This year’s Grammy awards ceremony sparked some controversy among its audience as the awards and nominees were posted. People reacted differently as they heard the winners; some were happy to see their favorite artists had won, while others were surprised to hear that their picks did not. So who should’ve won? Why were so many people angry with how the Grammys played out this year?

Paige Haber, a student at BASH, voiced her opinion on how the awards went- “I liked watching it at first because some of my favorite artists were nominated for awards and I was determined, with their fanbases, that they were going to win an award, but when they didn’t I got pretty upset because they had worked so hard to get where they are now and deserve it.” In response to being asked what her overall opinion was on the ceremony, she continued to say, “One of the people that should’ve won, for example, would be BTS because they trained for years just to debut and then kept working for seven years to get to where they are right now, that’s just my personal opinion.” Paige talks about how some of the artists have been treated at the award show in the past and present. “This year seemed to stick out the most in terms of colored and foreign artists because almost all of the artists that fit those qualities had been pushed to perform in the pre-show and not in the actual show. A lot of black artists have been pushed to perform in the preshow without any nominations as well. I don’t believe that these actions were done entirely with racist intent, but there have been occasions in the past where the Grammys have been biased against female artists, black artists, and foreign artists and of all the other people I have talked to about this, they all seem to agree or at least think the same things as me in a sense.” Overall, she has mixed opinions about the award ceremony, but is most likely going to continue to support the artists she loves and would consider watching the future ceremonies when the time comes.

Among some of the artists that came out very upset about the nominations and awards was pop singer The Weeknd, who held his song Blinding Lights at the number one spot from February through April of 2020 (close to 64 weeks). His album After Hours, which topped the Official Albums Chart in March, sold close to 418,00 copies, yet received no nominations at the event. The artist’s response to not being nominated was no where close to what people expected when he tweeted out the following messages: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…” and “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys” showing that he will be partaking in a boycott in reaction to the nomination results. The Weeknd also tweeted out, “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not be invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!”

In the end, many great artists got awards for their hard work and they definitely deserved the awards they received. As for the results of nominations, performances, and the treatment of other artists, no one was as happy as they seemed. Although some people hope that the system will change and get rid of the “bias and judgement” they have now, there is really no way for us to know how future nominations and award ceremonies will go. All fans can do is continue to support their favorite artist.