Here are some of the best female moments of the night
For so long, the Recording Academy has been branded with criticism about race and female artists. If you need a refresher, it is not so long ago that we got confirmation about these issues.
In 2018, #GrammySoMale trended on social media due to the lack of female artists nomineed to that night’s biggest awards. In that same year, former Recording Academy president, Niel Portnow, made a remark about the it saying, “women need to step up.”
“I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on the executive level to step up,” Portnow told Variety. “Because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s really a combination. Us as an industry making the welcome mat very obvious, creating mentorships, creating opportunities not only for women but all people who want to be creative and really paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists who feel like they can do anything, they can say anything.”
This statement earned him a lot of negative responses, most notably, from female artists such as rapper Charlie XCX, Canadian duo Tegan and Sara, and pop singer Pink.
“Women in music don’t need to ‘step up’—women have been stepping since the beginning of time,” Pink posted. “Stepping up, and also stepping aside. Women owned music this year. They’ve been killing it. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women step up every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it means to be fair.”
Fast forward to 2021, major awards are won by women with FilAm singer HER’s Song of the Year win and Taylor Taylor Swift’s Album of the Year award for “Folklore” to Billie Eilish snagging Record of the Year award two years in a row.
Billie even pulled off that Adele-Beyoncé moment in 2017 as she pays tribute to Best New Artist winner Megan Thee Stallion in her speech saying, “Megan, girl, I was going to write a speech about how you deserve this, but I was like ‘There's no way they’re going to choose me.’ You deserve this.”
History has been made as well with Beyoncé becoming the female artist with the most Grammy wins, 28 in total. Another is for Taylor as the first female singer to bring home the Album of the Year award three times.
The female nominees also brought life to stage with the performances by Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B, and the band Haim.
Perhaps the purpose of seeing the achievements of these women broadcasted and celebrated out loud can be summed up by the speech given by the night’s country music top winner Miranda Lambert.
“I feel like holding this right now, I’m holding it for all of us—especially us girls,” Miranda said. “I’m very thankful for this.”
Truly, the 63rd edition of the Grammy Awards is kind of a breath of fresh air. To see many women of different racial backgrounds get the honors they deserve is a sight to witness amid these scary times. In spite of all the political drama last year, the fear caused by the pandemic, and the continuous fight for equality, the Grammy is singing a different tune this time that surely brings a smile to everyone, no face mask can hide. And, hopefully, we get to see more of these moments in the future.