The Grammys are one of the most important events in music; they are one of the most coveted awards in the music industry. But lately their credibility has taken a bit of a hit. This award show is what captures the greatest artists of this generation, but the fact that they’re placing albums in the wrong category is heartbreaking for the fans and the artists.
The Grammys seem to be the ones in charge of judging the genre of musical projects, but as of late they’ve been terrible at conducting this properly. Once judged, they then decide which category to place the work of art in. The immediate uproar with IGOR came after fans of the artist realized his album was placed in the wrong category.
“They choose who takes home a Grammy by the category that the artist and their craft is placed in,” said MLEC junior Mayerli Zepeda. “I’m a big fan of Tyler, the Creator and I would’ve rather seen him be a nominee for album of the year because his album wasn’t just rap, it was pop.”
Tyler is mostly known for rap, but this album was out of the box and had many different elements that went with it. It’s a rich and messy mélange of R&B, funk, and rap— not just rap.
And this is where the Grammys made a mistake.
Fans of the Grammys have noticed that they tend to misplace musical work all the time. The disappointing part is when an album is misplaced in the wrong category and the albums meant to be in the category might not actually win because of it. They’ve not only done this with Tyler, but they have placed Lizzo and her music in the wrong category as well, and it’s getting annoying.
“I’m a fan of 21 Savage,” said MLEC senior Jalen Forbes. “His rap album got nominated and I’m really proud and happy for him. He might not win though because IGOR was placed in that category too and it may lower his chances of winning.”
IGOR by many is seen as one of Tyler’s best albums to date. This could be the reason many rap fans were scared that their favorite rap albums wouldn’t stand a chance next to it.
And they were right.
IGOR took home the Grammy, as predicted, and although it’s well deserved, it’s a bitter-sweet moment for fans of Tyler and supporters of the other nominees.
Even Tyler himself was conflicted over his first Grammy win.
“It sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything they always put it in a rap or urban category,” said Tyler backstage at the 2020 Grammys.
IGOR is a really good album with a really bad representation of its genre — and the Grammys must find a way to fix that for future cases.
