Hello….it’s me, your face in the crowd music fan. I’m not sure whether the Recording Academy can hear me. As with every year, those like me are confronted with the inevitable Grammy controversy, in which some supposedly deserving artist is snubbed by someone deemed less worthy by the cultural media. It happened in 2015 when Beck upset Beyonce for Album of the Year (neither was the best album of the year) and in 2014 when Macklemore & Ryan Lewis beat Kendrick Lamar for Best Hip-Hop album (a crime that only becomes more unforgivable as time goes on).

This year, of course, Adele’s 25 defeated (can’t really say “upset”) Beyonce’s Lemonade for Album of the Year. The collective internet exploded over this slight to Queen Bey, and immediately accused the Academy of having a race problem. They cited both the 2014 and 2015 incidents as examples. I agree that the Grammys have a race problem, but obviously not because the voters are outright maliciously voting against minority races.
The Academy is actually just out of touch – with the current music scene, with modern music fans, and with current artists.

The Grammy voters do not understand, and therefore do not appreciate, art coming out of the African-American world; their traditionalism highlights the institutional problems inherent in a slowly progressing organization. This same stodginess extends to any non-MOR music. In an award show that is supposed to honor the best music released in the year, it usually seems that the industry just awards the most commercially successful. Just take a look at this year’s Best Album nominees: Beyonce, Adele, Drake, Justin Beiber, and Sturgill Simpson. Okay. No one will argue that Beyonce shouldn’t be there, as Lemonade was by far and away one of the most relevant, discussed, and diverse releases of the year, a landmark album by an artist at her peak. The stylistic ground covered is a big step forward for her, and I’m happy to hear her explore more territory outside of the standard pop/R&B song. Some people quibble about the many songwriters and musicians on the record, but that is pedantic. There are countless albums throughout history that utilize different songwriters, studio musicians, and producers. To argue that it’s any less a work of art for that is the epitome of rockist snobbery.

Beyond that, things get weird. We have Sturgill Simpson, one of the best voices coming out of modern country music. I feel that he deserves all of the recognition that can be thrown at him, but his nomination feels like an afterthought tacked on as compensation for his previous unrecognized achievements. His 2014 album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music was one of the most confident, rich, and rewarding albums to come out that year, in any genre. Simpson writes strong songs with thoughtful lyrics and welds them to a classic outlaw country skeleton that gets covered with vaguely hazy psych trapping. He is fantastic. However, 2016’s effort, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, does not live up to the promise of his prior work. A heartfelt tribute to his newborn son, Guide to Earth sounds good while playing, with it’s deeper grooves and punchy brass arrangements, but lacks the consistent songwriting he has exhibited elsewhere. When the most memorable song is a cover (Nirvana’s “In Bloom”), you know something is wrong. Simpson’s nomination follows a long tradition of the Academy nominating a lesser work by a great artist to make up for snubs in the past. This tradition has to stop. Why not pay closer attention to what is actually going on in the moment instead of sanctimoniously covering your tracks? It’s not like Simpson was a complete unknown. (On a related tangent, what is with giving the Best New Artist Award to musicians that have been putting out music for several years already? Bon Iver, Esperanza Spalding, and this year’s Chance the Rapper, off the top of my head, had been known artists for some time before their award.)

Next we have Adele. I am going to be honest. I have not listened to 25 outside of “Hello.” I feel quite confident in saying that I don’t have to; I know what it sounds like. You do to, even if you haven’t heard it. It’s going to be mid-tempo soul ballads and torch songs with orchestral and/or adult-contemporary soft rock backing. Not bad by any means, and Adele can sang. It just seems….safe.

Next we come to Justin Bieber and Drake. I am going to make this short and sweet: they do not belong on this list. Drake’s Views is arguably his worst album to date, a view (ha) supported by several avowed Drake fans that I know. It is an overlong rehash of the same sadboy trip he’s been on for years, done with more verve elsewhere. The fact that he tacked “Hotline Bling” (one of the best songs of 2015 and perhaps the best of his career) onto the end does little to lessen it’s thud. And Justin Bieber…do I even have to explain why he shouldn’t have been nominated? Call me a snob. I know taste is subjective, and he is putting out better music than his teeny-bopper days, but just because he’s proven to be a serviceable “adult” artist doesn’t make him worthy of the highest industry award. Especially not when it is chosen over other far more worthy releases of 2016.

