Grammy Nominations Finally Get It Right
When Adele won the Grammy for Album of the Year over Beyoncé this past February, many — including Adele herself — were shocked at the result. Nothing against 25, but Lemonade was a masterpiece that should have won that award. Adele was of his same mind and even broke her award in half to “split” with Beyoncé in addition to giving an incredible touching and emotional speech about how important Lemonade was and why it should have won. “What the fuck does she have to do to win Album of the Year,” she said in the press room after her win. Adele spoke a truth that many were unable, or unwilling, to face at the time.
Many called to protest the awards show, as once again felt like those of the fairer skin were receiving awards over the minorities who were more deserving. The facts of the Grammys certainly support this notion.
A minority hasn’t won Album of the Year since 2008 when Herbie Hancock won for River: The Joni Letters, despite having at least one person of color nominated for the prestigious award in eight of those nine years. If you take it back to the year 2000, just four non-white artists have won the award in 17 years. But let’s take it back even further to truly drive the point home. Of the 59 Album of the Year awards that have ever been given out, just 13 of them went to non-white artists. Three of those went to Stevie Wonder, meaning that just 11 different non-white artists/groups have won this award in 59 years. That number has a great chance of going up by one this year, however.
The nominees for Album of the Year for the 60th Grammy Awards are Childish Gambino (Awaken, My Love!), Jay-Z (4:44), Kendrick Lamar (DAMN.), Bruno Mars (24K Magic), and Lorde (Melodrama). That’s right, four of the five nominees are minority artists. Not only that, but this marks the first time since 1999 that a white male has not been nominated in this category. The minority extends past just this award, though.
Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Bruno Mars lead all nominees with eight, seven, and six nods respectively. Even beyond those three, Childish Gambino, producer/songwriter No I.D., SZA, and Khalid have five nominations each. We’ve got a great chance to clean house, y’all.
The long list of nominations for minorities here is a great step in the right direction because while President of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, denied that race was in issue after this year’s show, the facts simply do not support that stance.
There are plenty of amazing minority musicians and artists out there, and they deserve to get recognition for their work. It seems like this year might finally be the year that happens.