One of the pleasures of watching the 2023 Grammys last night, at an industry viewing party, in which the top prize was $1,000 ( (needless to say, I did not win…) was the diversity and inclusion of the nominees.
Of all the major awards shows, Tonys, Emmys, and especially Oscars, the Grammys nominees (and many of the winners) reflected most accurately the new, ever-changing face of American society in terms of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, region, and perhaps best of all fashion.
I cannot speculate about the politics (right wing, centrist, left-wing) of the nominees and winners, but hope it was diverse, too.
Nonetheless, in over four decades of covering the Oscar race, I have not seen such a wide range of candidates and such a wide scope of music in terms of genre.
On a personal note, I began my undergraduate (and then followed with graduate and Ph.D. there) studies at Columbia University in 1973, the year that presumably launched the hip-hop trend.
I was not aware of it back in the 1970s, and learned quite a bit from watching the Grammys, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
Yes, the show was long (close to 4 hours), not every performance was fun to watch, and not every winner gave an interesting or entertaining speech.
But the color on display on stage (and off), of both the singers, the viewers there, and their costumes were truly a sight to behold, one that I have not seen in any televised show before.
