The Grammys are an infomercial for the music industry. They recognize music’s biggest stars, accomplishments, programs, and performances that span many genres and generations.  

Taylor Swift was undeniably a very significant person during The Grammys. She was nominated for 6 awards, and her album, “Midnights,” won Album of the Year — a record-breaking 4th win in this category alone. During her speech, she announced the imminent arrival of a new album titled, “The Tortured Poets Department”, out April 19. This immediately sparked fan reactions and has many people talking about it.

The Grammys witnessed a remarkable feat as female artists secured victories in all nine categories, signaling a notable departure from the predominantly male-dominated winners’ circle of the 2018 ceremony. Taylor Swift won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, Miley Cyrus won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, Victoria Monét won Best New Artist, Billie Eilish won Song of the Year, SZA won Best R&B Song, Lainey Wilson won best country album and Karol G won best música urbana album.

Alternative bands like Boy Genius and Paramore won big in categories representing rock and alternative music. At the same time, the performances in the telecast’s first half were dominated by big names such as Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, and SZA. 

With Boygenius’s first time at The Grammys, they took home the most Grammys that night with their song, “Not Strong Enough,” winning in 4 categories: best alternative album, best rock song, and best rock performance. This award-winning record beat out Arctic Monkeys, “Sculptures of Anything Goes”, Black Pumas, “More Than a Love Song”, Foo Fighters, “Rescued”, and Metallica, “Lux Æterna”. Phoebe Bridgers also won a separate award for best pop duo performance with SZA in her song, “Ghost in the Machine,” making this band bring home 4 Grammy Awards altogether. 

SZA was nominated 9 times and won 3 awards Sunday, and when she took home best R&B song, her emotions were clear and heartfelt; this moment represented the culmination of years of hard work. Ditto Victoria Monét was made a mockery of with the category “best new artist,” as she’s been working on her long music career for years. Both speeches presented a firm rebuttal to the idea that these awards mean nothing to the hardworking people who win them.

The Grammys always found a way to humiliate themselves and cause outrage in the past years, from lip-syncing performances, giving the first-ever Grammy for heavy metal to Jethro Tull — at the expense of Metallica — and Macklemore winning in rap categories at the expense of Kendrick Lamar. But this year, thanks in large part to a pop-heavy but solid slate of nominees, I believe this year’s Grammys were very successful and deserving. Disregarding the fact that the host Trevor Noah addresses Ed Sheeran as “one of the greatest live performers of all time.”

Citations

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/after-winning-big-at-the-grammys-boygenius-is-logging-off

https://pitchfork.com/topics/grammys/

https://people.com/grammys-2024-taylor-swift-wins-album-of-the-year-makes-history-8553482