waruv
Well-Known Member
The impression I was getting is that it's a complaint that Grammy voters (specifically Album of the Year, if we say all Grammy Awards it becomes tougher to justify IMO) are reticent to reward artists who are unabashedly political and critical of the white, liberal establishment that generally represents the voting body of the awards (from the left as opposed to the right: Kid Rock or Ted Nugent or Aaron Lewis are not being let anywhere near the Grammys). Or more that when a person of color does win album of the year, it tends to be for music that lyrically and sonically is easier for this block of voters to listen to. So you'll have situations where 24K Magic beats 4:44 and Damn (2018), or 25 beats Lemonade (2017), or 1989 beats To Pimp at Butterfly (2016), or Babel beats Channel Orange (2013). I think I can agree to some extent on this point, though I also think outside of 2013, there's a real musical argument to be had on all of those.
-------------
More generally
I'm giving WE ARE a more thorough listening this morning and like, I don't think the criticism about the music is that unfair - it's safe both sonically (he's very good but not much of this is treading ground not done decades prior in many ways by different artists in different spots) and politically where there is commentary about the political unrest of the last few years but mostly in terms that few would object to. Oddly enough though, I can't think of another contemporary musician who could make this album - there's a lot of different musical skills, talents, and methods required to put this together. It kind of reminds me of another musician who dominated the Grammys for a period of time in terms of multifaceted talent and the type of music being made in Stevie Wonder. Listneing to I NEED YOU and then WHATCHUTALKINBOUT back to back is a whiplash of styles and topics that is really...different. Then you hop to Boy Hood and it's a third entirely different feeling son. In some ways I think the singles era we are living in does it a bit of a disservice. It's safe but it's really dang difficult simultaneously. Personally, I don't find it particularly disqualifying but I don't think the overall complaint about the Academy's reticence to embrace challenging music is unfair either. With that said, I'd probably argue that this may even be more of an indictment on music criticism. This is a well known, talented, musician who gets exactly four reviews that made the AotY website. I think we as an overall collective of listeners are quick to dismiss some artists because they feel, vaguely, too safe or familiar. Maybe we can all be surprised that this pulled a ton of noms and won AotY (I think @Djxfactor511 is very right that his familiar image and the wide variety of music he creates likely exposed him to more voters than otherwise may know some other nominees), but I'm personally going to take it as a reminder that there's a ton of good music out there and maybe an artist doesn't need to be pushing it to the very edge to be a great album.
