The Grammy’s are around the corner and the nominations were publicized this past Wednesday night. Eminem took the lead for most nominations, receiving ten nominations total including album of the year, going up against Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now,” “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire,” Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster” and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” These album’s range from rap/hip-hop to pop to alternative rock. But what these albums all have in common is their incredible success in the public eye. Prof. Smaldone introduced us to the band Arcade Fire earlier in the blog, citing an article that spoke about the band’s popularity, where it took first place on the charts, replacing Eminem’s “Recovery.” In the category for artist of the year Drake goes up against Justin Bieber, both relatively young in age and young in the music world.
The Grammy nomination reveal show used to be a dull press conference, but in the past three years has featured performances by nominees. This year Katy Perry performed her “California Gurls” as well as performances by Miranda Lambert, Train and Bruno Mars. The show was hosted by rap artist LL Cool J. The Grammy’s are attempting to create hype for the actual awards show which will take place Feb. 13th.
What’s interesting however, and the point I wanna bring up in this post, is who actually receives the nominations for Grammy’s. When considering nominees, it appears that popularity places a huge role in the decision. Most of the nominees are well-known household names. Where are the nominations for the underdogs who in many respects might be more deserving than the actual nominees? I think that the Grammy’s has a responsibility to make nominations that appeal to the masses, rather than based on real talent. Don’t get me wrong; Eminem, Katy Perry and the others do possess real talent, but I think that musicians who are unknown are highly underrepresented in the Grammy nomination process.
Good post. We’ve been struggling with the idea of popularity vs. artistic integrity all semester. The formula for success is never entirely about one or the other, but is always a combination of the two. The Grammy’s are an “of the moment” litmus test for one or the other. sometimes the zeitgweist leans one way, sometime the other. In the end, all of this is a cautionary tale for an aspiring artist of any discipline: practice, practice, practice, but that is only a fraction of what is needed for success.