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A few days ago, on Sunday evening, I watched the entire 61^st Grammy Awards on television. It’s something I usually try to do each year. The hostess, Alicia Keys, was very adamant in her belief that “music is what it’s all about”. But each year, some of the visuals and some of the language seem to tell us it’s not about the music. This is the 10^th year I’ve been an active voting member of the Recording Academy and I’d like to share my thoughts and concerns about this big production which fills millions of homes and is known as “Music’s Biggest Night”. 

First, I’ll start with the positive. Although there were several artists who launched into mini sermons, I don’t recall any of them being political in nature. That is, I don’t recall anything that stood out as overtly Democrat or Republican. Maybe there was push back after last year’s show?  So that was both refreshing and a relief.

There were also some performances I enjoyed. For example, Shawn Mendes showed what real talent can do with just a piano and a nice singing voice. The musical prodigy H.E.R. performed and I was pleasantly surprised at how well Miley Cyrus performed some Dolly Parton songs. Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Lopez took us on a trip down memory lane with a great Motown medley. This was particularly moving for me, not just because of the great songs, but because it was an era when great music didn’t need twerking, nor a guest rapper, nor 50 dancers, nor crotch grabbing, nor fireworks, and no lyrics about degrading women or police. It’s also always exciting to see fellow Texans perform such as Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves. And finally, it’s always noble when the academy recognizes people like the music educator of the year and legends such as Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, and all those music greats who passed away the previous year.

And now for some concerns. Each year voting members are reminded to vote strictly based on quality. It seems however, most of the general public doesn’t understand this. For example, several years ago, Yahoo published an article suggesting that Justin Bieber was snubbed by the Recording Academy in spite of his many fans. Seriously? Doesn’t that journalist know the difference between the Grammy’s and the American Music Awards? Then at last year’s Grammy awards, there was outrage that Alesia Cara was the only woman to receive an on-stage televised award at the Grammys that year. And when the academy president Neil Portnow gave an honest reaction during an interview for women to “step up”, all hell broke loose. This was then followed by thousands of signatures from those in the industry asking Neil to resign. Seriously? The voting process is suppose to be about quality and not gender! For the record, every year I vote for both male and female artists while focusing on the music – not gender.

Now there’s an Independent Task Force set up to review “where we can do more to overcome the explicit barriers and unconscious biases that impede female advancement in the music community”. The questions I’ll be asking are: What percentage of the voting members are male? Can the Recording Academy provide conclusive proof that any individual(s) actually cast their votes based on gender bias rather than quality? How can you even have proof of gender bias without violating the strict voting privacy rules? What exactly are the “explicit barriers impeding female advancement”? I wonder if the academy will answer me with specific data or will they tap dance with vague rhetoric.

And if “music is what it’s all about” is true, why aren’t more artists in the higher art forms, such as jazz and classical, performing at the awards show? Where’s the Task Force to investigate those biases? The statement “music is what it’s all about” clearly applies more to jazz and classical artists. Their virtuosity and masterful skills have no need of gimmicks like twerking. If just one jazz artist and just one classical artist had performed on the Grammy’s televised show, they would have displayed far more melodic depth, richer harmonies, and greater musicality than the entire 3 ½ hour presentation I saw.

I can only dream that one day the Grammy Awards televised show will be appropriate for both kids and adults and will leave us all saying, “Music REALLY IS what it’s all about”. Thank you for reading this post and I welcome you to share your thoughts on this blog!