I truly believe that we are in a golden age of television. Since 2017-2018, there has always been a show out there that is garnering some sort of large following, not for just the plot, because technically speaking, it’s a wonderful show. Let’s look at the Best Drama and Best Comedy nominees for T.V. shows in 2018.
The Comedy world saw the introduction of Barry, Bill Hader’s show about a hitman who wants to be an actor. Its first season was nominated for Best Comedy Series, which lost to the Marvelous Mrs Maisel, another groundbreaking comedy. Today, some critics argue that Barry is one of the greatest shows ever to be put on television. The Drama Category that year had The Handmaids Tale, which in its prime, shocked viewers due to its relevance in the world of women’s rights. Personally, I can’t bring myself to watch it knowing Elizabeth Moss is a Scientologist, and many others are taking that standpoint which is why the last few seasons didn’t hit as hard as the early ones.
I would say 2019 was better for Drama with the introduction of Succession, Killing Eve, Ozark, Better Call Saul, and Pose. These shows dominated the industry for the last few years, making awards seasons a hard pick. In years past, there was that one show that stood out among the rest. Take Breaking Bad, for example, which stole the Emmys during the entire length of its run. Nothing else came close to how good Breaking Bad was, but we have shown in every category now. Actors of every type have a fair fight for the awards. This year I’m almost certain Succession will clean sweep, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s performances in The Last of Us weren’t some of the greatest we’ve seen or in Comedy; I’m not sure is Bill Hader or Jeremy Allen White will take Lead Actor.
As I said, in the past few years, there hasn’t been a T.V. show I didn’t like. Let’s look at music, on the other hand. We live in a world where ABCDEFU by Gayle was nominated for a Grammy—the TikTok song. Before my following statement, I want to say, I am an Olivia Rodrigo fan. I loved Sour a lot… but winning all of those Grammys? It was car radio music. I think the music issue today is that no one can draw the line between a popular song and a good song. Take Ethel Cain, for example. Preacher’s Daughter was one of the most fascinating albums I listened to in the past year. It’s unique in the fact that it tells a chronological horror story. It’s unlike anything you hear on the radio, which is why it will never win a Grammy.
Take a long at some Grammy 2024 predictions for Album of the Year. You have Taylor Swift, of course, for Midnights. I wouldn’t argue that there was anything particularly groundbreaking about the songs on Midnights compared to an album like Folklore, but she gets the popularity point. You have Miley Cyrus’s new album, Endless Summer Vacation, which has the viral TikTok song Flowers on it. Again, popularity point. The website I’m looking at has Lana Del Rey and Boygenius, which is a pleasant surprise. Lana has notably been snubbed at the Grammys, especially for her album Norman F*cking Rockwell, which lost out to Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go. Both were excellent albums, I’ll say that. I would argue that NFR is in the Top 50 albums of all time, but that’s a different conversation. But Billie Eilish was at the peak of her fame when she beat Lana, and the entire album went viral. So while the Grammys will nominate some incredibly talented and deserving artists, their chances of winning to a more famous artist are slim.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why we only see this popularity contest in the Grammys rather than the Oscars, Emmys, or Tonys. And to be completely honest, I don’t know the answer to it- but I think TikTok is to blame. As I said, most songs that win Grammys are famous or go viral on TikTok. That’s a fair statistic. It’s a popular app, so if one person makes a viral video with the song in it, hundreds of thousands of people will see the music, and they’ll make more videos with it. For an upcoming artist, it can be a great platform. But sometimes, such a big platform can get into the wrong hands.
When someone has access to a popular social media app, they’ll likely try to promote their talent on it, whether it be art or dance, or music. They’ll see one person go viral with their art form, and it encourages people to do it themselves. I see it a lot in the form of activism songs? (I question that genuinely). I stumbled upon a video the other day of a girl singing about women’s equality, and all of the comments praised her for advocating for women. And that’s so great to write music to help people. But it wasn’t a good song. It sounded more like a spoken word poem if anything. The background music was rather bland, and the lyrics weren’t anything profound about the female experience. It was just repeating that society hates women. I wish I could remember the username to write it here, but it was a while ago. I just remember looking at their account after that, and they revealed that after their song went viral, they signed a record deal. Something just threw me off about that. It felt like someone signed this girl to a record label because her songs were popular and talked about an important issue rather than if she was producing good music.
Even with TikTok “celebrities,” you see them all trying to become singers after they become popular online. Dixie Damelio is the first person to come to mind, but Charli Damelio, Addison Rae, Nessa Barrett, Jaden Hossler, Chase Hudson, and so many more have tried to kick start music careers. And all of their music (except Nessa’s occasionally) is awful. It appears to be something about TikTok and TikTok fame that makes people think that anyone can be a singer. This not only diminishes the work of truly talented unknown artists who may not necessarily go viral as well as established artists. Imagine being Taylor Swift, spending 16 years in the music industry, selling out stadiums and having 3 Best Album wins, being nominated next to a song that went viral on TikTok. We don’t have to imagine it, because it happened (cough cough abcdefu). I think some people would argue that every awards show is a popularity contest which I would shut down immediately. Take HBO’s new show The Idol. I believe it had the highest viewership for the first episode of a T.V. show, but you’ll never see it getting nominated for an Emmy. Why? Because it sucks. It’s awful. It has that popularity that the Grammys would fall over but technically speaking, it’s a horrible show. I can promise you too that you probably haven’t seen a majority of the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars either despite how often you insist you do. I suppose my point is that music has become a popularity contest and the Grammys are a joke.
