By Ryan Sieh | Staff Writer
The 2021 Grammy Nominations were announced on Nov. 24 and have sparked a flurry of conversations about the Recording Academy’s voting criteria. It reflects on the Academy’s controversial track record about inclusion of diversity within not only its nominees but also the voting members of the Academy itself.
However, this is not the first time the Recording Academy has been under scrutiny for failing to recruit a diverse voting panel and snubbing artists of color. The hashtag, “GrammySoWhite,” trended on Twitter at the beginning of 2017, and included people around the globe criticizing the Recording Academy for their lack of diversity across the nominated artists.
The organization is still a work in progress in terms of shrinking both the racial and gender disparities within its members. USA Today reports, “[The Recording Academy] vowed to examine ‘barriers and biases affecting women and other underrepresented voices in the music industry and, specifically, the Recording Academy[…] and pledged to double the number of women voters by 2025[…] The academy’s membership was only 26% female and 25% underrepresented ethnic/racial communities[…] in July.”
It is important to note that the Grammys’ issue with diversity in nominating artists of color is not that they are not nominating enough artists of color— it is that they do not nominate them in major categories, like Album, Song, Record, and Artist of the Year; many of which would increase racial representation and allow more artists of color to get a foot in the door within the music industry.
Complex writes, “Expecting a historically anti-Black industry to properly credit Black music is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole[…] The Progressive R&B category is filled with Black acts, but there are none in line for a ‘Best Pop Vocal Album.’” Perhaps the most notable snub at this year’s nominations was that of The Weeknd, who, despite his chart-topping 2020 album “After Hours” and its record-breaking single “Blinding Lights,” was not nominated for any awards. Despite the many complaints from both music enthusiasts and critics alike, the Recording Academy’s efforts in creating space for minorities has yet to yield any impactful results. In order for the organization’s pledges to be effective, they must show improvement in upcoming years by promoting the work of artists of color from other cultures, as well as breaking away from their tendency to not nominate artists of color in major categories.
The Recording Academy’s false promises to create more diversity in nominations and in their workforce continue to plague the music industry. If there were to be an increase in diversity in the upcoming years, it would certainly have a positive effect on fans and artists alike.