This brings me to my next point of contention: the snubs. Let’s just look at the two most high profile examples. Rihanna’s Anti was a remarkable release from one of the most commercially successful singers of today (of all time???). RiRi has been putting out some of the best pop music to be found over the past decade, with attitude, tunefulness, and satisfying diversity. But Anti set a new precedent. A unified album that’s almost “anti-” commercial in it’s long atmospheric passages and deep, sexy grooves, it was her gamble for artistic credibility. I think she was successful. She also had another career greatest hit with “Work.” Apparently the academy doesn’t think that this specific pop starlet deserves a nob for branching out and making an artistic statement. So let’s nominate Justin Bieber because he did the same thing.

And then we have David Bowie. Bowie’s Blackstar was more than just a music release, it was more than an “event album,” it was even more than a surprisingly forward looking late-career album from a legacy artist. It was all of that and a literal self-authored epitaph from one of the greatest rock innovators ever, released in such a way that Beyonce will never ever be able to top with a surprise album. In Blackstar’s dark, complex, jazzy songs with hints of electronica, Bowie reflected on his life and career, ultimately coming to accept his impending mortality with conviction. And then, he surprise dropped it on his birthday to universal acclaim….and then died. I don’t believe an artist who had made a career of breaking barriers in artistic expression and showmanship could devise a better way to go. Blackstar is literally his final word on his life, for himself and his fans, and he did it in a way that highlighted the exceptional music within, not his celebrity. Blackstar is Art from one of the Twentieth century’s most notable artists. And the Grammy’s decided that Justin Bieber’s big boy album was better. The decision shows disrespect for Bowie and the foundation he built that several nominees stand on. Mostly, it shows disrespect for truly good music unfettered by commercial aims, instead looking to do what all great art does – explore what it means to be human.

Outside of these huge, obvious examples, there are countless musicians creating vital music all around the country. Electronic sound sculptures, rock bands, experimental MCs…these are the people who deserve recognition. Obviously people have to pay their dues before getting to the top of the pile, but the incentive to fight is lessened when the industry keeps awarding the same big name, mainstream artists that do not represent the full current of modern music.

I don’t want to discredit Adele or anyone involved in the making of her record. If people say it should be nominated for Best Album, sure, I’ll believe them. But when the Grammys keep giving lip service remaining relevant and vital, the choice to GIVE it the award seems very tone deaf. You have snubbed a nominee that perhaps put out the best album of her notable career, and snubbed an artist that put out one of the best records of his career (and then died!). So why? Why do the Grammys keep doing this? Probably the same reason why the Oscars were so white last year, and why this year they insisted on heaping praise at La-La Land only to botch a last minute nod toward Moonlight. Whoever makes up the voting body of both the Grammy and Oscar organizations are out of touch with what touches people. It may be because they are old and thus beholden to outdated notions of what constitutes “good music.” It may be because they are rich and consequently don’t perceive things the same way as others. There’s nothing wrong with being old fashioned, but when it erases the truly revolutionary art being made in music and film it is the duty of the respective Academies to step back and re-address how they approach the process. The Oscars are making progress by expanding the voter base to include more people of color and (I hope/think) younger voters. The Grammys should do the same. Yet it appears that they won’t: President Neil Portnow commented that he does not think there is a problem with the current selection process. How sad.

The award shows have long been accused of industry masturbation, but rarely has it been quite so evident with the proliferation of commercially successful but artistically vapid award winners. Perhaps in an internet world where it is relatively easy to put music out for people to hear, and the increasing proliferation of sub-sub-sub-genres that the internet creates, it’s difficult for the Academy to search out and weigh everything. Well, tough. If you purport yourselves to be the arbiters of what is the “best music made in the year,” it is your responsibility to give ALL MUSIC an equal shake, not just the marquee artists who generate radio revenue.

Is there a bright side? Yes: it is up to the small town musicians to keep creating and expressing in the face of shrugs. It is up to the music fans to support those who make us feel. And it is up to promoters, producers, and agents to listen. The future is bright, even if it will take some pushing to get there.