UNITED STATES—I caught a clip of a viral meme going around after a statement Jay-Z noted in regards to the Recording Academy failing to honor his wife Beyonce with the grand prize of Album of the Year. There were audible gasps in the audience. However, I was impressed someone was calling out the Recording Academy when it comes to the Grammy Awards because let’s face it, award shows are subjective and anyone who says they aren’t is full of it.
You have people voting based on their personal preference. It happens with the Grammys, Oscars, Emmys and so many more. If you’re a face and a person people like, you’re more likely to claim the top prize. Yes, Beyoncé may have the most Grammy wins of all time, but she has never won Album of the Year despite many thinking she should have won the prize.
I totally believe Beyoncé should have won for “Beyoncé” when she lost to Beck. That album was iconic and damn impressive. Was “Lemonade” something different? Yes, but I don’t think it was better than “Beyoncé” and many thought she should have been a shoo-in last year for “Renaissance,” but she came up short to Harry Styles. I don’t want to get into the inner workings of the Grammys because there is a lot to discuss there and you need more than one column to fully analyze that.
However, I am bringing up this topic because people are chatting about award shows not meaning anything, but c’mon, trust these actors and actresses, musicians and so many more in the industry who get nominated for Oscars, Emmys and so much more are happy as hell. Just being nominated is not enough, you want to have the attachment of being “Oscar-winning Actor or Actress,” “Emmy-winner” or “Grammy winner.” That moniker attached to your name brings not just clout, but more money even though people will not admit to it.
Awards equal more money as it gives you a bit more stature, so being nominated is great, but winning opens more doors and opportunities for you. I think plenty of Americans are losing more and more steam when it comes to Awards shows because they are just boring as hell. You have to sit in front of a TV screen for nearly three hours or longer to see people receive trophies or accolades and there is nothing more. They are not exciting to watch and that is the problem. You have the elite of the elite being honored with accolades, when you have issues like finances, death, illness, mental health and so much more happening in life.
You truly don’t care about the ceremony, but for those people who are nominated it becomes a sign that they have achieved something. An accomplishment they have aimed to attain is right at their fingertips. Some win, plenty lose and it just becomes a battle to attain that victory or win at some point, where some musicians and thespians never attain that accolade.
Award shows are subjective, they are not objective. No, I do not want the public voting because it becomes a popularity contest. If you don’t play the game in Hollywood, you are not likely to win, could that be the case with Beyoncé and the Grammys? I don’t know, and I can’t speculate on that. I think if we go into award shows NOT caring about who wins we have more fun and we’re not as upset when our favorites lose, but that is the thing about awards shows, we want to say someone is the BEST, but we don’t realize that impact that comes with those who don’t win compared to those who do.
