Today: Mar 28, 2024

Grammys or Scammys? Review

Sarah SheltonFeatures Editor

Every year my favorite artists do not get Grammy awards and I say the Grammys are a scam and I am not going to watch again. 

Well, here we are with the 2022 Grammys. 

When writing about my opinion on the nominations back in December 2021, I wrote, “one thing that really stood out to me this year for the 2022 nominees was Selena Gomez finally got recognized. In 2021 there were many articles about how The Weeknd and Selena Gomez were snubbed. In 2020 there were also many articles about how Harry Styles and Selena Gomez were robbed of a nomination. I mean, how did her first number one, “Lose you to Love me,” not win a Grammy, never mind a nomination.” 

I also wrote about how I felt Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish getting seven nominations was well deserved, I knew Rodrigo would win but I was not sure about Eilish. 

The only negative I had for the nominations was Justin Bieber. I wrote, “I know Justin Bieber has had so much success but for him to be a 22 time Grammy Nominee? … In my opinion, “Peaches” is not Grammy-worthy and how is his album nominated for both Pop and R&B? However, looking back in the past, many years ago, Bieber lost “Best New Artist,” and he definitely got snubbed back then.” 

With those being the things that stuck out to me the most during the nominations, I am happy, yet disappointed again with the Grammys. 

Let us start off with “Best Latin Pop Album,” because it is so disappointing. 

As biased as I am, since I have been a fan of hers for over a decade, I truly believed Gomez had a fighting chance with her EP “Revelación.” Every prediction website I saw predicted either Gomez or Camilo winning this category.  

The winner ended up being Alex Cuba with his album “Mendó.” 

Do not get me wrong, I do not condone hate to the Grammy winners, because for one the Recording Academy picks the winners, and all pop music fans, like myself, remember when Ariana Grande got snubbed and Billie Eilish stood on that stage feeling bad and saying Ariana deserved to win. Yet, this album was not even a big enough release to have critic reviews on AOTY, Album of the Year.

“Revelación” also got an 83 on metacritic.

Album of the year ratings | Sarah Shelton

Gomez’s albums always do quite well in the ratings, and even though the ratings for this EP were not astronomical, this was her first album in Spanish, with one Spanglish, Spanish and English, song, and her voice was truly made for it. She herself said she felt her voice fit better with the Spanish language. This album broke many records as well.

Many fans, even non-fans of Gomez on Twitter were very upset. Gomez also did not attend the Grammys.  

“The Grammys every year makes us upset. It is not an award show based on musical talent, It is just like whose music is the most radio-friendly,” my boyfriend said as I sat down to write this. 

This was Gomez’s first nomination, and another first of the night is Olivia Rodrigo’s first win. 

Rodrigo’s first official win was for “Best Pop Solo Pop Performance,” for her song “Drivers License.” 

This win was very well deserved. As much as I love Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” “Drivers License” was a huge hit. I remember being in Florida at the time it came out and my entire Twitter feed was full of this song and I did not even know Rodrigo until that moment, and now she is one of the biggest stars of this generation. 

Rodrigo won two more awards, “Best New Artist” and “Best Pop Vocal Album,” and performed the song “Drivers License” at the show. 

I really liked how she began sitting in a car and it felt like she really put her heart into that performance.  

Another performance I really enjoyed was Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever.” Her and her brother Finneas had it raining on them, really bringing the feeling of the music video to the Grammy’s stage. 

I honestly do not understand why the Grammys had BTS and Eilish perform, yet did not give them any awards. They basically used them for views, which they have done in the past for The Weeknd. 

One thing that made me laugh is Kanye West winning “Melodic Rap Performance,” because The Weeknd is featured in the winning song. After being robbed of a nomination one year while the Grammys were using him for promoting their show, The Weeknd made the decision to never submit his material again, with the Recording Academy deleting his award wins from their website. Now, he has won an award without even trying. 

Another thing I am very surprised and somewhat disappointed by is “Freedom” winning best music video over Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero” and Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever.” They were all great videos. 

“Good 4 U” was filmed by my favorite director, Petra Collins, and Billie Eilish is known to make crazy music videos without special effects. Eilish went underwater in a small house for this video. 

There were many more categories, but these ones stood out to me the most. 

Lastly, as someone who loves celebrity fashion, I want to talk about the red carpet outfits. 

I saw so many beautiful outfits, but in my opinion, the best dressed were Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X and SZA. 

SZA had a beautiful dress with flowers going down the middle, which gave a little bit of “high school prom” vibes, but not entirely. 

Next, Dua Lipa wore a slim black Versace dress, and you could never go wrong with Versace. I am also in love with black clothes, and the gold jewlery and buckles were a good statement piece to the sleek dress. 

Finally, Lil Nas X with his white rhinestone suit with butterflies on it. Also with the matching shoes? The inner eye corner makeup that matched the butterfly background? It was amazing. 

Lastly, the worst dressed of the night, in my opinion, were Justin and Hailey Bieber, Tayla Parx and Addison Rae. 

Tayla Parx is known for having unique outfits, but I do not understand her green spiky outfit. Is she supposed to be a dinosaur? We still support but this was not the outfit this year. 

@WhatsTrending on Twitter held a poll about her outfit. As of 2 hours, 29% of the votes were for “we live, laugh, love.” and 71% voted for the option, “what even is that.” 

As for Addison Rae, I have seen many great outfits on her, but i personally feel the Grammys is worth more than a plain white slip on dress with some bracelets.  

Rae and Hailey Baldwin Bieber must have been planning together because I have the same opinion for her outfit.  

Justin Bieber took the “Billie Eilish” style this year with a suit way too big for him. 

Justin wore a pink beanie, which did not fit the oversized outfit at all, and Hailey looked to be in a bedsheet, which is disappointing because Hailey is seen creating many cool fashion trends. I guess she is just better with streetwear.  

People on Twitter ripped Justin Bieber’s outfits to shreds. 

“Also my look at 5 years-old when I dressed like “a business man,”” George Reinblatt took to Twitter. 

Someone else wrote he gave the vibes of a 13 year old boy wearing a suit to impress grandma. 

@TrinaHe13785113 wrote on Twitter, “Horrible. You gotta be kidding me.” 

Many made Shaq jokes and brought up how the beanie “had to go.” 

My favorite comment was, “It’s giving, ‘I’m dressed. Alright?’” 

That is all I have to say about this year’s Grammys. The outfits were more entertaining than the show this year.

 

My best and worst outfits of the night. In order: Top: Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X and SZA. Bottom: Justin and Hailey Bieber, Tayla Parx and Addison Rae| Sarah Shelton

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Latest from Blog