RONNIE SAENZ / ASST. OPINION EDITOR

With the  announcement of this year’s Grammy award nominees, many are already speculating on who will win, but others  are  more concerned about the people who were left out of  the  nominations. Whether it’s the Oscars, Emmys, Tonys or Grammys there is always controversy about who qualifies for these awards and even about who deserves to win — or not. 

Debates have become heated in recent years such as when actress and producer Jada Pinkett Smith and writer and producer Spike Lee boycotted the 2016 Oscars, because all 20 nominees for best actor were white. In my opinion, boycotting isn’t enough. I don’t think these award ceremonies should be taken seriously at all, nor do they belong in any discussion about the worth of a piece of art.

The problem starts with the fact that these ceremonies are ranking art, when art is purely subjective. Sure, you can judge the feelings you have personally and the technical aspects of art, but at the end of the day, we all have our own perspectives on art. Let’s take the upcoming Grammys as an example. 

The Grammys are a yearly ceremony  celebrating   the greatest   achievements   of music in a given year. The voting members who decide the Grammy award nominations and winners, are made up of a diverse set of music industry professionals. In order to qualify, voting members must have creative or technical credits on at least six commercially released tracks on a physical music release, or 12 on a digital  album.

Theoretically, the people judging the Grammys know a lot about music based on their qualifications, but it still shouldn’t overshadow anyone else’s opinion on music. Just because they decide that a performer deserves an award doesn’t mean the audience has to, as well. For instance, Nicki Minaj has never won a Grammy despite being nominated 10 times within the past 12 years, and her audience is upset that she hasn’t received the recognition they believe she deserves.  

Although there is a criteria these pieces have to meet in order to be nominated and awarded, I think I would be more open and interested in the decisions of these judges if they actually gave  explanations as to why they choose certain nominees for the awards over others. Would you believe me   if  I said that this grilled cheese sandwich with cheddar jack is better than this other grilled cheese with  shredded cheese without an explanation as to why? That is  exactly what these award  ceremonies  do. They  give awards to pieces of art, without a public rationale. The reason this is the case is because each of these ceremonies choose the winner based on the votes of their members, and these ceremonies have a ridiculous amount of voting members. Just the Oscar voting committee, known as  the  Academy members, contains 10,000 voting members, so arguably there is no consensus or rationale about the winners. They might be able to resolve this if they allowed less people into the list of Academy members, or instead each Academy member gives their vote and a rationale. As it stands, award ceremonies are just a popularity contest within the industry, which is far less  interesting  than  a  popularity contest of public opinion.

Some say that these ceremonies are just to benefit their given industry while also seeming exclusive  and important. After all, there’s a reason that there are so many advertisements for upcoming projects within the events. For example, the 2023 Oscars heavily advertised the live action Little Mermaid even debuting its first full trailer during the ceremony. It’s because industries are trying to make money off of the ceremonies’ publicity. Very often, the pieces that are nominated and especially those that are awarded receive a massive boost in sales. Within the weeks leading up to the 2022 Emmys, there was a 17% increase in views for the shows that were nominated. 

But even if the ceremonies are just to raise money for the industry, they still have a very clear effect on people and their perspectives on media. You only have to look as far as social media to see the countless debates over who should win the Grammys, and whether they deserve to win. People care about these ceremonies and invest more time than they should into who should or should not win. This would not be an issue if we didn’t take these awards so seriously, and just focused on what we like subjectively. 

Sometimes we’re so wrapped up in the glitz and glamor of an award ceremony that we forget there are still people behind everyone’s winning decisions. If you believe in the subjectivity of art  then  you  believe the consensus of professionals shouldn’t change your perspectives on art, and therefore these award ceremonies should not belong in any discussion about our opinions of  a piece of media. So go ahead and watch the Grammys, but just remember it’s not the end all be all for your music taste. Nor should you let it discourage you from listening to the kind of music you like to listen to. Instead you should judge art for yourself

Photo courtesy of @recordingacademy/Instagram. The Grammys have shaped consumer’s perspectives on music since their start.