A Recap of the 2022 Grammys

I hope if you’re here, you’re mad. Because I sure am. If you watched the Grammys this year, I’m sorry, and if you haven’t, I’m here to fill you in and enrage you. I know the Grammys have had a reputation recently for being quite unfair, or even random at times. Last year’s Grammys seemed to do really well, and everyone who won their award seemed deserving of it and worked hard. This year, this is not the case. Let me bring you through some notable wins (and losses) that I think deserve attention. As always on these review articles, if you have a different opinion, keep it to yourself, because this is my article, thank you. 

Let’s begin where the night started; with Song Of The Year. The nominees for this award were Driver’s License – Olivia Rodrigo, Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish, Leave The Door Open – Silk Sonic, and – never mind, those are the important ones. Now I consider myself to have a diverse music taste, though I do still listen to mainstream music. When Silk Sonic won the Grammy for Song Of The Year, I knew that it was going to be an awful night. While the song had a lot of commercial success and is widely known, I feel that Driver’s License had more of an impact overall, and Happier Than Ever was superior in lyrics to both of them. Needless to say, I’m pissed. Let’s move on.

I believe the next award was Best New Artist which rightfully went to Olivia Rodrigo. The only other person I could see winning this award (if Olivia Rodrigo wasn’t nominated of course) would be The Kid LAROI, because the other nominees simply didn’t have their names known enough. I had only heard of 3 of the nominees including Olivia Rodrigo and The Kid LAROI. 

The next category I want to focus on is Best Pop Vocal. I could have seen this award going between Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo because they both have incredible voices, especially for 2 artists who are so young and have so much room to grow. I’m happy with the fact that Olivia Rodrigo won, because she was able to show off her voice in SOUR more than Billie Eilish was in Happier Than Ever. I should mention now that I strongly felt that Olivia Rodrigo was going to sweep the big 4 categories (Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year). 

An award that came as a shock to nobody was Best Pop Duo/Group performance. Before the award was even announced, we all knew Kiss Me More by Doja Cat and SZA was taking this one without a doubt. It was well deserved, but I want to talk about Doja Cat’s response. First of all, SZA walked up by herself because Doja Cat was in the bathroom. She was really funny because she was running from the bathroom to accept the award and after she had made her jokes, it was actually really sweet. Doja Cat was crying and saying that she downplays a lot of things but winning an award like this is a big deal because she worked so hard to produce good music. 

I don’t have much of an opinion on the next award (shocker), but I want to talk about Best Rap and Best R&B. These categories had less nominees than other categories did, and I think this is because the Grammys have gotten so exclusive in past years, and they don’t need to be. While it is a prestigious award ceremony, the host had put a lot of emphasis on having a relaxing night filled with music, but then neglected so many great artists and albums from these two categories (and even some country categories). Anyway I’m definitely not mad about Kendrick Lamar winning Best Rap. 

I mentioned it in the last category, now let’s talk about it. Chris Stapleton without a doubt deserved the Best Country award. His album blew up all over the country world and it feels like down to earth country, the way country should be. A lot of artists have moved away from that classic country sound in recent years (notably Kacey Musgraves) and its very refreshing to have someone that is true to real country music still making music. 

Before I get really angry, I want to give an honorable mention to an award that wasn’t aired: Best Producer. This award went to Jack Antanoff, who is my favorite producer because he works with Taylor Swift and Lorde, who I love and listen to all the time. Reputation and Melodrama are in my top favorite albums and they were produced by Jack Antanoff, so I will always be rooting for him. I also think the production on Lana Del Ray’s 2017 album (produced by Jack Antanoff) Norman F*****g Rockwell! is incredible, but I just don’t love Lana’s kind of music. 

Now let’s get mad. I was very upset that Miley Cyrus and Machine Gun Kelly were not nominated in any rock category, because I really liked their genre switches into rock music. Plastic Hearts is another one of my top favorite albums and Tickets To My Downfall was a huge success for MGK, so I don’t see why they didn’t receive nominations. 

Now for the part that boils my blood. Record Of The Year is a highly anticipated award and had a lot of great nominees, most of which were similar to the Song Of The Year nominees. BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE SILK SONIC WON AGAIN FOR LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN. Absolute baffoonary. Happier Than Ever and Driver’s License were way more deserving than Leave The Door Open; the song is overplayed and there’s nothing special about it. 

I’m not afraid to say that, after this award, I turned my TV off and made food because this was just a disgrace. The Album Of The Year nominees were really strong albums; Evermore – Taylor Swift, SOUR – Olivia Rodrigo, Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish, Planet Her – Doja Cat, Justice – Justin Bieber, Montero – Lil Nas X. Out of those masterpieces, can you guess which one won? NONE. Jon Batiste won for We Are. If you’re like me and didn’t know who he was until this award, I’ve made my point. The Grammys have a reputation for not being so nice to female rappers or Justin Bieber as a person so I wasn’t entirely expecting Planet Her or Justice to win but this is just disgusting. I’m anticipating new music from Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, and Meghan Thee Stallion so… better luck next year? I’m not really sure how to conclude this because I’m so angry.