The entertainment industry´s event of the year, the Grammys, will be held Feb. 1, 2026. Before this show came the nominations; published on Nov. 7, the nominations of the 68th Annual Recording Academy´s Grammys rose just as much controversy as the previous year´s.

According to The New York Times, “The Grammys’ claim to authority has been brittle for some time, in large part because it has failed to keep up with the ways pop is evolving.”

Voting System

The Grammy Awards are voted on by the Recording Academy, which, according to the academy, is “dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and sustaining music’s past, present, and future.” However, this is clearly not the case; hence, this year’s, past year’s, and previous year’s nomination lists. 

The Recording Academy clearly has not been recognizing the older, more iconic artists. Diana Ross, Queen, Bob Marley, ABBA, Blake Shelton, The Beach Boys and even Tupac never received a Grammy for their incredible, legendary work.

The voters of the Grammys should be the audiences of these artists; people not in a position to get paid to vote. This would ensure a fair, reliable process for the Grammys. 

Some may argue the Recording Academy voting system is valid because the academy members are “professionals” in what they do; however, it is still unethical for people who are not fans/listeners of artists to vote for the Grammy nominations, forcing the votes to favor popularity over actual talent because of the tendency to pick “safe” and widely known artists.

Timeline

Even though these issues have been going on since the Grammys were founded, the organization continues to operate the same way. 

In 2010, only one nonwhite artist, Bruno Mars, won the Grammy for album of the year, highlighting the fact that audiences do not vote for artists, despite the many other nonwhite musicians who deserved a Grammy that year.

In 2016, Frank Ocean refused to submit his album, Blonde, to the Grammys to be nominated because the organization’s process “doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where [he] comes from, and hold down what [he] holds down.” 

In 2018, only 1 woman, Lorde, was nominated for Album of the Year. Notably, she was not offered to perform at the awards assembly. 

In 2019, Ariana Grande publicly opposed Ken Ehrlich, the Grammys’ executive producer, when he refused to let her play her hit song, ¨7 Rings¨ at the awards show. She responded to Ehrlich´s protest, posting on Twitter

These incidents show the unfairness and hypocrisy of the Grammys organization and Recording Academy.

Overall, the Grammys nominations and the Grammys as a whole are showing their unreliability each year. The longer the organization keeps its same tactics and voting systems, the more hate it will receive and the less important the Grammys will become.