The Grammys Were Good, Actually

Well, I’m finally doing it. For months—years?—now I’ve been threatening to start a newsletter. I’ve made lists of topics in the Notes app, signed up for competing newsletter platforms as one or the other started associating with Nazis, and at one point even wrote a 1,300-word essay on Taylor Swift that will never see the light of day because I don’t like it when strangers @ me on social media. 

But this week, the Grammys have finally galvanized me, and for the first time in years of watching this godforsaken awards show, I’m actually happy with what transpired. We’ll start with the biggest award of the night: Beyoncé finally got her Album of the Year. Obviously, this delights me as a Beyhive member who’s spent a decade-plus stewing over the many robberies committed on that stage, but I’m also pleased as a pop music overthinker who still believes the Grammys do matter, at least a little bit. 

Up until the moment those firefighters read it out, I really did not think she was going to win. Not because she didn't deserve it, but because I didn’t believe that Grammy voters would finally recognize her unparalleled commitment to the album as a form. But they did! And they did it in the Best Country Album category too, again to my surprise! I don’t know if this is the result of the Recording Academy’s efforts to diversify their voting base paying off or it’s just a fluke, but either way, no complaints. (I think they got all of the “Big Four” right this year, can you believe!) 

Now about the Grammys mattering—haters love to say they’re irrelevant and outdated, that awards shows are pointless and so on. I understand why people say that, but a lot of people who say that love music, and the average person does not love music. A true music lover does not care if their favorite artist wins a Grammy, just like a film buff does not care whether whatever weird art house movie they love wins an Oscar. But those awards do have real financial consequences for musicians, in that they often boost sales (or in the case of movies, box office), and they are still the quickest shorthand to indicating that something is respected and beloved outside of chart performance (which I would argue actually is an outdated measure of success, but that’s a different unsolicited TED Talk). And for people who don’t love music, a Grammy is a sign that something is worth their time, the same way Poor Things winning all those Oscars led my dad to ask me if he should watch it. (He shouldn’t.) 

What I mean when I say that the average person does not love music is that the average person does not consume music with real intent. They like it, they put it on in the background, but it is not a matter of life or death if Lana Del Rey never releases Lasso. This is something I’ve been thinking about since Spotify Wrapped went out at the end of last year. One thing that continually surprised me is how small the numbers were that made people a so-called top fan. For example, Spotify told me I listened to Charli XCX for 1,069 minutes last year, putting me in the top 1 percent of her fans. I will grant that’s still a lot of time with Charli—it’s about 26 full listens to Brat, which is where most of my Charli listens came from in 2024—but doesn’t it seem kind of small to qualify for the top 1 percent globally? It’s not even a full day of listening! 

I saw this all over the place as people shared their Wrapped stats on social media, and while I know Spotify is not the only way we listen to music, the whole thing was an interesting reminder for me that a lot of people (including those I know IRL) are not listening to as much music as you might think. And this is one reason why I think the Grammys still matter—what other platform is there with as much reach, especially when algorithms can box you in so deeply? Take Doechii: In my mind she’s enormously famous, but I know people who I consider plugged-in with good taste who hadn’t even heard of her until a few weeks ago. Maybe I’m naive to think that her stellar Grammys performance and Best Rap Album win can cut through the noise and make her more famous, but I have to believe that it will. What else is left that has this kind of reach? 

But back to Beyoncé for a minute. She, of course, has reached maximum fame, so I don’t think a Grammy win really boosts her sales or helps her reach a new audience in the way that Chappell Roan’s win introduces her to my parents. It is still a remarkable achievement that she 1) became only the fourth Black woman in history to win the Grammys’ highest honor and 2) became the first Black woman ever to win Best Country Album. 

And while I’ve been waiting on that Album of the Year win like I made Cowboy Carter myself, the Best Country Album victory is the one that’s really sticking with me. I obviously don’t know what Grammy voters were thinking when they checked the box for her in that category, but to my mind, the Best Country Album win is the more impressive feat here. Outside of the six General Field categories, Grammy voters don’t get to vote for everything—they’re supposed to stay within the fields where they’re a peer. According to the rules, they can choose up to 10 categories across three fields (i.e. genres), which in theory means that the only people who vote for Best Country Album are people actually affiliated with the country industry. So in theory, it was country producers and writers and singers and engineers who crowned Beyoncé the winner of Best Country Album. 

More than anything, this is a hopeful sign to me that country music is finally, maybe, please God, I’m begging you, ready to accept some change, ready to shower love on something that pushes the boundaries of what people think of as country music. Beyoncé’s not the only trailblazer in this regard—see also Shaboozey, who was robbed of Best Country Solo Performance—but she’s certainly the most famous one. And yes, I know Cowboy Carter was snubbed at the CMAs, but that’s the CMAs. This is the Grammys. This is the only one that matters. 

On Repeat:

“Sugar in the Tank” by Julien Baker and Torres 

If they don’t add an NYC date to their joint tour then I guess there’s nothing for it but flying to Nebraska.

My Clippings:

I spoke to the great Sharon Van Etten about her new album, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, for my day job. You might find it hard to believe that Nine Inch Nails inspired the sound of a Sharon Van Etten record, but you really can hear it, especially on “Southern Life.”

Thanks for reading my first newsletter! It turns out the hardest part was not writing it but building the thing (shades of coding my Livejournal circa 2002), so please forgive me for picking out a stupid boom box logo just to get this thing out there. I reserve the right to change my fonts, color scheme, and everything else in the coming weeks. Alexa, play “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore!