Words by Comfort Nnana Kalu
This Sunday will mark one of the biggest nights in music as the 60th Grammy Awards. The show will also be held in New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in 15 years, which is a huge win for New York officials who lobbied for the change. The location is not the only major change as they have made sweeping adjustments to their selection and voting process by allowing online voting for the first time. These adjustments have led to the most diverse list of 2018 nominees and eventually Grammy winners.
For the first time since 1999, there will be no white male solo artists nominated for the best album. Jason Lipshuts, editorial director at Billboard remarked on the moment by saying “If you look at who the Grammys were honoring even 10 years ago, they’ve really done a great job of making sure they’re becoming more inclusive and cognizant of what people are actually listening to…”
The nominees for best album this year include Jay-Z’s 4:44, Awaken, My Love! by Childish Gambino, Damn by Kendrick Lamar, Melodrama by Lorde and 24k Magic by Bruno Mars. The most major thing is that this year it seems like Hip Hop will be taking home major wins as Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar have eight and six nominations respectively. Big Grammy performances this year will also include Kendrick Lamar, Kesha, Rihanna, Chris Stapleton with Emmylou Harris, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Pink, Childish Gambino, Sting, Bruno Mars, and Cardi B.
Another notable Grammy moment is the movement being represented as some of the attendees plan on wearing white roses in solidarity with Time’s Up and the #MeToo movement which is a campaign against sexual misconduct and gender inequality being represented by more than 1,000 women in entertainment.
Catch this year’s Grammy’s at 7:30pm on CBS.
