It would seem lately, nobody knows anymore who’s won what at the Grammies, Oscars, MTV, BET, Billboard Music Awards, etc. Why did these once much-coveted shows become thirty-second topics of conversation when the money behind them are in the tens of millions of dollars? We got more than one idea. Read below the 10 real reasons why award shows lost their appeal, popularity, and let’s admit it, respect.
10. We’ve seen it all.
From Kanye west obliterating young Taylor Swift’s confidence and award, Twenty One Pilots delivering an emotional speech in their underwear, to Lady Gaga arriving to the Grammys in a humongous egg, and Pink performing like she should have been working at Cirque du Soleil instead, the world has seen, documented, and rewatched many, many shocking moments. So many and so shocking that well, nothing can surprise us anymore so we don’t tune in. What else can one do? Walk on stage naked? Wait, they already did that.
9. Musicians we like, don’t get acknowledged.
Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, Björk, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Sia, Diana Ross. What do these legends have in common? They’ve NEVER won a Grammy. It is hard to believe the RIAA doesn’t have an agenda against these individuals, considering the decades and artistic efforts they’ve put in. Plus, some very dubious individuals are part of the RIAA and that reflects poorly on the Academy itself. And that’s just the Grammy awards we’re talking about. There are several other major award shows that also seem to have blackballed extremely talented and respected artists, such as Mariah Carey, Kesha, The Weeknd, who’ve never won a single MTV award. Are you serious?
8. Vanity over quality everything.
The red carpet has become a bonafide fashion show off that features music as a secondary facet. While we understand the glitz and glamour have forever been part of music awards, an artist can very well get more recognition and media coverage for the outfit they were wearing than the song, category, or award they got. Meh!
7. ‘Newcomers’ are barely ever, actual newcomers.
Where do we even get started? From afar it looks like one circle who only lets in certain individuals who are in a certain tax bracket and specific fame status. The New Artist Of The Year award has been given to artists who have had hit songs and commercial acclaim for YEARS before the ‘initiation’ into the higher ranks. And for God’s sake, when you come from the Disney machine, how can you be a new artist? You’re not. Maybe music wasn’t your primary focus but you were an artist nonetheless with an impressive pre-established fanbase. We should set up more rigid rules for who gets to be considered ‘new artist’ and maybe then, as viewers and music fans, we won’t feel ‘robbed’.
6. The big shows are hosted by the U.S. only.
Sure, everyone will tell you there are equivalents of the American award shows BUT what are the ONLY ones that attract media attention? The American awards. For decades, the entire world tuned into the American version because of this. Now, however, with all the agendas, silly wokeness, unfair industry treatement, and direct connection with the musicians on social media, people don’t NEED to tune in to see their favorites. A Portuguese teenager will now easily listen to local artists, follow Beyoncè on Instagram and North West on TikTok, and that’s on that. If they don’t particularly care for a musician in a personal manner, they won’t bother. Now if they don’t care about MANY musicians who all go to the same show, they definitely won’t even know when the show gets aired. They DON’T CARE, as they shouldn’t!
5. Most of it is lip synced and we all know it.
Once upon a time, artists cared to perform live and it was a shame to be caught lip syncing. Now they don’t even bother anymore. Now they’re striving for not dropping the microphone out of hands and not going up on stage too high, which happens nonetheless. No shade to Anitta, she’s a great songwriter, but that performance is lip synced to the moon and back without a flinch of effort.
4. Political corectness is an omnipresent sentinel.
Remember when Mackelmore couldn’t just embrace his award and apologized to Kendrick instead? Why do you think that happened? The guy felt the pressure from just about everybody because according to many Hip Hop fans, he only got chosen because he’s white. What if we told you Mackelmore’s songs had better post production and were catchier? They should create a different category for the likes of Kendrick Lamar who put together complex projects. Call one Commercial Hip Hop, which is what Mackelmore did, and another category – Soul Rap, as Kendrick’s songs are deeper than the Mariana Trenches. Get creative dear rich people funding the awards! You have the money for it!
3. Too many artists have won too many awards.
This one especially stands true as an exceptional high number of artists have cumulatively won Grammies. Britannica states that over 75 awards are given per Grammy show for example. Let’s do some math. The first award show was in 1958 with 28 awards given. Then, by comparison, the 51st annual Grammy Awards in 2009 featured an insane 110 awards—the most ever. “The number of awards categories dropped to 109 for the following two years before dipping back into the double digits in 2012.” The lowest 28, the highest 110, average 69. Let’s make it a clean 70 because only that very first year gave so few awards. From 1958 to 2023 we have 65 years, multiplied by the average which we think it’s still low, we get a total of 4550 Grammy awards. Those statues are not that special when so many people had them, have them, and the categories go up and down, round and round, with nobody really giving the public any explanation for what goes on beyond closed doors. And well, oversaturation equals ‘everybody got a Grammy these days’ except the poor people in number 9. Same for the other award shows.
2. The reputation of these awards is seriously on the decline.
Just listen to Eminem.
1. No everlasting value for the viewers.
Have you ever asked yourself what’s the value a person walks away with after having watched the Grammies? That time is better spent watching John Wick (ANY of the four!). There is a probability, in the future, the Grammies will go back to being a private, elite event demanding non-industry people to pay a kidney’s worth to attend. And that would probably make the Academy more money as these days, no one cares. Same for everyone else.
Blue Rhymez Entertainment ©2023
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