State Champ Radio 2024 Grammy Awards
If we’re going to talk snubs and surprises at the Grammys, let’s address the big Latin elephant in the room.
There was very little Latin presence at this year’s Grammy awards. Only three Latin names – Edgar Barrera, Gustavo Dudamel and 123 Andrés – were nominated in non-Latin categories (for songwriter of the year (non-classical), best orchestral performance and best children’s musical album, respectively). The first nomination is a major look, perhaps explained by the fact that this is a relatively new category with a fresh perspective.
And the latter two won – not entirely unsurprising, given Dudamel’s stature and new appointment as the director of the New York Philharmonic. The best children’s album win for 123 Andrés was the most poignant, a sign that the more innocent children’s music perhaps has less barriers.
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As for the show itself, only 10 to 12 awards of the 91 total are typically given out during the telecast. In his post Grammy column, Bob Lefsetz wrote, “Now if I want to be honest, a lot of other genres were recognized in the pre-show, but unless you won an award, or are related to or work with the winner, no one knows and no one cares. They won’t put this music on the telecast, it’s not broad enough.”
I beg to differ. First, many categories are given out in the pre-telecast simply because only a handful of awards are given out on air. There are many others that many people care about.
When it comes to the Latin music categories historically, however, they have hardly ever made the telecast – despite the fact that Latins now represent nearly 20% of the U.S. population, and that Spanish is the second most-consumed language in music in the country. But, the Grammys aren’t about representation, right? If that were the case, we would be advocating for Latin nominees in every category of the awards, because, well, we’re 20%. But that’s not it.
The Grammys are about quality, and cultural and artistic impact. That’s why the absence of Peso Pluma – a catalyst for the revival of an entire musical genre that has impacted the charts and American consciousness, and whose music is downright dazzling — in the general categories was so jarring.
The Mexican music superstar’s absence was especially conspicuous in the best new artist category. He was eligible among 405 new artists who competed for those eight slots, but he was not nominated. In fact, only two other artists who perform in Spanish have ever been nominated for best new artist – Rosalía in 2019 and Anitta in 2022, and neither artist won.
Why was Karol G considered good ratings fodder – the stadium headliner was seated at the front of the room and received her award for best música urbana album on air, after all — but was still shut out of any non-Latin category? This, despite the fact that she ended the year at No. 23 on Billboard’s year-end top artists chart, her Mañana Será Bonito was a top 20 album on Billboard’s year-end chart, and she played to sprawling sold-out crowds all year.
Clearly, despite all the positive moves towards diversifying the Recording Academy’s voting body, members are still resisting the concept of including music in Spanish as part of the mainstream. In the entire history of the Grammys, only one album in Spanish has ever received an album of the year nomination: Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Tí in 2023. The last Spanish-language song nominated for song of the year or record of the year was “Despacito” in 2018. It didn’t win in either category, but it got the chance to compete. The importance of those opportunities to participate in the competition cannot be overlooked.
Ironically, the first-ever record and song of the year winner, back when the awards launched in 1959, was an Italian-language song, Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare).” Then in 1964, the Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto version of “The Girl From Ipanema” won record of the year. Los Lobos’ hit cover version of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” was nominated for both record of the year and song of the year in 1988, and Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” was nominated in those same two categories in 1999 (although Martin’s smash was mostly in English). That’s an awfully short list across 60-plus years, and yet we remain unable to even consider Spanish-language music as a real option in the Big Four.
Yesterday, a major Latin recording artist told me, “How come we never get nominated in the main categories? It makes me really angry.”
It doesn’t make me angry. Just sad.
Leila Cobo is Billboard’s Chief Content Officer for Latin and Español.
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There’s a wide gulf between writing and singing your own songs and saying something elegant while giving an awards show thank you speech in an arena packed with the music world’s biggest stars while being honored for those accomplishments. And at Sunday night’s (Feb. 4) 66th annual Grammy Awards, two women who took home multiple awards revealed that acceptance nerves are real.
