Dear Grammys,
As an example of music fans everywhere, I just can’t understand the criteria for Album of the Year. Is it based on quality of work or popular perception? (Check out soulhead.com’s predictions)
@KingNiggyy tweeted that Taylor Swift shouldn’t have been nominated for this year’s Grammys due to the fact that “1989” was released in late October therefore being ineligible for last year’s Grammy nominations & not this year, I decided to fact check that & we were both wrong.
Here’s the actual Grammys eligibility requirements:
“For the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards, albums must be released between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015. Recordings must be commercially released in general distribution in the United States, i.e. sales by label to a branch or recognized independent distributor, via the Internet, or mail order/retail sales for a nationally marketed product. Recordings must be available for sale from any date within the eligibility period through at least the date of the current year’s voting deadline(final ballot).”
So my question to all of the above, is this award based on a popular vote or a respectability vote?
I can honestly say that I’ve listened to all of the nominees & I just can’t understand how Taylor Swift won Album Of The Year.
My personal rankings had her at the bottom of the nominees:
- Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly
- Alabama Shakes: Sound & Color
- Chris Stapleton: Traveller
- The Weeknd: Beauty Behind The Madness
- Taylor Swift: 1989
If you honestly listen to all of the Album of the Year Nominees, It’s not even close……..plus don’t even get me started on the perfectly flawed Best New Artist category in Tori Kelly got EFFIN robbed.
Now I’m a little salty on her winning the award despite her well spoken & personally addressed acceptance speech but that being said, The Grammy Committee must stick by their rules, guidelines & aesthetics. As much as I am wrong about the rules of eligibility (thanks to my editor for saving me), at the end of the day…….we all are music lovers, we want the best music to be recognized for their patience, their effort(s), their vision & most importantly, their courage to share what’s inside of their musical inner mind’s eye.
When I started writing this, I was going to be done with The Grammys but then I remembered how far they have come over the past few years just on the basis of this category:
2015:
Beck – Morning Phase: Get over it, Beyoncé fans. The man played every instrument & wrote all the songs.
2014:
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories: Well crafted, well done & for Christ’s Sake…..they got Paul Williams to sing on this album.
2013: Mumford & Sons – Babel:
2012: Adele – 21: Enough said.
2011: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs:
This shows that The Grammys has the capability to make the right decisions of the quality of music & not the popularity of the artist and, in closing, as a fan, I hope to go back to that formula this time next year.
Sincerely,
Greg J. Harmon
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Greg J. Harmon is an independent music critic based in Brooklyn, New York. “I Have Accepted My Past, I Strive To Live In The Present & I Constantly Dream About The Future” and with all that being said, Music helps me accomplish all that and so much more. I’m just an ordinary man with an extraordinarily knack for music.