Opinion: What to make of award shows
When I sat down to type my review of Billie Eilish’s debut album “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” two semesters ago, I had no idea I was writing on what would later be declared “Album of the Year” by the Recording Academy.
Eilish took home five Grammys for her 2019 music: ”Record of the Year,” “Song of the Year,” “Album of the Year,” “Best Pop Vocal Album” and “Best New Artist.”
Eilish’s older brother Finneas O’Connell won two Grammys for his involvement in producing “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” for the “Producer of the Year, Non-Classical” and “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” categories.
Eilish makes good music to be sure. I don’t know if I approve of such an extreme sweep of the Grammys, but she definitely deserved recognition for the quality of music she released.
I think it is all too easy to forget the Grammys aren’t nominated or awarded based on any kind of objective criteria — all the decision-making is done by members of the Recording Academy, who have opinions just like you or I.
I’m consistently disappointed by the nominations of award shows like the Grammys or the Oscars. This is because there’s plenty of art that goes unrecognized by the experts of a given medium.
Most of us can understand the feeling of being scorned when an album you adore never gets nominated for a Grammy, or when your favorite movie may as well not exist in the eyes of Academy Awards voters.
For this awards season, I think we should all keep in mind that Grammys, Oscars and other trophies handed out to artists are not indicators of quality. For instance, I don’t think “Green Book” is anywhere close to being as good as “Moonlight,” but at the end of the day, both have the “Best Picture” award to their names.
It’s fine to have strong feelings about nominations and winners in award shows — if “Joker” sweeps at the Oscars, I don’t think I’ll be able to go on Twitter for a week.
No matter your investment in shows like the Grammys, do not let subjective judgments of what is “best” influence your own tastes — listen to things you enjoy and watch what you want to watch. Your relationship with media will be far healthier than if you only focused on award-winning art.
I suppose this is my way of saying you shouldn’t feel any pressure to listen to “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” even if it is at least a pretty good album, and at most is the best of the year.
