It finally happened, the 2024 Grammys came to a conclusion and we have our answers as to who the Recording Academy voted to win this year’s major awards in music. Does the public agree with who came out with holding a gilded gramophone or were this year’s victories controversial?
As usual, the big categories this year were Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Rap Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year.
Best New Artist had many music fans on the edge of their seats. This category included some of the more popular artists of the year that were big enough to make a huge impact on the music industry. Artists like Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, and Noah Kahn were nominated for the award, but the one who ended up winning was Victoria Monet.
This came as sort of a shock as many people didn’t really know who Victoria Monet was. Her music was somewhat under the radar this year and her music gained fewer streams than other artists nominated for Best New Artist.
Taft senior, Mary Hulne, said,“I think her [Victoria’s] win was long overdue. She has written songs for huge artists like Arianna Grande and Travis Scott. This grammy was years in the making for her.”
Next big category was Song of the Year. Those nominated were Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, Jon Batiste, Dua Lipa, and Sza, but the artist who won was Billie Eilish for her song ‘What Was I Made For?’ from the motion picture soundtrack ‘Barbie.’
Prior to her big win, Eilish performed the song ‘What Was I Made For?’ on the Grammys stage with her brother, Finneas. The song, which is one of two songs from the Barbie soundtrack nominated for Song of the Year, was competing against Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance The Night.’
Then was announced Rap Album of the Year, which didn’t even get a proper televised showing of who won, and fans say for good reason. The nominee pool for Rap Album of the Year included big names like Travis Scott, Drake, 21 Savage, and Metro Boomin, but the artist to take the win was Killer Mike for his album ‘Michael.’
It is safe to say that many were upset at this. Killer Mike is yet another unfamiliar name amongst music listeners and for the category to be so stacked full of big names confused many. This makes the public question some of the choices being made by the Recording Academy when it comes to voting.
“I genuinely have never heard of Killer Mike before the grammys announced he won. I really was not expecting that one,” said Sebastian Turowiecki, Taft senior.
The next big category is Record of the Year. The artists nominated for this category are Billie Eilish, Boygenius, Jon Batiste, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Victoria Monet, Sza, and Taylor Swift.
The winner ended up being Miley Cyrus, for her song ‘Flowers’ which she performed previously that night. This is also Miley Cyrus’ second grammy after winning her first grammy the same night.
The final award to be given out is Album of the Year. This category was highly competitive. Nominees included Jon Batiste, Boygenius, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monáe, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, and SZA.
With many talented artists lined up, Taylor Swift took the victory for Album of the Year. This struck up some controversy as many believe that Swift is undeserving of this award, and should’ve gone to another artist. On top of that, Swift pulled fellow artist Lana Del Rey on stage with her, right after Del Rey lost the award.
“I felt bad for Lana, she deserved the win. Taylor is a good artist but Lana deserved to get her first grammy,” said Anastasija Stojakovic, Taft senior.
Del Rey, who is seen, by her fans, as a very talented and underappreciated artist, seemed visibly uncomfortable with going up on stage, but ended up supporting Swift. Swift did give a shout out to Del Ray, showing support. This isSwift’s 14th Grammy, and second one of the night.
This year’s Grammys was a controversial one. Many choices were made on the behalf of the Recording Academy that confused many fans, and many talented artists went unnoticed on music’s biggest night.
