Women at the Grammys 2024
LUX WMN
08 February 2024
2023 was the year that female musicians took the world by storm. From record-breaking stadium tours by Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to Miley Cyrus’ hit single “Flowers” having the longest stay on the Billboards all-format Radio Songs chart ever by a woman. It’s clear female artists are dominating across the board.
People were able to see female successes continue to play out during the 66th annual Grammys, the most prestigious award ceremony in the music industry. Women took the lead in both the nominations and the winners’ categories. Phoebe Bridgers was the biggest winner of the night, taking four awards. History was made across all genres, from rock to pop to reggaeton and Latin Trap. Paramore became the first rock ensemble with a leading woman to win Best Rock Album for “This is Why.” Taylor Swift made history by becoming the first musician to win Album of the Year four times and the first woman to win the award more than twice. Karol G won her first Grammy for Best Musica Urbana Album.
Women were not only honored with awards but with long overdue recognition. Tracy Chapman, Black female songwriter with the hit song “Fast Car” in 1988, has recently had a resurgence due to country artist Luke Combs’s cover of the hit. In November 2023, Combs won Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards, making Chapman the first Black woman to win in the Song of the Year Category. The two performed “Fast Car” live at the Grammys ending in a standing ovation by the audience.
Miley Cyrus also paid tribute to women who have come before her in her live Grammys performance of “Flowers”. Cyrus wore a custom silver frock by Maison Margiela that evoked multiple Bob Mackie looks worn by the late ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’, Tina Turner.
Despite the 2024 Grammys being a huge success for women, the Recording Academy has a long history of exclusionary efforts. A study by Glamour magazine in 2018 revealed that only 21 percent of Grammy nominees have been women since the start of the awards in 1959. In 2018, after almost no women were present in the nominations for the top three categories, the Recording Academy chairman, Neil Portnow stated that women themselves needed to “step up”.
Since then, the Academy has made significant changes to the foundation of its organization to better reflect the current music climate. According to the Washington Post, 2,400 music creators joined the voting bloc. Of the group, 37% were women and 50% were people of color. Expanding diversity amongst the bloc much better mirrors the present atmosphere of artists as nearly half of the spots on the Billboard Hot 100 were occupied by women and people of color. Artists are excited about these much-needed changes and are eager to see the music industry progress even more.
International pop singer Dua Lipa said, “What we want is just an equal space in the industry and to be seen equally on equal levels — not just on the creative side but on the business side — so hopefully the equality in the industry will kind of level things out a little,” she added. “I think we’re still kind of figuring that part out. But we’re getting there, slowly.”
Listen to our Spotify playlist with all the best female artists from the Grammys this year.
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