Ali Fernand- Editor-in-Chief
The 2024 Grammys gave awards to what the Academy deemed the best music of last year. The artists with the biggest nominations were Billie Eilish, Victoria Monet, SZA, Taylor Swift, Boygenius, Jon Batiste, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey.
Taylor Swift did not deserve to win Album of the Year for “Midnights.” Though Swift’s cultural impact has been confusingly immense, this is one of her weakest projects. The production and vocals on this album felt lazy. There was nothing new or even exciting about this release.
If anything, Swift’s album is the weakest in that entire category. Creative artists like Janelle Monae, SZA and Jon Batiste do not deserve to be overlooked by a subpar generic pop release. The Academy continues to disappoint with their Album of the Year pick.
“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish is a great pick for Song of the Year. Though this was a song made exclusively for “Barbie,” it is stunning. Eilish has proven her talent since she was just a teenager. This song shows her talent as an artist and maturity as fans have seen her grow up.
The Song of the Year category did have a lot of other great picks. Other songs that are deserving of this award are “A&W” by Lana Del Rey, “Kill Bill” by SZA and “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo.
The winner of Record of the Year was “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus. This song was a massive hit and is a solid catchy pop song. There are a few songs that deserve the award more than this one, but overall, this song is a fun pick.
It is no surprise that music industry darling Jack Antonoff won Producer of the Year. Antonoff has been working with several highly praised artists like Lana Del Rey, Clairo, Taylor Swift and The 1975. He is an incredibly talented producer; however, he tends to be a bit overrated.
Metro Boomin would have been a good winner for this category for his work on the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack and his tons of hip hop hits. However, hip hop artists tend to not get as much appreciation from the Academy.
The Best Pop Duo Performance went to SZA and Phoebe Bridgers for “Ghost in the Machine” on SZA’s latest album. This was a surprise collaboration for all fans but showed a beautiful blend of these two artists’ styles. SZA’s album “SOS” also won Best Progressive R&B Album, which is a rightful win for such a talented artist.
Bridgers has also won awards for her supergroup “Boygenius.” This group, containing Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, won both the Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Music Album. “Not Strong Enough” was a stellar song from this group, and “The Record” was a solid album.
Women continue to own the rock category as Paramore also won two awards. The band won both Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance. This was for their latest album “This Is Why” and the title track from that album. It is amazing to see Paramore finally get respect from the Academy, especially for an album that is quite experimental.
Overall, there were a lot of smaller awards that had great winners. It is great to see women dominate an awards show. However, it would be great to see a good album win Album of the Year one day.
