The 2024 Grammy Awards: A night to remember

By Shanna Sivakumar

Music’s biggest night was on February 4th this year, leaving everyone in a mix of emotions— upset, overjoyed, outraged, or maybe just nonplussed (for those who couldn’t care less). But this year’s Grammy awards most definitely gave the people something(s) to talk about.

Some highlights for this year’s awards involve Miley Cyrus and Coco Jones both winning their first Grammys, Victoria Monet receiving three awards for her album “Jaguar II” after almost 20 years in the music industry, and Phoebe Brigders walking away with the most wins of the night (4 awards!).

But with every award season comes the age-old question: how political should an award show be? 2024 is no different, and the Grammys made sure to weigh in with their politics.

Of course, we have to address the elephant in the room: Album of the Year. This award is one of the biggest honors of the night, and every year, it results in arguments and dissatisfaction. This year, the winner, “Midnights” by Taylor Swift, came as a shock to many—including fans of Swift themselves. Because while the album did well—it charted high, sold records, and played in department stores across the nation—it was nominated against SZA’s “SOS,” an album that everyone expected to sweep the award. “SOS” is easily one of SZA’s best works, combining her gift for lyricism with her smooth vocals and defined beats. The album was a hit for most, if not all, of 2023. So how did Midnights win over an album like that? Additionally, once the award was announced, I couldn’t help but remember last year’s Grammy Awards, where “Harry’s House” won Album of the Year over Beyonce’s “RENAISSANCE.” That decision dealt a hard blow to many, because of the significance of “RENAISSANCE” and the quality of the music itself.

Perhaps it’s time to name it for what it is: racism. The last Black woman to win Album of the Year was Lauryn Hill for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1999. That’s now 25 years ago and also the last century, which is something to be said. And I understand, music is subjective. All art and entertainment is subjective. But when the same thing happens 25 years in a row and it doesn’t make sense when looking and listening to these albums that are snubbed, it makes you wonder if maybe there’s something bigger (and maybe more sinister?) happening here.

Prior to Album of the Year being announced, however, was a Sinead O’Connor tribute performance by Scottish musician and philanthropist Annie Lennox. At the end of the tribute, she finished her performance with the words, “artists for ceasefire!” That in itself is a step forward from the (mostly) impartial, passive, or openly Zionist artists that were in the crowd. But in a social media post after the performance caused controversy, Lennox stated that her “stance is totally from a humanitarian standpoint.” So while she openly called for a ceasefire, she did not call for Palestinian liberation—a cause that Sinead O’ Connor herself supported for years. She even refused to perform in Israel in 2014 in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The backlash against Annie Lennox simply supporting a ceasefire is a much different response when compared to the 2022 Grammy Awards, where President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a moving speech about the situation in Ukraine and urged the audience to support Ukrainians as they continue to fight against the threat of occupation. He was met with unanimous support, so why was Lennox met with controversy? These events are a stark reminder of where an institution like the Grammys will voice their support, and where they will refuse to give it.