many more. I believe that the biggest Grammy scam this year was The Weeknd who didn’t even receive a nomination. Abel didn't receive nominations for his album After Hours, nor for his song Blinding Lights which became the biggest song of 2019.
I think that if we want to bring back music’s value, we need to start by cancelling overrated award academies. Part of the reason as to why music nowadays seems so meaningless is because artists are often pressured into making mainstream music and radio hit songs or albums, that can achieve high places on charts. Unlike how intelligence is believed to be measured by society, I find that the beauty behind art is that it isn’t defined by a number. However, if charts define value, then what’s the point of making good music if it’s going to be taken for granted by society and by “respected” academy awards such as the Grammys?