With the 67th annual Grammy Awards Sunday, February 2, there has been an uprise in excitement for it, however, a deeper investigation conducted by MHS Media reveals that most students find a particular nomination category to be lacking: Album of The Year. I agree.
Regarded as one of the most important nomination categories for the Grammys, Album Of The Year offers the winning artist a chance to breakout from the rest and receive the acclaim they deserve. However, I think that there are multiple artists who are undeserving of this nomination for their respective albums. I also think that there are several albums that should have been in place of other nominees.
For context, the nominations for ‘Album Of The Year’ consist of André 3000 — New Blue Sun, Beyoncé — COWBOY CARTER, Sabrina Carpenter — Short n’ Sweet, Charli xcx — BRAT, Jacob Collier — Djesse Vol. 4, Billie Eilish — HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Chappell Roan — The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and Taylor Swift — The Tortured Poets Department.
These eight artists, while talented, are unfit for their nominations. The same Marist poll found that 44% of students think that Cowboy Carter and Djesse Vol.4 were undeserving of their nominations. I found both albums had either dull or quite repetitive-sounding songs.
Brat and The Tortured Poets Department saw a huge amount of popularity from both a consumer and financial standpoints. However, 29% and 33% of Marist students found that both albums were undeserving of their nominations. I personally liked the energy and enthusiasm from the Brat album, but as for The Tortured Poets Department, I thought it was disconnected musically and Taylor Swift’s previous albums are much stronger.
The poll also revealed that most students agreed that Ariana Grande’s album (Eternal Sunshine) should have been nominated in this category. Other prominent examples include Tyler, the Creator, (Chromakopia) Tate McRae, (Think Later), and Gracie Abrams (The Secret of Us).
I think all of these albums are both lyrically and emotionally stronger than the previously mentioned albums. While some of these artists were nominated for other awards, I still think they were snubbed by the Academy for Album of the Year.
Overall, I agree with a majority of Marist students as they found multiple other albums that I also found uninteresting and bland. 80% of respondents felt that the Grammys needed to fix their nomination criteria and processes. While there isn’t much one single person can do on this issue, I still find that spreading attention to it can help bring awareness to the Grammy Awards’ faults.
