The Scammys Strike Again!
Review of the 2024 Grammy Awards
The 66th annual Grammys just transpired, spotlighting the biggest and best music of the year. Awarding the artists who most deserve it…right? Every year I sit down with my family and get my hopes up because I put faith in the academy. But, sadly, every year I am let down due to the poor decisions made and who the awards end up going to.
(XXL Magizine)
The Grammys have made notoriously bad decisions in the past, snubbing artists across all categories. Some notable snubs include the Mumford and Sons album “Babel” winning over Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” for the Album of the year in 2013, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s “The Heist” victorious over Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Kanye West for Rap Album of the Year in 2014, and more recently Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” winning Song of the Year over Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Kendrick Lamar. That’s just some of the poor decisions the Grammys have made over the years.
However, this year the batch of nominees was pretty strong, by Grammy standards. The strongest batch of nominees since 2020. Whether that be Lana Del Rey being nominated in both the Song of the Year and Album of the Year categories or girl band Boygenius getting their fair share of nominations. Along with others, these nominations led me to believe that the Grammys might actually award the most deserving.
Well, there were some awards the Grammys got correct. Paramore won Best Rock Album for their phenomenal album “This Is Why”, being the first ever band to win this award with a female lead. Consequently, Boygenius, an all-female band made up of Phoebe Bridgers, Julian Baker, and Lucy Dacus, took home three Grammys. Lastly, SZA and Phoebe Bridgers won Best Pop/Duo Performance for their incredible song “Ghost in the Machine” off SZA’s “SOS”. Also, SZA was victorious in the Best R'n'B Performance for “Snooze” also off “SOS”. So, at least the Grammy’s got some right.
SZA for Best R'n'B Performance (Grammy.com)
However, there were still many snubs, mainly in the big three categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of The Year.
Travis performing at the 2024 Grammys (Grammy.com)
Before getting into the three main categories, however, I want to mention a major snub that occurred before the show even started. For those who are not familiar, the Grammys announce some of the category winners before the actual show begins. One category announced prior is Best Rap Album. The nominees featured were Drake & 21 Savage, Killer Mike, Metro Boomin, Nas, and Travis Scott. There’s a clear winner in the category, yet the Grammys chose who I thought had the least chance. After not winning a single Grammy for the iconic “ASTROWORLD”, I thought the academy would finally give Travis Scott his long-awaited trophy. Flashforward six years later and Scott released his highly anticipated album “UTOPIA” which ended up being the biggest mainstream rap album of last year. Scott’s “UTOPIA” had features ranging from Playboi Carti to Beyoncé; it is such an impressive record that saw Scott experimenting with his sound and rapping better than ever. The most deserving in this category, however, the Grammy went to “MICHAEL” by Killer Mike. This marks Scott’s second loss in this category and 10th loss overall. Travis Scott has yet to win a Grammy. Scott took the Grammys stage to perform three songs off of “UTOPIA”, including fan favorite “FE!N” and during his performance, Scott said, “They slept on me 10 times.”The Grammys continue to make me wonder what the standard for choosing the winner really is.
Miley Cyrus performing her awarded smash hit "Flowers" (Grammy.com)
Record of the Year went to “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus. The main difference between Record of the Year and Song of the Year is that Record of the Year focuses more on the song’s production, while the award given for Song of the Year spotlights the songwriting. So, given these standards, this Grammy given to Cyrus wasn’t the best decision. Not that “Flowers” is a terrible song by any means, but he just features a pretty standard and somewhat boring pop instrumental. This should have gone to “Kill Bill” by SZA. This track’s production is engaging and pleasing. Additionally, I believe an equal contender for this award is Olivia Rodrigo’s thrilling “Vampire” off her sophomore album “GUTS”. This track starts as a soft ballad and then eventually ramps up into a fast-paced journey. Rodrigo ended up going home empty-handed, which is incredibly surprising to me given that “GUTS” was one of the best album releases of last year and critically acclaimed.
Billie Eilish on the red carpet at the 2024 Grammys (Elle)
Song of the Year focuses solely on the songwriting of the track. Given this standard, there was a clear winner. The best-written song in this category was “A&W” by Lana Del Rey off her latest album, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” Not only was this my favorite song to release this past year, but it’s also one of Del Rey’s best. In the seven-minute runtime, Del Rey sings about being attracted to toxicity, and feeling used, and even addresses past experiences with sexual assault. This song is everything that makes Lana Del Rey, Lana Del Rey. It’s a career-defining song that deserved to go home with a trophy. Now, the singer that won this award I do believe was the second best option. Billie Eilish came out on top with her beautiful single “What Was I Made For?” from the summer blockbuster “Barbie.” Making this her ninth Grammy overall, and second Song of the Year Award. “What Was I Made For?” is a very existential song about feeling anxious and finding a purpose in life. It is one of Billie’s best-written songs. But all in all, “A&W” was just too strong of a song for it not to win a single award.
Lana Del Rey at the 66th Annual Grammys (Byrdie)
Which brings me to my next point. The Album of the Year category was stronger than it had been in previous years. Out of the strong nominations, like “The Record” by Boygenius, or “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo, there’s one that deserved this award more than the others. That would be “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” by Lana Del Rey. This marks Del Rey’s second time losing Album of The Year. Back in 2019, Del Rey lost this category to Billie Eilish. Overall, Lana Del Rey has been nominated a total of 11 times and is yet to win one. Despite being a pioneer in the alternative pop genre, influencing artists like Lorde, Billie Eilish, and even Taylor Swift. It is truly mind-blowing how the Grammys keep brushing aside the greatness of Lana Del Rey. Back to her nominated album, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd”, my favorite album of 2023, Del Rey arguably gets more personal than ever. In her ninth studio album, Del Rey continues to push her songwriting deeper.
Unfortunately, the album went to “Midnights” by Taylor Swift. An album that I do not think deserved this award in the slightest. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of Taylor Swift. I believe she is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation and I don’t think “Midnights” is necessarily a bad album. However, it is too much of a mediocre pop release for Swift to take home the biggest category of the night. Consequently, this award gave her the most Album of the Year wins in history. This was a huge accomplishment; I just wish the album that broke this record was stronger. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if this award went to SZA’s “SOS”. This was such a strong release from SZA, she continues to be one of my favorite voices in pop right now.
Taylor Swift at the 66th Annual Grammys (Grammy.com)
All in all, the Grammys isn’t the Grammys without the awards going to the nominees you least expect. While they weren’t all bad, I still consider this year’s Grammys to be another loss in the grand scheme of things. While I have always thought the Grammys are never an accurate representation of all the great music released year after year, and that the awards don’t mean anything, I hate to say I will never stop watching.
By: Harrison Mullin