By Sierra Ryan
With the Grammy nominations list being released, many people have mixed feelings about the Grammy’s choices.
The Grammys are considered one of the biggest nights to celebrate music. But many music fans feel that the categories in which artists are placed are different from their music. In addition, some said they think that the academy often overlooks artists.
“I don’t think they pick good people at all,” said Maya Jacob, a psychology major. “I feel like it’s overhyped,” Jacobs, a senior, continued.
The Grammys are known for snubbing many artists. For example, despite being nominated ten times, Niki Minaj has never won a Grammy.
In 2021 the Weeknd announced that he would no longer allow his record label to send music for recommendation after the Grammys had snubbed his album “After Hours.” The singer tweeted, “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency ….”
This led many fans to feel that the Grammys were rigged. As a result, fans and artists began using the term “Scammys” to refer to the Grammys.
When it comes to the genres of music that are nominated, there wasn’t a lot of variety.
“Dance Hall music should be added. I listen to a lot of Caribbean music, and I feel like that would be a fire category,” Jacob said.
“There should be way more cultures’ music like Trinidadian instead of just pop or country, which are mostly like white-dominated genres,” said Hope Straker, a freshman art major.
The Grammys have a history of ignoring artists of color.
“A USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study unveiled Tuesday found Black performers represented about 38% of all artists on Billboard Hot 100 from 2012 to 2020, but they only received about 27% of top Grammy nominations during that span. And just 24% of this year’s top Grammy nominees are Black,” according to a CNN Business article.
“I want some Puerto Ricans to be recognized,” Ella Ramos, social work major, commented.
As for the people nominated, some said that they shouldn’t be because there are other artists who deserve a nomination instead.
“Some of those aren’t real rappers because DJ Khalid doesn’t even rap like that. Gloria is somewhat new. I would say Kendrick Lamar is the best one cause Kendrick Lamar put a lot of albums out,” said Jacob.
And on the other hand, some students think the Grammys has no merit.
“Most of the artists that everybody likes don’t have a Grammy. So, they’re not going to care about it, and it doesn’t make sense to any of us at this point,” Straker said.
While the performances list has yet to be announced, students had a variety of artists who they thought should perform.
“I want to see Steve Lacy, Frank Ocean, A$AP Rocky, Burna Boy and Lil Uzi,” Jacob said.
Straker said she would love for Niki Minaj to have another performance. But, for Ramos, the choice was obvious for Bad Bunny to take the stage.
Students agreed that the Grammys as a whole could be better. But diversity should be at the top of the organizers’ priority list.
“They can definitely do better at making the nominees diverse,” according to Jacob.
