The Grammys: celebrating female talent
Caitlin Jeater reflects on the treatment of female artists in the world of film, TV and music
As 2023 came to an end, and as 2024 began, the many works of media were recognised at the iconic Hollywood award shows - from the Golden Globes and the Grammys to the Oscars. As these award shows unfold, so do the expected controversies that come with them - with both critics and the general public voicing their opinions about who should have won, or even who should have been nominated.
One of the most popular opinions during this award season was the fact that there was an undeniable lack of recognition of women in certain industries, most specifically, the film industry. There were only two female nominations for the film ‘Barbie’ – which had a very feminist influence on its storyline: depicting Barbie navigating her way through an innately patriarchal society. As the nominations for this film were announced, many negative opinions about the lack of female recognition came flooding in. One of the main criticisms was that the lack of female nominations only proved that the message of the film about patriarchal domination was somewhat true - and contradicted the change that could have been brought about by the recognition of said message.
As well as anger being sparked by the lack of female nominees for this film, an anger towards the Hollywood film industry was rapidly growing, following the sexist “jokes” made by the host of The Golden Globes - who referred to Barbie as just being a ‘plastic doll with big boobies’, further proving that suggestions that had been made by critics about the message of the movie being completely ignored was in fact, true.
Although it is important to recognise that progress still needs to be made about the treatment of women in Hollywood, it is equally important to also celebrate the amount of change that has and will continue to happen - which can be evidently seen through the celebration of female artists at the 2024 Grammy awards. Unlike the Oscars or Golden Globes, which celebrate film and TV, the Grammys are a celebration of music artists and the music that they produce. With the music industry being an equally hard place for women to gain success in as both the film and TV industry, the celebration of female artists at the Grammys was a positive reminder that change in regard to the treatment of women in the media is – albeit slowly – beginning to improve.
The Grammys award artists in many categories, ranging from ‘Album of the year’ to ‘Best rock performance’ with up to five artists being nominated in each category. This year, evidence of positive female regard was shown before the award ceremony took place, with many of the award categories being dominated by female nominees. An example of this would be the fact that every nomination for ‘Best solo pop performance’ was a woman, or that the majority of nominees for the award ‘Record of the year’ were women - with the female artist Miley Cyrus winning the award for this category. Cyrus winning this award was a hugely significant moment in her career, as it was the first Grammy that she had won throughout her whole career, which started at the age of just 13. History was also made yet again for the popular artist Taylor Swift, who won the award ‘Album of the year’ for the fourth time, making her the artist with the most awards in this category.
As well as positive history being made for these female artists, history was also made for queer and black female artists this year at the Grammys, with the black female artist Victoria Monet winning the title of ‘Best new artist’ and the award for ‘Best duo/ group performance’ being awarded to the artists Phoebe Bridgers and SZA. With SZA being a woman of colour, and Bridgers being an openly bisexual artist, this award does not just celebrate female artists, but celebrates the diversity of female artists - something that historically is not common, and is a change that is taking longer to happen than the celebration of straight, white female artists such as Taylor Swift.
As the night of the Grammys continued, history continued to be made, with the all-female, all queer supergroup ‘Boygenius’ winning awards in three categories - including the two categories ‘Best rock performance’ and ‘Best rock song’. The allocation of these awards caused a number of online discussions, with many people complaining that this band should not have won these awards, especially up against other iconic rock bands such as ‘Metallica’. Such discussions explain why Boygenius winning these awards was such a historical moment, proving that rock music is typically a male dominated field with a predominantly male fanbase. The fact that this band won these awards proves that the past ideas about rock music and what it is are slowly shifting, with more acceptance of women into this genre taking place, despite people’s complaints.
So as this award season comes to a close, it is important to acknowledge the fact that much change still needs to be made within the media industries, and it’s important to have discussions about how this change could happen. However, it is also important to celebrate what change has been made, what this change signifies, and what can be done to ensure that this change continues to happen.
Caitlin Jeater, Year 12