Once again, the Grammy Awards have come and gone. The prestigious annual award show was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022.
The show in its usual manner bore witness to grandeur, style, wit, dynamic music moments and many celebrated individuals in the global entertainment industry.
This year’s edition may have ended, but controversies abound from the perceived satanic live performance of Sam Smith & Kim Petras’s ‘Unholy’, Beyonce losing the album of the year to Harry Styles, Burna Boy’s mugging and more to give you a moment in music history to remember.
For an award established in 1959, as a result of the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s, a renewed interest in music and recording led to the establishment of the awards, which were aimed at recognizing music’s most talented composers, songwriters, and musicians who would not earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. It would seem that this institution is embroidered with quite a lot, from allegations of racism, dirty politics, favouritism, elitism and sexual misconduct.
It then begs the question of whether this award show is still worth it and what exactly are the basic requirements the recording academy looks out for someone to win a Grammy award.
Afrobeats once again had a favourable outing in this edition of the award as Tems repped the culture by winning the award for the ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ thanks to the ‘Wait for U’ collaboration with Future and Drake. Thus, becoming the first indigenous Nigerian Female artist to win a Grammy after British-Nigerian singer Sade. It was so unfortunate for Burna Boy as he lost both categories he was nominated for but it was not a total loss for Africa, as the award for ‘Best Global Music Performance’ went to South African artists Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode, and Wouter Kellerman.
Many critics and fans are questioning the standards of the Grammys and why certain things are the way they are, why artists like Drake and The Weeknd no longer rate the award, and is it time for an Afrobeats category.
Burna Boy deserved that Grammy. Just like “Essence” did, and never got the trophy.
I wanted him to win it because he deserves it, regardless of recent local antics.
Knowing Burna Boy’s defiant streak, he’ll be back. And he’ll get another.
— Joey Akan (@JoeyAkan) February 8, 2023
It is pertinent to understand what are the requirements for winning a Grammy and how they make these decisions in regard to nomination, winners, and more. According to https://www.grammy.com the official Grammy website, the following are the criteria involved in the voting process;
Submission
Recording Academy members and record companies enter recordings and music videos released during the eligibility year which they consider worthy of recognition in the GRAMMY Awards process.
Screening
Reviewing sessions by more than 350 experts in various fields are held to ensure that entered recordings meet specific qualifications and have been placed in appropriate fields such as Rock, R&B, Jazz, Country, Gospel, New Age, Rap, Classical and Latin, among others. The purpose of screenings is not to make artistic or technical judgments about the recordings, but rather to make sure that each entry is eligible and placed in its proper category.
Nominating
First-round ballots are sent to voting members in good dues standing. To help ensure the quality of the voting, members are directed to vote only in their areas of expertise; they may vote in up to ten categories across up to three genre fields plus the four categories of the General Field (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.) Ballots are tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Deloitte.
Special Nominating Committees
In craft categories, final nominations are determined by committees comprised of voting members from all of The Academy’s Chapter cities.
Final Voting
After nominations have been determined and announced, Academy voting members vote in up to ten categories across up to three fields in the genre fields plus the four categories of the General Field to determine the winners. To ensure the quality of voting, members are directed to vote only in their fields of expertise.
Results
Ballots are tabulated by the independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. After vote tabulation, GRAMMY winners are announced at the GRAMMY Awards Premiere and telecast ceremonies. The recording with the most votes in a category wins. Ties are possible in which case the two [or more] nominees who tie are considered winners. Winners receive a GRAMMY Award; All nominees receive a Nominee Medallion and Certificate.
In addition to the above processes, the Recording Academy maintains that winning the award has nothing to do with “record sales or chart position.” You could check out the video below for some insight into the above voting process.
As much as the award is not a popularity contest, you cannot deny the influence these artists have on people and the mainstream media in the world of music. For such an award there should be some consideration of what the people think because no matter the musical technicalities involved every artist put in a lot of work in their craft and it works well for them.
If it does not then ask these questions, why do millions of people stream their music, why do thousands of people buy tickets to all their concerts, why do their peers hold them in high esteem, why do the chart honours, why do they get all kinds of endorsement deals, why do they have cult-like followership and finally why do they matter to the general public as celebrities?
The truth about #GRAMMYs – Drake pic.twitter.com/NqdqA8Nlap
— Avas ✰ (@I_Avas) February 6, 2023
The answer is that they are making a great impact on people, the culture and society, for if they were not good, they would not have made it this far. But there is the argument that sometimes these things work for those without talent, passion or commitment and I say yes it does. However, these types don’t last long in the industry, as the industry has a unique way of weeding them out.
The Grammys is the highest honour for musicians in the world and it should live up to its reputation of greatness. A lot needs to be done to make it worthy of its keep. Firstly, there needs to be more transparency in the nomination and voting process, the admission of more foreign members into the recording academy, and I know this is a far cry but it is time for an Afrobeats category to create more room for better representation of the continent.
It is important to point out that Africa has come a long way in its sojourn to musical greatness. Afrobeats is now the new pop and undoubtedly now in the music conversation, so let’s be on the lookout for more greatness.
Much love Burna Boy, you may have lost this year but knowing who you are, you will come back stronger next year.