Grammy’s accused of overlooking hip hop and women

World Today

Bruno MarsBruno Mars poses in the press room with his awards for best R&B album, record of the year, album of the year, best engineered album, non-classical, for “24K Magic,” and song of the year, best R&B performance and best R&B song, for “That’s What I Like” at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

The Grammy’s celebrated their 60th anniversary in New York City on Sunday evening. The music’s industry’s biggest night was applauded for recognizing more diverse artists with its nominations but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any upsets when it comes to the winners.

CGTN’s Karina Huber has more.

Bruno Mars swept the Grammys this year with his album “24K Magic”– picking up all six awards for which he was nominated.

“Thank you to the fans. Thank you to my band watching. You guys, I love you with all my heart. And this is for the fans, thank you guys,” said Mars when accepting one of his awards.

Jay-Z came in with the most nominations – eight of them – but left empty-handed – surprising many.

Kendrick Lamar, who won best rap album for “Damn”, was widely expected to win in one of the top categories of record, album or song of the year but they all went to Mars.

“I think what happened is Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar split the hip-hop vote and Bruno Mars just kind of waltzed right in,” Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor at Rolling Stone Magazine, said.

Another upset – the snubbing of “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. It was by many accounts the biggest song of 2017.

Vulture, an entertainment blog, tweeted: “If Despacito isn’t good enough for a Grammy, then no Spanish-language song will ever be good enough for a Grammy.”

In a nod to the #MeToo movement, Kesha gave a moving performance of “Praying” – a song referencing her alleged abuse at the hands of a producer.

Women’s rights were a theme throughout the night but only one woman – Alessia Cara – took home a major award – best new artist.

The Grammy’s have long been accused of being too white and too male but Grammy winner DeCurtis says things are changing.

“The Grammies are working hard. I mean I have to say they’re trying to fix this but it’s not something that gets fixed overnight,” DeCurtis said.

Grammy President Neil Portnow, responding to the “too male” accusations, said more women need to step up and become a part of the industry. He said the industry also has to make the welcome mat very obvious to help make the playing field more equitable.