Do The Right Thing
THE WELL-RECEIVED 2019 GRAMMY AWARDS OFFER
THE RECORDING ACADEMY A FEW LESSONS ON HOW
TO STAY RELEVANT — AND MAKE GREAT LIVE TV
THE NEW MATH’S AFTERMATH
Last year’s expansion of the Big Four categories (and academy
membership) was a major step toward increased inclusivity —
but to plenty in the industry, there’s still a ways to go
A
T THIS TIME LAST
year, The Recording
Academy made
one of its most
sweeping changes
since the Grammys
launched in 1959,
expanding the number of
nominations in the Big Four
categories — record, song
and album of the year plus
best new artist — from five
to eight. Then, that October,
its Task Force on Diversity
and Inclusion invited 900
new voting members with an
emphasis on women, people
of color and people under
age 39. Both changes took
effect at last February’s 61st
annual ceremony.
Nearly a year later, indus-
try opinion is mixed as to
whether these changes are
fostering the kind of diver-
sity and inclusiveness they
set out to achieve — both
among nominees and in the
academy’s membership.
One voting producer with
credits in both R&B/hip-hop
and pop acknowledges he
was “cautiously optimistic”
but allows that last year’s
album of the year field was
in fact “more diverse,” with
Cardi B, H.E.R. and Post
Malone alongside Janelle
Monáe, Drake, Brandi Carl-
ile, Kendrick Lamar and his
Black Panther: The Album
crew, and Kacey Musgraves
(who won). “I thought
initially that expanding the
nominations was too much
of a reach,” one major-la-
bel senior vp of promotion
reflects now. “But half of
the artists on there wouldn’t
have gotten that nod
without the expansion. The
category would have stayed
100% white and pop.”
Bill Freimuth, the Gram-
mys’ chief awards officer,
says the academy received
significant positive feedback
“specifically from our voting
members” about the expan-
sion. Still, some concerns
persist. With more nominee
slots available, vote-splitting
could still end up excluding
artists in less represented
genres. And despite last
year’s early advances, some
industry observers say
substantive change will take
time. “You still have a pre-
dominant membership body
that will vote in alignment
with how votes have skewed
over the past 20 years,” says
the producer.
More well-intended
change is afoot: In June,
the academy announced it
was extending 1,340 more
invitations to creators and
business professionals, part
of a new peer-recommended
membership model intro-
duced last October with the
aforementioned 900 invites.
But voters hope the academy
will soon take more aggres-
sive steps toward reflecting
the industry’s current realities
— like expanding nomination
slots within genre categories,
redefining some categories
altogether and addressing the
fading importance of albums.
“With the industry becom-
ing more global, genre-blend-
ing is something that has
to be addressed,” says one
senior major-label executive.
“And there should be more
track categories within the
genre fields to support the
increased collaborations that
are happening.” Dre London,
Post Malone’s manager, notes
that one of his client’s new
tracks, “Take What You Want,”
features Ozzy Osbourne and
Travis Scott: “How do you put
that into a bracket? You can’t
have the same old categories,
because music is so much
broader now.”
According to Freimuth,
discussions about addi-
tional changes have not
yet occurred, “nor have any
proposals been put forward.”
To the label, management,
promotion and creative lead-
ers interviewed for this story,
the changes already in effect
are a positive start but just
one element of a necessar-
ily ongoing evolution. “This
go-round will be a telltale
sign if it’s working,” says the
promotion senior vp. “But I
don’t think the Grammys have
identified the overall issues. It
can’t keep putting on Band-
Aids.” —GAIL MITCHELL
NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO,
the Grammy Awards faced
heavy criticism in the wake
of then-Recording Academy
president Neil Portnow’s
comment about how female
creators needed to “step
up” to be recognized. What
a difference a year makes:
The 2019 Grammys, while
still imperfect (and flat in
ratings), were both more in-
clusive and more vital — and
could well serve as a blue-
print for an even better-re-
ceived 2020 ceremony.
GET THE GAMEST
HOST AROUND
After multiyear hosting
stints from LL Cool J and
James Corden, Alicia Keys
brought a freshness to the
festivities that should be
replicated by her successor
(or by Keys herself). With an
inviting stage presence, Keys
kept the energy high during
the 2019 ceremony, but her
piano medley of songs she
wished she had written —
from Drake’s “In My Feelings”
to Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop
(That Thing)” — became a
high point.
TOAST THE CRITICAL
DARLING
Although other 2019 album
of the year nominees had
bigger sales numbers, juicier
narratives or more ubiquitous
singles, Kacey Musgraves’
Golden Hour was the most
universally lauded, and its win
represented the rare occasion
when critical consensus re-
sults in Grammy gold. Giving
the top prize to the most
widely acclaimed project,
regardless of commercial
credentials, would strengthen
the academy’s reputation
as an institution that makes
artistry its top priority.
HIGHLIGHT HIP-HOP
The top genre by consump-
tion for three years running,
hip-hop scored long-overdue
victories at the 2019 ceremo-
ny when Childish Gambino’s
“This Is America” won both
record of the year and song
of the year — a first for a
rap song, in both categories.
There’s still plenty of room
for improvement in 2020:
Out of the 18 performances
during the 2019 show, only
one featured an unaccom-
panied rapper, Cardi B.
Meanwhile, there hasn’t
been a hip-hop album of the
year winner since OutKast
in 2004.
EMBRACE ESPAÑOL
The 2019 Grammys opened
with an ebullient Latin pop
mashup featuring J Balvin,
Camila Cabello and Ricky
Martin — a wise nod to the
influx of Spanish-language
hits on U.S. top 40 radio. This
year, Latin superstars like Ro-
salía, Bad Bunny and Ozuna
could grace the Grammys
stage. But why not go even
further, recognizing mo-
mentous shifts in the worlds
of K-pop (BTS, Blackpink)
and Afro-fusion (Burna Boy,
WizKid)? —JASON LIPSHUTZ
P
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Keys
Gambino
Musgraves
142 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 ILLUSTRATION BY SUSAN BURGHART