The 2018 Grammy Awards featured some of music's biggest stars sporting white roses on the red carpet in support of the #MeToo movement. The Voices in Entertainment organization prompted the accessory as a way to fight for “equal representation in the workplace... and a heightened awareness of accountability that our sisters started on January 1st and continued through the Golden Globes and onward.” However, the Time's Up initiative didn't move past the red carpet into the actual Grammy awards, as the 60th annual Grammy Awards slighted its female nominees all night long on Jan. 28, proving that the Recording Academy didn't truly believe that time's up.
The Grammy Awards focus most of the night on inviting performers on stage, only presenting a few awards throughout the show. However, as the night went on, slowly but surely man after man approached the mic and recited his thanks. If you don't remember any women accepting awards during the show, that's because only one woman (Alessia Cara) won an award on-air.
This might seem reasonable for an awards show that doesn't present many awards throughout the night, as long as you don't think too hard about the fact that for the past five years, only 9 percent of the Grammy nominees have been women, according to a report done by the University of California and cited by Time magazine. Seriously. Don't think about it too much, because it might make it seem a bit more unfair. Or actually, do think about it. Think about it a lot. Because that's absurd, considering all of the talented women out there making amazing music.
One of the best moments of the night was when Kesha performed "Praying" with a handful of other female artists singing alongside her. The performance was moving and powerful, and it served to focus on the #MeToo movement and empower survivors of sexual assault. The performance showcased Kesha's courage and strength, and it left many people in tears. And luckily, it was even nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance. Except that it didn't win.
The nominees for Best Pop Solo Performance were "Praying" by Kesha, "Million Reasons" by Lady Gaga, "What About Us" by P!nk, "Love So Soft" by Kelly Clarkson, and "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran. For those of you playing at home, that's four songs by women and one song by a man. Ed Sheeran won.
It isn't that I think only women should win awards or that I don't think Ed Sheeran should have won because he's a man. However, Ed Sheeran's song is a standard run-of-the-mill pop song. It isn't bad, but it isn't award-worthy either. It isn't his strongest song; it isn't even his strongest song on Divide. He didn't intend to keep the song for himself when he wrote it. He wasn't even sure that he was going to put it on Divide. But he won anyway.
Once the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, came along, it was pretty clear that Bruno Mars was going to continue his sweep. But if you think about the nominees for Album of the Year-- Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, JAY-Z and Lorde-- they have a few things in common. First, they're all men except for Lorde. Second, they all performed at the show, except for JAY-Z and Lorde.
Sure, it's true that the Grammy Awards have a jam-packed performance schedule and that they can't have every nominated artist perform. JAY-Z didn't get to perform either. However, Lorde was already the only woman nominated for Album of the Year, and the uncomfortable situation didn't stop there. While Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino were all offered spots to sing their own music from their nominated albums, Lorde was only offered to perform in a group, singing a cover as a tribute to the late Tom Petty. Lorde declined the offer, since she wanted to sing her own music at the show.
And can you blame her? Lorde's Melodrama is a true piece of art. It earned a nomination, but it apparently didn't earn it as much as the male nominee's albums earned their nominations. If they regarded Lorde's music on the same level as the male nominees' music, she would have been offered a spot to sing a song from her nominated work.
As if slighting female nominees all night during the Grammy Awards wasn't enough, the icing on the faux "Time's Up" cake was when the gender inequality of the evening was pointed out to Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. He responded by saying "I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level to step up."
I'm not sure why the president of the Recording Academy thinks that there aren't women in music already; I'm not sure why he has suggested that the women in music aren't creative or dedicated; and I'm not even going to touch on his suggestion that it is women's fault that only 9 percent of Grammy nominees are women. There's a lot to unpack here, folks. Be careful, though: you might hit your head on the glass ceiling.
Just as the music industry stars did that night after stepping off the red carpet and into Madison Square Garden for the 60th annual Grammy Awards.
