Music is a thing that can be appreciated by anyone, and if they know music they know the Grammys. These awards have been around for 61 years and have become the most prestigious award for the music industry. Things aren’t the same as they were 60 years ago, or even 20.

It is a popular rumor that the Grammys are now based on who can give the biggest bribe and are just a popularity contest. The rumor gained some validity when former Grammys CEO, Debora Dugan was fired on allegations of corruption and filling false sexual harassment claims, reported to the media about how toxic the company truly is. Dugan further shed light onto the issues in hand when she talked about how, “Board members sometimes manipulated the nominations process by elevating certain acts they were associated with, and that names were added at the whim of the Grammys’ longtime producers.”

The allegations didn’t stop at causing problems within the administrative side of the Grammys. It also affected the award show itself, in a large way. After news broke, 10 time Grammy winner and superstar Taylor Swift decided to drop her Grammy performance and not show up at all despite being nominated in three categories. This doesn’t come as a surprise though, as Dugan also alluded to the fact one of the more influential board members has a strong disliking for Swift meaning that she would most likely never be able to win an award again. Swift wasn’t the only one to be snubbed this year and in past years. Dugan continued by saying, “For instance, Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande, who had been voted for by the membership, missed out on nominations in the 2019 ‘Song of the Year’ category in part because” an artist who ranked 18 out of the 20 top vote-getters was nominated instead.”

That wasn’t the only way Grande was snubbed either, though. After being nominated for five of the major categories, she won none of them. It wouldn’t be such a big problem, though, if Grande wasn’t one of the main faces of this year’s awards. Commercials playing on every platform, billboards, and ads were all branded with Grande’s face and she received no commission. While there are problems, congratulations still go out to winners like Billie Eilish though, who is now the youngest person to win a Grammy in all four major categories, along with her brother FINNEAS who left with a combined 10 awards. That can also be said for artists like Tyler, The Creator, LIZZO and Lil’ Nas X who won the major awards categories as their first. 

There were some positive aspects to the Grammys as well. For example, Demi Lavato gave a powerful performance of the song she wrote days before her overdose. Camilla Cabello’s performed beautifully for her dad, and the audience remembered the passing of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Music is an impactful part of society. It makes people laugh, cry and create memories. That is what the Grammys should be about, the music and the people who put their life into every lyric in cord. That is what the Grammys were created for. Along the way, that process was lost in the business of money and power though. Hopefully there can be a change it will take a long time though and the spotlight is just really being shown on the problems with this committee.