The 2018 Grammy Awards has been met with pretty tepid reception, with some naysayers calling it a hypocritical show because its support for the Time's Up movement doesn't line up with the fact that it handed out most of the trophies to men — Alessia Cara, named Best New Artist, was the only female to receive one of the major awards of the night.
Recording Academy president Neil Portnow spoke out shortly after the backlash, arguing that women have to step up.
"It has to begin with ... women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level...[They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome," Portnow told Variety.
P!nk, who attended the ceremony, simply isn't having it. On Twitter, she has posted a written note that directly addresses Portnow's comments, arguing that women don't need to step up.
"Women in music don't need to step up — women have been stepping up since the beginning of time," her note read.
"Women owned music this year. They've been killing it. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women step up every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair."
P!nk was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance for her single "What About Us," along with Kelly Clarkson for "Love So Soft," Lady Gaga for "Million Reasons," Kesha for "Praying," and Ed Sheeran for "Shape of You." Sheeran, who did not attend, nabbed the award. Twitter was furious — a lot of backlash came after "Praying," a powerful anthem of acceptance and forgiveness that sees Kesha deal with her sexual assault, lost to a song about what many claim to be an objectification of women. This was one of the many reasons why many thought the ceremony was lackluster. USA Today even called it an "out-of-touch embarrassment."
Ahead of the show, presenter Janelle Monaé tweeted a piece of statistic from a USC study, claiming that a total of 90.7 percent of nominees from 2013 to 2018 were male, meaning the measly 9.3 percent were women. "#TimesUp #Grammys," she tweeted. It looks even bleaker in songwriting, with 87.7 of the songwriting nominees being male, a figure which has barely changed since 2012.
The abundance of male nominees is evident in none other than the top categories, with Lorde the sole woman to be nominated for the Album of the Year award for her critically acclaimed sophomore effort Melodrama, included in our best albums of 2017 list.
Thoughts about the Grammys So Male controversy? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!
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