This year’s 66th Grammy’s award ceremony is one to remember. With so many cardinal performances, albums, and more the outcomes were unpredictable. Many significant artists in current pop culture were nominated: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Travis Scott, and most importantly Lana Del Rey.
Lana Del Rey has been a highly influential artist in the alternative music bracket. Some may even argue she invented it. Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have spoken out on Lana Del Rey’s inspiration to them. Which is ironic due to the outcome of this year’s grammy awards.
Lana Del Rey was nominated in five categories. Her album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, was released March 24, 2023. Song of the year and Best Alternative Music Performance for her song “A&W”. Pop Duo/Group Performance, for her song “Candy Necklace” feat. Jon Batiste.
Of all five nominations, Lana Del Rey lost every single one. This left her fans in shock and anger. Her album has spoken to countless people. Her music overall has made a large impact on the music industry, in the alternative pop genre, and immense influence for upcoming artists. Which is what makes her losses so unbelievable. Another thing that made Lana Del Rey’s loss in the “album of the year” category unconvincing was that an article by “The Richest” states that her album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” topped the charts in eight different countries and reached the top five charts of twenty countries. This misled fans to believe Lana Del Rey would for sure win a grammy. Bentley Marton, a junior at Yorba Linda High School said, I definitely thought Lana Del Rey would at least win in the alternative music category and i’m upset that she didn’t — Bentley Marton (11)
The most upsetting thing for fans was the reason Lana Del Rey lost her nominations. Even though she did deserve them. A judge even slightly proved that Lana Del Rey’s loss was unjust. A grammy judge said “I haven’t taken Lana Del Rey seriously as an artist since her SNL performance and never will.” This SNL performance took place on January 14th, 2012. Over a decade ago. The same judge also stated his opinion that the “Album of the year”, Midnights was not one of Taylor Swift’s best albums but since he lost respect for Lana over her performance twelve years ago, he decided to vote for Taylor Swift by default.
Most evidence suggests that Lana Del Rey’s loss was unjust, and most people believe it wasn’t fair as well. Since her loss and many more reasons, people now believe the Grammys aren’t about music anymore and they are more about opinions.
