With the Grammys right around the corner, we are all anxious to see what artists will walk away victorious and who will end up with squat. With tons of category controversy this year I believe the winners will be a surprise for all. With top artists like Cardi B, Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Drake flooding the categories, will it be a wash for the underdogs?

A little history for those of you that live under a rock and haven’t heard of the Grammys. The awards made their first television debut back in 1959, but it wasn’t until 1971 that they had their first live on-air show. The Grammys were late to the game following the Emmys who had been in around for almost ten years and the Oscars, for thirty years!

With artists like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Carole King, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Simon, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles ( I could go on forever, but I won’t do that to you) gracing the stage, no wonder why the Grammys are considered the most prestigious award ceremony in the music industry. That being said, the Grammys still have their fair share of speculators and negative criticism.

From the beginning, it has been said that the conservative voting of the Grammy’s has caused the group to be very biased in allowing new categories and genres into the awards. It wasn’t until almost the 1970’s that the Rock and Roll category was even implemented into the show. Because of this some of the best recordings have failed to win a Grammy in the first forty years of Grammy history. Fast forward to this year and it still feels like the Grammys are in some kind of identity crisis but they’re working on it. The “General Categories” which are the bread and butter of the awards consists of 4 categories; Record, Song, Album of the year and Best new artist each with 5 nominations. This year however the Grammy’s made a major change and are allowing for 8 nominations instead of their normal 5. This is huge because it will allow more opportunities for a wider spectrum of recognition to artists that aren’t necessarily “On Top”. This has been the biggest change since gender categories were eliminated making every major category this year at least 50% female.

Fast-forward to 2018, the nominations have been announced, the date is set and the Audible Reality team has come together to make their predictions for this year’s Grammy Award’s. After looking over their results for the General Categories, it’s safe to say that Cardi B is reigning top dog in Record and Album of the Year. While Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper hold strong with half the votes for Best New Artist and Song of the Year. However, for the “Best of” categories, each team member seemed to pick a different artist resulting in a much more widespread vote. I am personally loving all the contrasting votes submitted by our team because it means voting won’t be just a wash of “Top Artists”.

The Grammys are trying to keep up with the ever-changing music industry by slowly making their transition into the future. It wasn’t too long ago that the Grammys weren’t even showing the Rap and Hip Hop noms on live TV. Now in 2018, rap and hip hop artists came to win, holding the most nominations in the genre. In the last year, the academy invited more than 800 new members who were either female, people of color, or under the age of 40 to become voting members. This year the nominations for the first time in history are not male-dominated and reflect a huge increase in female artists (about 50%). Don’t get me wrong I think the Grammys have a lot of work to do if they want to keep helping push music culture forward, but they are on the right track with their changes in the last year. With 29 million viewers watching the awards it’s safe to say the Grammys will make an impact, so get on board take our polls and let us know who you think will dominate at this year’s Grammy Awards Show.

KDirk

Kristina aka Dirk is our public relations manager that keeps you up to date with everything industry news and music related. Feel free to reach out to her through email if you would like to learn more about our platform or are interested in creating content through various marketing opportunities.

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