Women In Music
This year’s Grammy awards were historic for women in the music industry, with female artists uncontrollably dominating the night: winning awards, breaking records, making statements and supporting each other.
The main four awards of the night were all won by female artists, including Megan Thee Stallion winning Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance for her hit “Savage” alongside Beyonce who just became the most awarded singer of all time. The Black Life Matter anthem “I Can’t Breathe” by H.E.R won Song of the Year, reinforcing the ongoing movement against racism. Billie Eilish took home her 7th Grammy in 2 years with her song “Everything i Wanted” winning Record of the Year. Whilst, Taylor Swift became the first ever woman to win three Grammys for an Album of the Year, including this year’s winner “Folklore”. Furthermore, three out of the four most nominated artists were women, including Beyonce (9 nominations), Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift (both with 6 nominations).
However, women’s representation in the music industry continues to be significantly inferior to man’s. The Grammy awards academy has announced a study that found out that 23%, 198 out of 853 of the nominees were women. The Academy was faced with sexist accusations after a continued lack of women representation in the award show to which former CEO Neil Portnow responded that women needed to “step up”. The backlash after this comment led to him to, ironically, step down. He was also accused of rape by a female artist. Furthermore, no women has ever won Producer of the Year, and only 6 female producers have been nominated for the award in 47 years: “Women are key drivers in the economy and across all business and creative sectors in music, globally, yet we reflect 2% of producers and engineers.” (Valeisha Butterfield Jones, the Academy’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer).
Nevertheless, it was encouraging to see the 2021 Grammys and celebrate women and their domination on a night dedicated to music. It was also inspiring to see women supporting other women, from Billie Eilish dedicating her win to Megan Thee Stallion: “You deserve the world, I think about you constantly, I root for you always”, to Megan herself thanking fellow female artists, especially her idol Beyonce by remembering her mantra “What would Beyoncé do, but make it a little ratchet”.
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Written by Candela Peña