I truly believe that we are in a golden age of television. Since 2017-2018, there has always been a show out there that is garnering some sort of large following, not for just the plot, because technically speaking, it’s a beautiful show. Look at the Best Drama and Best Comedy nominees for T.V. shows in 2018.
The Comedy world saw the introduction of Barry, Bill Hader’s show about a hitman who wants to be an actor. Its first season was nominated for Best Comedy Series, which lost to the Marvelous Mrs Maisel, another groundbreaking comedy. Today, some critics argue that Barry is one of the greatest shows ever to be put on television. The Drama Category that year had The Handmaids Tale, which in its prime, shocked viewers due to its relevance in the world of women’s rights. Personally, I can’t bring myself to watch it knowing Elizabeth Moss is a Scientologist, and many others are taking that standpoint which is why the last few seasons didn’t hit as hard as the early ones.
I would say 2019 was better for Drama with the introduction of Succession, Killing Eve, Ozark, Better Call Saul, and Pose. These shows dominated the industry for the last few years, making awards seasons a hard pick. In years past, there was that one show that stood out among the rest. Take Breaking Bad, for example, which stole the Emmys during the entire length of its run. Nothing else came close to how good Breaking Bad was, but we have shown in every category now. Actors of every type have a fair fight for the awards. This year I’m almost certain Succession will clean sweep, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s performances in The Last of Us weren’t some of the greatest we’ve seen or in Comedy; I’m not sure is Bill Hader or Jeremy Allen White will take Lead Actor.
As I said, in the past few years, there hasn’t been a T.V. show I didn’t like. Let’s look at music, on the other hand. We live in a world where ABCDEFU by Gayle was nominated for a Grammy—the TikTok song. Before my following statement, I want to say, I am an Olivia Rodrigo fan. I loved Sour a lot… but winning all of those Grammys? It was car radio music. I think the music issue today is that no one can draw the line between a popular song and a good song. Take Ethel Cain, for example. Preacher’s Daughter was one of the most fascinating albums I listened to in the past year. It’s unique in the fact that it tells a chronological horror story. It’s unlike anything you hear on the radio, which is why it will never win a Grammy.
Take a long at some Grammy 2024 predictions for Album of the Year. You have Taylor Swift, of course, for Midnights. I wouldn’t argue that there was anything particularly groundbreaking about the songs on Midnights compared to an album like Folklore, but she gets the popularity point. You have Miley Cyrus’s new album, Endless Summer Vacation, which has the viral TikTok song Flowers on it. Again, popularity point. The website I’m looking at has Lana Del Rey and Boygenius, which is a pleasant surprise. Lana has notably been snubbed at the Grammys, especially for her album Norman F*cking Rockwell, which lost out to Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go. Both were excellent albums, I’ll say that. I would argue that NFR is in the Top 50 albums of all time, but that’s a different conversation. But Billie Eilish was at the peak of her fame when she beat Lana, and the entire album went viral. So while the Grammys will nominate some incredibly talented and deserving artists, their chances of winning to a more famous artist are slim.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why we only see this popularity contest in the Grammys rather than the Oscars, Emmys, or Tonys. And to be completely honest, I don’t know the answer to it- but I think TikTok is to blame. As I said, most songs that win Grammys are famous or go viral on TikTok. That’s a fair statistic. It’s a popular app, so if one person makes a viral video with the song in it, hundreds of thousands of people will see the music, and they’ll make more videos with it. For an upcoming artist, it can be a great platform. But sometimes, such a big platform can get into the wrong hands.
When someone has access to a popular social media app, they’ll likely try to promote their talent, whether art, dance, or music. They’ll see one person go viral with their art form, and it encourages people to do it themselves. I see it a lot in the form of activism songs? (I question that genuinely). I stumbled upon a video the other day of a girl singing about women’s equality, and all the comments praised her for advocating for women. And it was great to see someone making music about such an important cause. But it wasn’t a good song. It sounded more like a spoken word poem if anything. The background music was rather bland, and the lyrics weren’t anything profound about the female experience. It was just repeating that society hates women. I wish I could remember the username to write it here, but it was a while ago. I remember looking at their account after that, and they revealed that after their song went viral, they signed a record deal. Something just threw me off about that. It felt like someone signed this girl to a record label because her songs were popular and talked about an important issue rather than if she was producing good music.
Even with TikTok “celebrities,” you see them all trying to become singers after they become popular online. Dixie Damelio is the first person to come to mind, but Charli Damelio, Addison Rae, Nessa Barrett, Jaden Hossler, Chase Hudson, and many others have tried to kick-start music careers. And all of their music (except Nessa’s occasionally) is awful. It appears to be something about TikTok and TikTok fame that makes people think that anyone can be a singer. This not only diminishes the work of truly talented unknown artists who may not necessarily go viral as well as established artists. Imagine being Taylor Swift, spending 16 years in the music industry, selling out stadiums and, having 3 Best Album wins, being nominated next to a song that went viral on TikTok. We don’t have to imagine it because it happened (cough cough abcdefu). I think some people would argue that every awards show is a popularity contest which I would shut down immediately. Take HBO’s new show, The Idol. I believe it had the highest viewership for the first episode of a T.V. show, but you’ll never see it getting nominated for an Emmy. Why? Because it sucks. It’s awful. It has that popularity that the Grammys would fall over, but technically speaking, it’s a horrible show. I can promise you, too that you probably haven’t seen a majority of the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars either, despite how often you insist you do. I suppose my point is that music has become a popularity contest and the Grammys are a joke.