The Recording Academy has released nominations for the 2024 Grammys, which will air from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles in February. A bevy of celebrated artists, from Taylor Swift to Ice Spice were recognized by what many consider to be the premier award in the global music industry.
But are people still watching the Grammys?
The latest Grammys ceremony on TV pulled in just over 12 million viewers. This was an increase over the previous two editions, but it still stands as the third-least watched Grammys of all time. This begs the question: do the Grammys really matter?
Ayanda Fuzane: “Well, I think culturally a lot of these award shows are starting to be questioned by society in general.”
Ayanda Fuzane, a vocal arts and opera student at U-S-C says.. no.. fewer people put stock in the Grammys
Fuzane: “Because there there are rigging systems and they’re like inequitable and like, yeah, there aren’t completely honest ways of measuring people’s talent.”
Viewership for awards shows -- in general --- have steadily declined over the past decade... as younger viewers shift away from network tv in favor of streaming. In recent years, artist and fans have called the Grammys relevancy and importance into question.. especially amid controversies surrounding the nomination process and a perceived lack of transparency from the Grammy committee.
Journalism major Amanda Murphy thinks poor presentation is responsible for declining viewership.
Amanda Murphy: “So I usually, I start watching the Grammys, but it since it’s such a long, um, I guess, celebration of artists, I kind of end up like, doing something else because like, a three hour long, um, event. And so I end up just turning it off and looking at who won Grammys after.”
Music composition major Luc Eldridge thinks the awards are less about talent, and more about who’s trending...
Luc Eldridge: “I feel like the Grammys kind of overlook good music now, especially in that drama and just kind of try to put out what’s popular, nominate what’s popular.”
Those students watch the Grammys. Psychology major Dafne Carbajal doesn’t....
Dafne Carbajal: “I don’t think I keep up enough with, like social media pop culture enough to, like, really be interested or impacted by it. Um, the only, like, news I’ve ever heard was like Will Smith and like, that whole slapping incident. But other than that, it’s not something that I necessarily keep up with. I don’t think most of my friends either.”
Tthe 66th edition of Grammys this February will look to capture the hearts of younger viewers before it’s too late.
For Annenberg Media.. I’m Dominic Varela...