"The 2018 Grammys caused an uprise of controversy surrounding singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran, after his song “Shape of You” took home the award for Best Pop Solo Performance over Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, and P!nk."
--Molly Cloud-Hickey
The 2018 Grammys caused an uprise of controversy surrounding singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran, after his song “Shape of You” won Best Pop Solo Performance over Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, and P!nk. Critics of Sheeran’s win focus on the fact that all of these women wrote incredibly inspiring songs about standing your ground, heartbreak, and independence— only to lose to a song about the shape of a woman’s body.
The majority of backlash came from the fan bases of the other artists, especially Kesha. A tweet posted right after Sheeran’s victory read, “I guess it’s a good thing Kesha, didn’t win over Ed Sheeran, since the music industry doesn’t seem to care about examining its abuses of power” (— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 29, 2018).
There has almost been a “Twitter War” over this matter. There are people who are happy that Ed Sheeran took home that award, but on the other hand everyone else involved has gotten very passionate about the fact that a song about a woman’s shape and beauty beat out out-ruled four songs about women’s empowerment. The cherry on top was that Sheeran was not present at the Grammys to accept the award.
The music industry has become completely oblivious to what messages the artists are delivering to their audiences, focusing instead on a song’s production and ubiquity. A song indicating that a man went into a club and felt a woman up is accepted, as long as it hits the top ten.. This is what we saw when Ed Sheeran took home that Grammy. His song hit the top ten because he was the artist, meanwhile no one focused on the message the lyrics were sending. He was saying that it’s okay to go to a club with your friends, hit on a girl because she’s pretty, then take her home for a one night stand.
On the other hand Kesha’s music sent a very different message. Throughout the years we’ve seen Kesha take control of her own journey head on. In the beginning started by being featured in Flo Rida’s song Right Round. Since then she has had multiple top ten songs, performed at the Superbowl, and has come out of many life crises. As she took her career farther she started addressing more realistic issues in her music. In her most recent song she sings on the topic of sexual assault; later to reveal that her music producer, Dr. Luke had verbally, physically, and sexually assaulted her. She’s recently been in a very serious lawsuit trying to get out of her contract with the label. Losing to Shape of You was a huge let down because she expressed her personal life, complete with a positive message, in a top ten song and was still overlooked.
What message is better? Of course Kesha’s, but because Sheeran had higher ranks, his song took the award.
In comparison to Shape of You, P!nk’s song What About Us speaks to a much more important topic. The song refers to much of her life as well as the epidemic that President Trump has brought about in our community. It's saying to the world, ¨Hey! It's not okay for us to be treated like trash, because we're not trash and we never have been.¨ How could such a true topic be overshadowed by a song like Sheeran’s? The answer: It shouldn't have been. In the American Music Industry culture they look at the quantity of music and not its quality, which is not a good plan if we´re trying to get reach an equal ground in the future.
There is a consistent pattern in all five of these songs. They are all speaking to real world problems, but only four are making them empowering. Yet, somehow the singular song that doesn't address a way to fix the issue, gets the award. Why is it that we always find the songs about derogatory things more fascinating? Isn't there a way where we could finally realize that just because a song is written by a powerful female doesn't make it a ¨bad song?¨ In the end, they always come out on top because we know that those are the ones that we really need to listen to. We need to listen to them because those are the messages we need to get across.
In comparison to Shape of You, P!nk’s song What About Us speaks to a much more important topic. The song refers to much of her life as well as the epidemic that President Trump has brought about in our community. It's saying to the world, ¨Hey! It's not okay for us to be treated like trash, because we're not trash and we never have been.¨ How could such a true topic be overshadowed by a song like Sheeran’s? The answer: It shouldn't have been. In the American Music Industry culture they look at the quantity of music and not its quality, which is not a good plan if we´re trying to get reach an equal ground in the future.
There is a consistent pattern in all five of these songs. They are all speaking to real world problems, but only four are making them empowering. Yet, somehow the singular song that doesn't address a way to fix the issue, gets the award. Why is it that we always find the songs about derogatory things more fascinating? Isn't there a way where we could finally realize that just because a song is written by a powerful female doesn't make it a ¨bad song?¨ In the end, they always come out on top because we know that those are the ones that we really need to listen to. We need to listen to them because those are the messages we need to get across.