ISSUE 2: Grammy Nominations Break the Mold: Over Half the Spotlight on Female Artists

It is well known that historically in the music industry, men have always been on top. However, recently, this has changed as not only are the top 100 charts dominated by female musicians but so are the Grammy nominations.

Firstly, in arguably the biggest category of the year, album of the year, seven out of eight of the nominations are women. These albums include “Midnights” by Taylor Swift, “the record” by boygenius, “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo and “Did You Know that There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard” by Lana Del Rey. Personally, I think that every one of these nominees deserves it but, “Midnights” probably deserves it the most.

While the other albums on this list are both lyrically and production-wise amazing, “Midnights” is truly an amazing album for many reasons. It was the first album to occupy every spot on the Billboard Top Ten list and broke the record for most record sales in a week. It also is a gorgeously produced album by one of the most talented artists of our generation and has so many hit songs that it’s not even comparable to any other album on this list.

In another category, record of the year, another seven out of eight nominations are also female artists. These records include “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift, “Kill Bill” by SZA, “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, “On My Mama” by Victoria Moneta and “What was I Made For?” by Billie Ellish. Out of these songs, there was one that followed me around anywhere I went and probably was played a few too many times: “Anti-Hero.” Even though it’s not my favorite from this list, you can’t deny this song was incredibly popular and has also broken records.

On the other hand, for alternative album and music performance of the year, I believe “Did You Know that There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard” and “A&W” by Lana Del Rey truly deserve to win. Both the album and this song were revolutionary to me and many others have highlighted the talent of Del Rey as not only a songwriter but also a performer, contrasting her previous critique of being ‘boring to watch.’

And finally, the artist with the most nominations overall is SZA with a grand total of nine for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song Best Progressive and R&B Best Melodic Rap Performance. This is incredibly impressive and deserved as SZA is another one of the best artists right now and one who is incredibly talented.

Overall, this year’s nominations are fantastic and really do represent the best of the best musical artists of this year and the fact that they are mostly women is great to see. Every single one of these nominations is deserved and I’m excited to see the results.

About the Contributors

Malia Rodriguez, Senior Staff Writer

Maila Rodriguez is a sophomore at Robinson and a senior staff writer for Knight Writers. This is her second year on staff. When writing, Rodriguez tends to lean towards Opinion and A&E stories, where she infuses her distinctive perspective and voice on a variety of topics. "[I like] writing opinion stories and A&E stories; [last year,] I even won an award for my review "M3gan" was Mediocre," Rodeiguez said. Aside from using her pen and paper, she loves to socialize with her friends and practice her editing skills on Adobe Photoshop in class. Rodriguez is also very involved at Robinson as a member of multiple clubs including Marine Biology, Photography and Model U.N. Outside of Robinson, she partakes in ballet for Kari and DiMarco South Dance. When Rodriguez isn't writing or practicing ballet, you can find her listening to her favorite artists such as Taylor Swift and Lana Del Ray while crocheting or painting. Her paintings tend to be still life watercolors and you will often see her drawing inspiration from her surroundings. "I'll usually paint what I see around me so like right now I've been painting my cat," Rodriguez said. In the future, Rodriguez has not decided what she wants to pursue yet, but plans on making a positive impact on the world by helping others in her future field of profession. "I want to do something that helps a lot of people like something with a charity organization or I want to be like a lawyer in the future," Rodriguez said. "I want to especially help people who are less privileged, and you know, can't afford to help you."

Janiece Mitchner, Senior Staff Writer

Janiece Mitchner is a junior at Robinson and a senior staff writer for Knight Writers. This is her second year on staff. While Mitchner was placed in journalism by chance, she has enjoyed the last year making drawings for the newspaper. "Since I suck at writing, I draw for the newspaper," Mitchner said. Mitchner has been drawing for five years and hopes to earn the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) Artist of the Year award in the future. "I usually draw characters, superheroes, anime characters and generally whatever looks interesting to me. It calms me when I draw and listen to music," Mitchner said. Besides art, Mitchner enjoys relaxing, volunteering for Girl Scouts and listening to music; particularly, her all-time favorite artist is Justin Bieber. The rest of Mitchner's time not designated towards art, school and music is put towards working at Qdoba, where she tends to work 20 hours a week. Mitchner has had to move multiple times due to her dad's military obligations. She has been living in Tampa for the last two years but does miss her last home in North Dakota. "Moving to Tampa has been kind of hard for me," Mitchner admitted. "I definitely miss having some snow, I'd rather be cold than hot." Besides North Dakota, Mitchner has also lived in Texas at two different times. Despite the numerous moves, Mitchner has stayed close with her family, including her younger brother and sister. Janiece, however, draws her ultimate inspiration from her mother. "She is my role model and is always able to balance all my siblings' requests. She's also very good at managing her time," Mitchner said. Mitchner is looking forward to graduating next year and plans to continue doing art actively as well as go on the culinary trip to Japan. "I hope that by the end of high school, my artwork will be in an art portfolio for college," Mitchner said. Profile by (Anika Sanka)

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ISSUE 2: Grammy Nominations Break the Mold: Over Half the Spotlight on Female Artists

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