Ed Sheeran’s Grammy Win Has Twitter Angry For One Major Reason
The Grammys may be the biggest awards show in the music world, but they are also the most controversial. Its voters are known to be very conservative, and therefore their ability to keep up with the ever changing pop landscape is notoriously bad. From the 1970 triple snub of The Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Crosby Stills and Nash to last year's complete failure to award Beyoncé Album of the Year, the Grammy are always getting it wrong. The only question is if the 2018 Grammys Snubs will be one for the history books, or merely another in a long string of minor transgressions. And it looks like the answer is yes, and these tweets about Ed Sheeran prove it.
This year's nominations for "Best Pop Solo Performance" were "Love So Soft" by Kelly Clarkson, "Praying" by Kesha, "Million Reasons" by Lady Gaga, "What About Us" by P!nk, and "Shape Of You" by Ed Sheeran. This is a category dominated by women this year, after several in a row where it's been male focused. This is the year of #MeToo and recognizing women are equal to men. And yet, somehow Kesha's amazing song detailing her own struggle in a #MeToo-like situation was overlooked in favor of... the only man in the category.
Everyone stood there looking a little uncomfortable and then the show moved on. That happens to also be a great way to describe any discussion this evening on the red carpet of Time's Up or #MeToo. Other than P!nk, one of those who lost to Sheeran tonight, most made vague gestures to their white roses, without talking in depth about a problem that's been in the news for months.
This isn't the first time the Grammys have seemingly been utterly out of step with the social movement. Last year, many fans thought Beyoncé's Lemonade should have won. It had seemed as though music award shows were making up brand new categories for "long-form video presentations" and "best film" in order to have an extra category for Bey's ground breaking hour-long HBO special that introduced the album to the world. This was Beyoncé pushing the entire industry forward with the force of her talent alone. Although Beyoncé didn't go home empty handed, she was relegated to the "Best Urban Contemporary" category and "Best Video," all the big awards went to Adele and her 25 album.
Even Adele thought this was a whole lot of nonsensical crap. Or, as she put it:
What the (expletive) does (Beyoncé) have to do to win album of the year?
She then spent her speech apologizing on behalf of the Grammy voters for being out of touch... again.
This year, again, Grammy fans had something to say:
I think this tweet summed it up best:
Some pointed out the awkwardness:
The rest just grieved:
Some at least knew it was coming, but that didn't make it hurt any less:
At least those who are snubbed by the Grammys are in good company. Michael Jackson's seminal works "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" both lost to Sting. Only a year later, the Grammys did to award Prince's "Purple Rain" and chose instead to honor Lionel Richie. Even in years where it felt like the Grammys couldn't get it wrong, like 1997, history plays them. That year the nominees were two Alternative masterpieces, Beck’s Odelay, the Smashing Pumpkins’ Melancholy & the Infinite Sadness, two R&B masterpieces, the Fugee’s The Score, and the Waiting to Exhale original soundtrack, and Céline Dion’s Falling Into You.
The latter being the safest, that's what voters went with. Dion's career has been a legendary one, but of all her albums, that one is one that has fallen by the wayside, proving that the Grammys just can't win.
We're sorry Kesha. At least everyone else knows you deserved it, even if the Grammys didn't.
