When late winter rolls around each year, everyone is brimming with excitement as they look forward to the Grammy Awards. The Grammys are awards presented by the Recording Academy to music artists across multiple genres, including pop, rock, Latin, rap, R&B, and more. Over 90 awards were presented this year to the best artists and performers from the past year. Normally, when artists receive awards, their speeches center around their music and journey through the vast world of music, but this year, many artists focused on growing social issues instead. These are a few of the speeches that I found the most inspiring and unique.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga won the Best Duo/Group Pop Performance with Bruno Mars for their song “Die With A Smile.” Bruno began their speech by thanking Gaga for letting him be a part of her incredible musical legacy. Gaga returned the thanks by saying that she does not know music without him, and she continued by giving love to her family. She ended by stating that the trans community is not invisible and deserves to be lifted up, for music is love.
Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan won the award for being the Best New Artist. Roan is a queer artist with music reflecting every piece of her identity. Her music career was bumpy at first, but in the past year, her platform has blown up, notably with tracks like “HOT TO GO” and “Good Luck, Babe.” She has always advocated for what she believes is right, whether that be her right to privacy as an artist or uplifting the queer community and her fellow artists. She continued her history of advocacy when she took the stage to accept her very first Grammy. Beginning her speech, she told the audience that she had made a promise to herself that if she ever had the opportunity to stand in front of the most powerful people in music, she would demand that labels would offer a liveable wage with healthcare, especially to developing artists. At 17, she signed her first label but they dropped her during the pandemic with no job experience. She faced difficulties finding a job and could not afford healthcare. Roan doesn’t want any new artist to go through what she faced and closed her speech by speaking directly to the labels, “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Doechii
Doechii was awarded Best Rap Album for her album Alligator Bites Never Heal. She started her speech by explaining the history of the category: it was introduced in 1989, but only two women—now three, including Doechii—have ever won. After battling with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, she believes that her sobriety and faith brought forth the triumph of winning her first Grammy. Despite saying that a lot was going through her head at the moment, she ended her speech by speaking to Black girls and women and telling them that they could do it. She told them not to allow anyone to project stereotypes on them about being too loud, too dramatic, or not smart enough, for they are exactly who they are meant to be. The resounding theme from her speech, which she repeated numerous times, was, “Anything is possible.”
This year’s Grammys were filled to the brim with diversity, and these speeches prove that the music industry is beginning to open its doors to new voices.
