Grammy Awards are obviously trying to regain power and prestige. They should expand to more artists outside the mainstream and adhere less to antiquated genre restraints.
The Grammys suck. Constant snubs, head-scratching wins, we’ve come to accept it at this point. Maybe the Grammys are beginning to notice it too. Since 2020, the Recording Academy has made efforts to improve itself. The disgraced former President Neil Portnow stepped down in 2019 following distasteful comments about female musicians.
The academy announced a slew of changes to reflect “its ongoing commitment to evolve with the musical landscape.” Among them, best urban contemporary album was renamed best progressive R&B album; Latin pop album was renamed best Latin pop or urban album; and Latin rock, urban or alternative album was renamed best Latin rock or alternative album to better represent Latin urban genres.
Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, is committed to making even more changes to improve the Grammys.
The 67th annual Grammy Awards are Sunday night. Though I’m not in charge of the show nor am I a member of the Recording Academy, my love-hate relationship with the Grammys gives me a few ideas on how they can be less bad.
Ditch the status quo
The Grammys constantly posture themselves as the arbiter of quality music, at least in the mainstream, but time and time again they’ve proved to be a pedestrian affair committed only to upholding the status quo. It’s clear that, like the rest of the music industry, the academy is having a hard time navigating the streaming era and the digital age. As they exist now, the Grammys are so obviously trying to hold on to their former power and prestige.
To regain some of that today, the Grammys should expand their reach to artists outside the mainstream. They should also adhere less to antiquated genre restraints that no longer reflect how genre-bending and uncategorizable today’s music is.
Diversify the Recording Academy
The membership body of the Recording Academy has notoriously been a white boys’ club. The academy has taken steps to diversify its membership by increasing its women voting members by 27% and voters of color by 65% since 2019, according to the 2024 Membership Report.
Even so, the Recording Academy is majority white and male, and the ramifications of that are shown in the artists they award and, more important, don’t award.
A Black woman hasn’t won album of the year, the top prize, since Lauryn Hill’s win in 1999 for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Genre categories are still segregated by race, with many Black artists being excluded from pop categories. Female rock artist, who have been long sidelined, are just now starting to get their due.
Diversifying the voting body of the Recording Academy could see major, positive shifts in the types of artists who get recognized. Even outside of race and gender, increased age diversity could help the Grammys to better reflect what the #youngins are into these days.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys (again)
Trevor Noah ‒ and I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this ‒ it might be time to hang up your hosting gig of the Grammys. I’ve got nothing against you: You seem like a sweet guy. I just don’t find you funny, or entertaining. Certainly a lot of other people do! I’m just not one of them.
To me, the Grammys seem to struggle with what kind of host the show requires. They struck gold in the 2012-16 shows with LL Cool J, whose suave demeanor kept the show running smoothly. But since then the hosts haven’t hit the same. There were those weird years James Corden hosted, and every time I had to fight for my life to sit through that. Then Alicia Keys hosted ‒ you probably forgot about that, right?
For hosting inspiration, the Grammys should look to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s hosting stint at the Golden Globes. The Grammys could benefit from two actually funny people in the music industry riffing off each other.
Or, they could go hostless like the Oscars did a few years ago, which would create opportunities for fun interactions among musicians. Or, they could find a host whose charisma and charm make the show actually enjoyable, someone who’s funny but isn’t forcing jokes down your throat … someone like … perhaps … LL Cool J (bring back LL Cool J)!
Make the Grammys accessible and shorter please God
If you live in the 21st century and don’t have cable (aka normal people) the Grammys, and pretty much every other award show, is near impossible to watch. Why do I need to have Paramount Plus Showtime Live TV package with YouTube TV Premium Red Pro Max++++ just to watch a show that’s going to be on a completely different streaming service next year? Dumb! Somebody somewhere has to figure this out!
And why is the ceremony so long? I swear it’s like three hours and there’s a commercial break every five minutes. To make matters worse, a lot of the awards aren’t even presented during the televised show; they’re given out in a pre-show that no one watches.
Bring back interesting collaborative performances
One of my first Grammy memories was watching Tina Turner and Beyoncé perform together in 2008. I was in awe of how two icons across generations could come together and give such a show-stopping performance.
The Grammys used to be filled with performances like this, two artists from different times and genres coming together and bridging their respective, creative gaps live on stage: Beyoncé and Prince, Madonna and De La Soul, Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks, Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar (surprisingly amazing).
It seems like now everyone wants to perform solo, which isn’t a bad thing. I just miss seeing an unlikely pairing create magic on stage together.
Kofi Mframa is a columnist and digital producer for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network. He’s sharpening his pitchfork in the event Beyoncé loses album of the year.
