Featured graphic by Martin Ehrhart for Pitchfork
Music’s biggest night might have just been clouded by an even bigger shadow of its own creation. As one of the highest institutions in the music industry anticipates the celebration of its 62nd Grammy Awards later this month, The Recording Academy has been hit with much recent scandal when its newly-sacked former CEO Deborah Dugan exposes the institution for what it is – an association of various “good ol’ boys club” that serves its own business and personal interests. In a series of texts, memos and legal actions raised against the Academy, Deborah accused its members of sexual abuses, improper fiscal management, lack of emphasis in diversification and the most unsurprising revelation, manipulation of the nomination and winner selection system. This prompts many of the various fan bases to throw criticisms towards their once-treasured criterion for validating the impact and talent of an artist.
If you’re ever wondering why artists that have made a huge impact like Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Björk, etc don’t have a single Grammy, then here’s your answer. https://t.co/Mdsv4X8Blh
— pop religion (@popligion) January 21, 2020
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With this insider’s whistle blowing situation spreading through the community of musical followers like a leaked lead single, it now makes sense why some of the biggest names in music were often left out from getting nominations, and much arguably, wins each and every year they were considered to have delivered records deemed to be “Grammy-worthy”; one of which is Katy Perry, who have been notoriously bashed by this lack of recognition as a symbol of her weak artistic and creative impact. As we look back at her 13 nominations (or snubs) and the overall history of her Grammy presence (and absence), we’ll try to decipher how badly she was treated against by such an institution of her peers, which turns out to be what they despise – a construct of fake awards.
BEST NEW ARTIST SNUB (2009)
When I Kissed A Girl erupted as the cherry on top from a pop-rock debut record of then-new artist Katy Perry, many had predicted her shine will decline from that moment forward, only to their surprise to see the supposed “one-hit wonder” achieve another hit with Hot N Cold and Waking Up in Vegas, even surprising spectators of her songwriting capabilities with Thinking of You. An established start resulted in an expectation for the Grammys to at least recognize her with a BNA nomination, which didn’t happen. Outdated rules of “new artists” only being qualified if they haven’t had any previous full-length releases in the past worked against Katy, as her prior Christian music venture produced a self-titled album Katy Hudson. But fast forward to recent lists of New Artists considerations and we will see a pool of neophytes who’ve already had established momentum with one, or even more, previously released recordings, which sometimes even fell years outside eligibility periods. When the rumors of business connection and the role that money i.e. profitability playing major roles in convincing various committees in the nomination process to alter results, it isn’t so rocket science anymore to see how Katy Perry failed to land that BNA back in 2009. Capitol Records was a label relatively lacking popularity back then, which suggests they lack the power to cajole agreements unlike other labels to push their artists onto a nomination seat at a General Field category. Katy’s breakthrough from failed label debuts at the indie-rock scene to the next pin-up poster of the future of pop music isn’t convincing enough for a pool of old men to change their outdated definition of a “new artist” too.
TEENAGE DREAM ERA (2010-2012)
If a body of work with few hits can’t do it, maybe a whole musical era of flawless pop deliverance will do the bidding, right? Not in the case of Katy Perry and her monstrous cultural phenomena of a record, Teenage Dream. Even though critically unfavored, Teenage Dream is comparable to the very description of what a Grammy-worthy record is, especially nowadays: memorable, influential and record-breaking. But the Grammys had always had an arbitrary vendetta against her, even at this peak of her pop stardom. Teenage Dream (song) got snubbed of both Record and Song of the Year even though it has established itself as a primal example of pop perfection in a professional musical context. None of the other album hits after Firework made a single nomination, not even at the music video categories where this era is undeniably at the top of the game. Part of Me, which was pitched to the public through a surprise Grammy performance, was completely forgotten on the ballots the following year and Wide Awake didn’t make a buzz on any category of visual media music. Only its rightful Album of the Year nod gave a hint of dignity to the masterpiece that Katy delivered, but to see it getting totally shunned thereafter was suspiciously dumbfounding. Especially when in comparison, the Canadian equivalent for a Grammy Award – the Junos – awarded Teenage Dream the International Album of the Year award, signalling that elsewhere, when its a fair game of merit-based voting, Teenage Dream is indeed considered an award-winning effort. It is at this moment that the consensus within fans and enthusiasts was drawn that if Katy at her peak pop artistry can’t convince them, she never will.
PRISMATIC ERA (2013-2015)
If negative critical scores are what needs to be fixed, Katy’s third major label release Prism will then be the ultimate solution to such an injustice. After scoring great critical reviews, amassing diamond-certified hits with Roar and Dark Horse, and leaving a massive tour behind its name, the Prism era gave the brightest light for Katy Perry to finally land herself the well-deserved pop album win. Experts were confident that Prism will take home the Pop Vocal Album award. But as the night rolls out, and Roar both lose to new artist Lorde’ Royals, it was a crowd of frown when Prism lost to co-label new artist Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour. While conservatism and anti-popular leanings were expected to counter Katy’s chances, it was her strongest lead to win. Dark Horse’ influence to the shift in trap-induced trend in the musical scene also failed to convince traditional voters of rewarding versatility and successful artistic risks. Katy has productively played what we all thought the type of album that balances quality and quantity, yet the Grammys seemed to have fallen deep into their internal politics and game of influence to care less about it.
CHAINED TO THE RHYTHM (2017)
Although it has been demonstrated that at this point, the Grammys had clearly made its anti-Katy Perry agenda out in the open, hopes were still up that she would still get at least nominations for her work, especially as recent as 2017 when she debuted her comeback to pop music performance with the release of Chained to the Rhythm. It was the conscious choice for a Pop Duo win with its brave political stance on an era in American culture when hate and division was at its worst since Trump’s election, and the inclusion of a Marley in the track, which could have been an opportunity for the Recording Academy to posthumously recognize the legacy of another Grammyless-artist, Bob Marley. Not surprisingly at all, no love was thrown towards the song and even more infuriating, in that year, men dominated the wins in various genre categories, especially pop. Neither is its topnotch, nor its unfairly criticized sister Bon Appetit’ music videos where considered for a Best Music Video award, despite racking up massive views and even garnering awards internationally (BA won an MTV Award in Japan).
Although we can never adequately conclude that she was overlooked by the Grammys all through and through, and we can’t always avoid a debacle over the qualifications of all of her works for a recognition, it is an agreeable injustice to constantly see that the likes of Katy Perry, who’ve changed and influenced the pop scene every now and then ( and who also constantly raises the bar for what it really means to be an artist engaged in the creation of her own art), was given little to no reward by an established organization under the pretense that it religiously follows a system of choice based on talent and impact. Now that the Recording Academy was uncovered to be what they despised, it is not so mysterious anymore – you can’t win a game full of bogus tactics, and if you’re a real artist true to your art, you won’t let this discourage you from making your art. Nevertheless, it’s always better to lose for who you are, than to win for what you’re not. So kudos for being you Katy, and for the Grammys, Deborah would see you in court.
The Perrys 