“All I know is if the Grammys want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us…”
–Kanye
Beck beat Beyoncé – and it seemed as though Kanye was going to storm the stage à la Taylor Swift. Instead, he spun it into one of the best memes of the year (thus far). It was later though, while he was taking to E! that he dropped a great nugget. Sure, crazy old Kanye was ranting again, but look past that.
Kanye is right, we have to fight for art and creativity. The issue that the average (media) consumer may have is that comparing Beyoncé and Beck is difficult, as they’re different genres, demographic (and so on). But face it, award shows do have a tendency to shit on creativity and award (often) mediocracy; however, I’m not saying Beck was mediocre at all. The choice of winner has often proven to not be based on album sales alone, which leaves the final decisions in the hands of a shadowy jury who choose songs based on, well… [should shrug].
Kanye’s rant during the Taylor Swift award was shaky – Single Ladies was cool, but greatest of all-time? Let’s just say that was the Hennessy talking. But this time around his rant checks out. Beyoncé’s was so incredibly ambitious, large in scale and visually/creatively amazing. It was the fastest selling album in I-Tunes history, and has sold well over 5 million copies. How did it not win?
At some point award shows and awarding bodies need to stop making choices motivated by, well, I’m not exactly sure. Money? I mean even Eminem (no disrespect) probably didn’t deserve to win an award with that lifeless reboot of The Marshall Mathers LP.
To play devil’s advocate, creativity can be subjective – but it’s hard to ignore that creativity is rarely awarded. At some point real artists will stop caring. When the biggest platforms, which arguably influence sales and trends, stop giving a shit, how long before artists start to do the same? As Kanye stated, “If the Grammys want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us…”
