When award season comes around every year, one of the biggest topics of conversation in the media is how effectively each award show is able to incorporate diversity – through minorities being nominated for awards and being showcased in the performances for the night. As of late, many have felt that award shows like The Emmys and The Oscars have effectively incorporated minorities into their shows, as they rightly should be. However, this year’s Grammys seemed to go against this positive trend, specifically when referring to the female musicians in attendance at the event.
The injustice that has received the most backlash from this year’s Grammys involved highly acclaimed female singer Lorde, who was nominated for album of the year. Despite being nominated for the biggest award at the show, Lorde was the only nominee for this Grammy that did not have the opportunity to perform at the show – Jay-Z, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar all performed. Lorde was the only female nominated for this award, and was the only musician who didn’t get a chance to perform – how can this not be seen as an issue?
If there’s any major trend that’s circulated through the media for the past six months, it’s allegations of sexual harassment in Hollywood. And while these issues primarily concern actors and actresses, it has spread to involve non-Hollywood celebrities like former NBC TODAY show host Matt Lauer as well. So while the current media climate has revolved around the treatment of female celebrities and unfair dynamics between powerful male celebrities and their female counterparts, it follows that The Grammys should want to do everything in their power to ensure that female celebrities at their award show are equally represented in comparison with males. However, by denying Lorde the opportunity to perform at the show and instead giving her spot to older, male musicians like Sting and U2, The Grammys are essentially saying that male musicians who weren’t nominated for any awards are more worthy of a performance at their show than a female artist nominated for their most prestigious award and who’s more relevant in today’s music climate. Not only does this look ridiculously backwards in today’s political climate, but it’s such a poor injustice to such a talented musician. It’s unclear whether the Grammys intentionally didn’t include a performance from Lorde during their show because she’s a female, but it can’t help but look that way given that all the other musicians nominated for album of the year performed at the event.
At the end of the day, Lorde is just one female celebrity in a sea of talented women being served injustices on a daily basis. Society may feel like strides are being taken to correct the poor treatment of women around the world, specifically among celebrities, but this year’s Grammys are evidence that there’s still much room for improvement in this sphere.
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