ET caught up with Billie Eilish, 22, after the show and asked the singer about her private backstage conversation with fellow winner Miley Cyrus, 31, after the “Jaded” star took home her first two Grammys ever, record of the year and best pop solo performance for “Flowers.”
“Not to blow up her [Cyrus’] spot, but she was saying… she was asking me if I also feel when I get up on stage that I say the dumbest s–t I could possibly say?” Eilish told ET of their private chat. “Absolutely, 100 percent. She was like, ‘Why was I saying all that?’”
Eilish told Cyrus she could totally relate, saying, “Sorry, Miley, but I feel the same. I always get up there, and I just poop out of my mouth.” Eilish should be getting used to it by now, considering she and brother Finneas won song of the year and best song written for visual media for their Barbie soundtrack ballad “What Was I Made For?,” which has already scooped up a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination this year.
Eilish appeared somewhat tongue-tied earlier in the evening, when she took home her second song of the year Grammy honor. “That’s stupid guys,” she said looking dumbfounded at her win in a field that also included Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, Dua Lipa, SZA and Olivia Rodrigo. “That was a crazy list of incredible people, incredible artists, incredible music. I feel crazy right now. I’m shocked out of my balls.”
Earlier in the night, after winning her first-ever Grammy, Cyrus accepted the best pop solo performance gramophone from one of her icons, Mariah Carey, reveling in the opportunity to share the stage with the fellow pop legend. “This MC is going to stand by this MC because this is just too iconic,” Cyrus said. “I was stuck in the rain in traffic and I thought I was going to miss this moment, and I could have missed this award, that’s fine — but not Mariah Carey.”
Cyrus then offered up a kind of parable about a boy’s wish for a butterfly for his birthday and how it finally came to him when he stopped chasing it so hard. “And right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose. And this song, ‘Flowers,’ is my butterfly. Thank you,” Cyrus said.
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Drake did not attend Sunday night’s (Feb. 4) 66th annual Grammy Awards, but the “IDGAF” MC definitely had something to say about the ceremony. In an Instagram Story posted before the prime time show began, the 37-year-old rapper reposted video of his 2019 Grammy acceptance speech accompanied by a strongly worded message to his peers at the event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“All you incredible artists remember this show isn’t the facts it’s just the opinion of a group of people who’s name are kept a secret 🤫😂 (literally you can google it),” he wrote, per screen shots of his post (via Complex). “Congrats to anybody winning anything for hip hop but this show doesn’t dictate s–t in our world.”
The harsh comment about the broadcast was Drake’s latest lash out at the Recording Academy, with whom he has feuded for years. In his post, Drake included a snippet of his speech for best rap song for “God’s Plan” in 2019, during which he took aim at what he labelled the gamesmanship of the awards. “I want to let you know that we’re playing in an opinion-based sport. Not a factual-based sport. So it’s not the NBA where at the end of the year, you’re holding a trophy because you made the right decisions or won the games,” he said at the time.
“This is a business where sometimes it’s up to a bunch of people that might not understand what a mixed-race kid from Canada has to say or a fly Spanish girl from New York, or a brother from Houston… the point is, you’ve already won if you have people who are singing your songs word-for-word, if you’re a hero in your hometown. Look, if there’s people who have regular jobs who are coming out in the rain, in the snow, spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows? You don’t need this right there I promise you. You already won.”
At press time a spokesperson for the Grammy Awards had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Drake’s post.
Drake is a five-time Grammy winner — and 55-time nominee — and was nominated for four awards on Sunday night, including nods for best rap performance and best rap performance (“Rich Flex”), best rap album (Her Loss) and best melodic rap performance (“Spin Bout U”) for his joint album with 21 Savage. Though it was eligible, Drake did not submit his 2023 solo album, For All the Dogs, for Grammy consideration, nor did he submit 2021’s Certified Lover Boy or 2022’s Honestly, Never Mind.
But Sunday’s comment was not the first time Drizzy — who was performing at Amalie Arena in Tampa during the broadcast — has publicly taken issue with the Grammy process in recent years.
In 2020, he tweeted “the Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency” after the Weeknd was not nominated for any awards for his smash After Hours album.
