By: Shawn Galligan
On Sunday Night, the world tuned in to watch the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, the self-proclaimed ‘biggest night in music’. And by the world, I mean 7.81 million people. This is a significant drop from last year’s 8.8 million viewers. Despite the ratings drop, the awards, looks, and performances have been making all kinds of headlines – here’s what you need to know, and what I think about it.
The eligibility period for the 2022 Grammys was Sept. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021. On some level, it seems like that was forever ago; can you even remember how different things were back in September 2020? Even though the eligibility period includes some of 2020, the Grammys this year represented the state of popular music well. The four biggest pop titans of the last year: Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, and Olivia Rodrigo were fairly represented in the nominations. I truly yearn for the day the Grammys stop handing out pity nominations to Justin Bieber, but I fear that day will never come. Performances by the biggest names in pop (as well as by a few country stars, which surprised me) kept the momentum of the show going well. Basically, everyone you’ve heard about this year probably appeared multiple times on the nomination lists.
I must acknowledge, however, that popular music these days includes a large variety of rap and hip-hop, but the Grammys continue to marginalize and ignore those genres. I think the Grammys should try harder to fairly represent this category. Although rap performances were included in Sunday’s show, the amount of awards, nominations, and general focus on rap and hip-hop as genres did not feel proportional to how important they are in popular culture.
The most important and well-known awards at the Grammys, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist, are most often referred to as the Big Four. Let’s start with Best New Artist. Some of these nominees seemed to bend the rules of the category: Glass Animals have been making music for nearly a decade, and superstar producer FINNEAS has been known by audiences for as long as his sister, Billie Eilish. Newly-popular rappers Saweetie and Baby Keem also received nominations; but honestly, the nominations in this category were basically a formality. Everyone knew who would take this award home: Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo’s rise to fame is comparable to some of her peers and mentors, such as Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift.
However, the combined Record of the Year/Song of the Year win for “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak) reads as just slightly insane to me. I’m not saying it is a bad song – it’s a great song! But to me, it wasn’t the song of the year. First of all, “Leave the Door Open” isn’t even the best Silk Sonic single from last year, “Smokin’ Out the Window” is significantly better. The nominations in both categories are filled with powerhouses who easily could have taken home the win.
Personally, I would have preferred the Record of the Year to go to Lil Nas X. Anyone with internet access remembers the fiery controversy set off by his song Montero (Call Me By Your Name), and any habitual Fox News viewers are likely still furious about the song’s flirtation with Satanism. Maybe this song didn’t define the entire year, but it at least defined a good couple months, which to me is more impact that “Leave the Door Open”. As for Song of the Year, this award is meant to be a songwriters’ award focusing on the writing of a song. A win for “drivers license” or “Happier Than Ever” would have been more appropriate in my opinion.
Album of the Year is the category that has been most puzzling to the Grammy audiences. Jon Batiste took home the win for his album We Are, which caused outrage. Mostly because a lot of people have never heard of Jon Batiste. On one hand, it’s amazing that for the first time in 14 years, a Black artist took home the win for Best Album. However, I personally feel the move is a little hollow. I think they picked this one to impress activists who rightly criticized the lack of racial diversity at the Grammys. It’s a safe pick; you’ll notice that openly gay and Black artists like Lil Nas X, or rappers who speak more aggressively on social issues, either did not win this category or were not nominated at all.