Editorial | The Grammys need to appreciate all award winners

Jon Batiste took home the Album of the Year award at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, surprising many. He was awarded the rest of his three awards off-air — and he wasn’t the only one to receive a majority of his Grammy awards prior to the ceremony.

Some of the most anticipated categories such as Best Rock Song, Best R&B Song, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album, among many others, received awards at the Grammys pre-show. The Grammys were not alone in this. The Oscars awarded eight awards prior to the televised award show for the first time ever in the show’s history.

While competing with low ratings and controversy, these award shows are losing their purpose of awarding the best of the best by not honoring all nominees during the broadcast. It’s not a great practice to give out some awards off-air. Instead, everyone should be given equal air time to celebrate their accomplishments.

By handing out certain awards before the official ceremony, it feels like the Recording Academy is prioritizing certain artists over others, which is unfair. Everyone who was nominated for an award worked hard on their body of work, and the winners should receive the same amount of time to be recognized.

Tyler, the Creator created a world with his album “Call Me If You Get Lost.” With countless features, a music video for almost every song on the album and a distinct sound unlike the other rap albums in the category, “Call Me If You Get Lost” is truly one of the most interesting albums to come out of last year. Despite this, Tyler, the Creator received his award for the Best Rap Album at the pre-show, not given the same time as other artists for a speech. 

Additionally, artists such as Jazmine Sullivan and Lucky Daye, who are reinventing the genre of R&B, were sidelined by getting awards prior to the televised show just because they don’t have the big names like Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish that the Recording Academy uses to attract ratings.

While awards are cut at the Grammys to leave room for performances, it isn’t fair to get rid of them in favor of ratings. Many of the awards given before the show at both the Oscars and the Grammys are for technical categories such as sound engineering and mixing as well as editing categories for the Oscars. These technical categories matter — you wouldn’t have your favorite album or your favorite movie without the hard work of the people who work behind the scenes, and they should be honored appropriately.

While award shows in the long run don’t really affect how art gets made and consumed, the recognition of the people who worked hard to make it is important. Everyone deserves to be recognized for their hard work and go down in the history books as a maker of great art. 

Winning a Grammy or an Oscar can be life-changing for some, leading to more roles or more exposure, which can help people expand their creativity. These award shows should care more about recognizing great art than ratings, and televise all award recipients during the main programming of the award show.