Grammys or Scammys?
The Grammys 2024
The 66th annual Grammy awards took place on Sunday, February 4, 2024. The award ceremony lasted from 8:00 pm to 11:30. Many great music artists attended as well as performed while Trevor Noah hosted, for the fourth year in a row. The night began with all the artists on the red carpet, showing off their looks, and ended with many artists going home either Grammy winners or empty handed. The artists that performed were Olivia Rodrigo, Billy Joel, Miley Cyrus, Joni Mitchell, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, SZA, Burna Boy, U2, Travis Scott and Tracy Chapman with Luke Combs. At the end of the night Phoebe Bridgers went home with 4 Grammys. I was very proud that she was the artist that won the most awards of the night as I have loved her music for years now and she is finally getting the recognition she deserves. Throughout the night, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see if my favorite artist would win and I found myself either very surprised by the award winners or not shocked at all.
At the end of the night, I was extremely surprised by many of the award winners. For starters, how is it possible that Lana Del Rey has yet to win a single Grammy? I am so upset that the judges refuse to take her seriously, and one even admitted it, because of her performance on SNL over ten years ago. Lana Del Rey should have gotten her first Grammy years ago and the fact that she still has not is ridiculous. I obviously assumed that her newest album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd would finally give Lana the Grammy she has deserved for her entire career. She was nominated for five different awards this year and eleven in total over her career, yet has not won a single Grammy. I was very disappointed to find out that the album was, once again, not good enough and I don’t know why I expected the judges to finally recognize Lana’s music. If you ask me, the album was life changing and truly one of the most iconic and well known albums of the year. How can the album along with many of the songs be nominated for multiple different awards and not win anything? It just further shows that the Grammys and the judges’ opinions mean nothing. The judges clearly did not understand the album and its impact on its millions of listeners worldwide. I honestly could not take the judges seriously after Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” won two different awards. As a huge Lana fan, I believe she deserved album of the year for her latest album, however the Grammy judges thought differently. The album was brilliant and full of jaw dropping songs and lyrics. I am still not over the songs on it and every time I hear them, I am still captivated by Lana’s voice and music style. Her songs are a very unique style and she has such a satisfying voice to listen to. Her songs are always astonishing to listen to, especially her newest album, which was full of some of the most viral songs of the year, so if the judges can’t say they go by popularity.
Taylor Swift went home with album of the year for Midnights. This was not surprising to me, but was still disappointing as a Lana fan. It also made me feel sad for Lana. Watching her reaction, she was clearly fighting hard not to look upset, as one of her friends just won, but it was obvious she was disappointed. Who wouldn’t be? Lana deserved to finally win something and to be nominated for so many awards as one of the most well known artists of the year, yet coming home with nothing is truly outrageous. Lana deserves better. Lana’s situation only got worse when Taylor grabbed her hand and brought her up onto the stage with her to accept her award. Lana was very gracious about it, which she kind of had to be, as one of her very good friends did just win. Lana was also on one of the songs in Taylor’s winning album, however because she was nominated for that same award and just lost it, Taylor should not have forced her to go up there. Lana should have won her Grammy in 2015 for NFR and to be robbed again is an embarrassment, to the judges, for not acknowledging or recognizing Lana’s music as Grammy winning material. This just further shows that the Grammys mean nothing.
I was not just disappointed by the outcome of Lana’s Grammy nominations, but also by Olivia Rodrigo. Olivia is one of the newest and most popular artists of our time. She quickly became very well known and has only released two albums so far. She released her second album Guts, in September, and is set to go on a world tour starting at the end of February throughout the spring and summer. I think her latest album, Guts is even better then her first, Sour. Even though the full album was released so late in the year, It quickly became very popular and is full of some of the most trendy and best songs of the year. Every song is catchy, relatable and most definitely Grammy winning material. However, Olivia, much like Lana, went home empty handed. Not one of the songs or the album itself won a single Grammy. This makes no sense to me as Olivia even performed her hit song Vampire that night. It is outrageous that so many artists are not being recognized for their music and given the awards they deserve. Although luckily Olivia, unlike Lana, has won Grammys in the past for her music. The Grammys become less and less serious every year as more and more artists are robbed.
Throughout the whole night, I was surprised by many of the award winners. As a huge Gracie Abrams fan myself, I was extremely disappointed by Victoria Monet’s win over her for best new artist. Just a few years ago, Gracie was much more unknown and sort of a secret, this year she was nominated for a Grammy. After she released her new album Good Riddance and opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour, she quickly gained more fame and new fans. As someone who has been a fan of hers for years, even before her newest album, which is a personal favorite of mine, I am still in shock Gracie was even nominated. Good Riddance was full of some of the most heartbreaking, gut wrenching and soul shattering songs of the year. The songs and bridges are, obviously in my opinion, some of the best ever written with amazing lyrics and emotion. If you have not listened to it yet, although I’m sure you have heard them on tik tok and didn’t even know it was Gracie Abrams, you should right now, especially if you want to cry. From the album I’d say Best and I Should Hate You are personal favorites of mine. I don’t know why I truly thought that Gracie Abrams would be recognized for what she deserves when even Olivia Rodrigo was not. However, it still shocked me that both openers on Taylor’s tour, Gracie Abrams and Ice Spice did not win. I even thought if Gracie and Ice Spice did not win, Noah Kahan would win. I honestly had never even heard of Victoria Monet before I searched her up after she won best new artist. I think if Gracie was not going to win, Ice Spice should have. She became extremely popular this year and again, opened for Taylor Swift. However, once again, artists deserving awards were not recognized.
Though I was very upset by many of the award winners, I was still happy with some of the outcomes. I was very happy to see Laufey win her first Grammy. Laufey’s music is so lovely and she has such a beautiful voice to listen to. Her album Bewitched deservedly won best traditional pop vocal album. I was also happy with the song of the year winner. It went to Billie Eilish with “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” Though I am upset that they won over Lana, I am still proud of the amount of wins Boygenius had. They had six nominations and won three Grammys, best alternative music album, best rock song and best rock performance. They are one of my favorite groups and deserved to win, though them winning over Lana is crazy because their music is definitely good though is it as iconic and well known as Lana’s? No hate to them, I love Boygenius, especially Phoebe Bridgers, it’s just that the judge’s opinions make no sense to me. Watching the Grammys, it is very hard to take them seriously, as the judges have been wrong, in my opinion, many times. I think I will maybe consider taking the awards seriously when Lana is finally given a grammy (hopefully for her new album coming out this year called Lasso) at the next Grammy’s. For the 2024 Grammys, I think a lot of artists were robbed and failed to be given awards for their music when it was well deserved.
