The Grammys at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena was the place to be this past Sunday. Hosted by Trevor Noah, and with live performances from Dua Lipa, Luke Combs and Tracey Chapman, SZA, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, U2, Joni Mitchell, Travis Scott, Burna Boy, and Billy Joel, the night was one to remember by all.
Despite the night having a focus on uplifting and appreciating female artists, with most of the nominees being women, there was much backlash surrounding some of the night’s winners, especially Time’s Person of the Year, Taylor Swift.
With the rise of Swifties and her Eras Tour, it is no surprise that Taylor Swift took home Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year, both for her hit album Midnights. She is the first artist ever to win Album of the Year four times, making history for women in the music industry.
Though many celebrated her win, many were not happy about her victory.
The Academy has been scrutinized on social media as after last night, Lauryn Hill remains the last Black woman to win Album of the year in 1999. Many were hoping for Black female artists SZA or Janelle Monáe to take home this honored Grammy, and JAY-Z made a nod towards Black artists being robbed historically by the Academy when accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. In that speech he touched on Beyoncé having won 29 Grammys but never winning Album of the Year, as a way to illustrate that no matter how talented people of color are, many are still not getting the recognition that they deserve. He left viewers with the message to “keep showing up” until they obtain the recognition that they have worked so hard for.
So here is my take on Taylor Swift’s win and the Academy’s racist history. Firstly, I would like to separate the two entities and then talk about them together.
Taylor Swift’s Academy Win: My Take
Whether you like her or not, Taylor Swift will go down as one of the greatest artists of her time. She has broken record after record, and is truly an icon. Despite her many achievements, I have found there to be such a large population of people who immediately choose to invalidate her success just because she is Taylor Swift. I have noticed a pattern that when women are successful, people love to tear them down, a prime example being Swift herself.
As someone who has gone back and forth with being labeled as a Swiftie and someone who claims the label of being a modern day feminist, here is what I have to say:
We should not tear down the success of other women. We can scrutinize powerful women like Taylor Swift for her negative impact on the climate, just as we can for any celebrity who is constantly flying on their private jet, however, feminists should celebrate female history made. It is truly incredible that Swift is the first person ever to have won Album of the Year four times, and her success should be celebrated in that aspect. So as a feminist, it is important to uplift female victories. Music taste is subjective (I personally cannot stand Swift’s song 22 and you will not catch me listening to it ever) and you do not have to like Taylor Swift as a person (I personally cringe at some of her millennial attributes), but there is no need to tear another woman down because of her success and I stand by that.
The Academy’s Racist History Still Present Today
The Academy does have an extremely racist and sexist history that prevails today, hence why when artists win Grammys they will often talk about the oppression that goes on within the music industry and America like JAY-Z did. There have only been eleven Black artist to ever win Album of the Year and according to a study done by CNN Business they “discovered Black performers represented about 38% of all artists on Billboard’s signature chart from 2012 to 2020, yet they received only 26.7% of top Grammy nominations during the same period” (Alcorn). This anger towards the Academy is validated by these facts, and there is still much more that the Academy and we, as a society, can do to stop racism within and outside of the music industry.
However, we will never be able to take down the racism that invades the Academy if we do not take an intersectional approach. Rather than tearing other artists down for their wins and success, especially female artists who are another oppressed group within the music industry, we as a society, can take an intersectional approach to our anger at the Academy. We must come together because there is power in numbers. If there are more people who are willing to fight for female artists, Black artists, and Black female artists together rather than exclusively just fighting for female artists, or just Black artists, or just Black female artists, there becomes greater visibility on the problems going on within the Academy and our society. With more people talking about racism and sexism within the Academy, it becomes such a prominent problem that people will begin to take action and make changes. Though none of this is simple and is much easier said than done, we need to keep uplifting those who are oppressed by people in power, like Black voices and women voices in the music industry.
Just as music brings us together in many other aspects of life, music can also bring us together in the fight against racism and sexism.
See the full official list of Grammy winners and nominees here.
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