For as much shit as white men (and whites in general) receive for being overly exposed in the media, it has nonetheless proven to be ineffective with regard to actually diminishing the pervasive presence of the white male in music. Not to get all Kanye about it, but it almost seems as though the Grammys are rigged to always be in favor of a Caucasian man. And the 2015 edition of the awards ceremony proved to be no different. One of the primary winners at the 2015 Grammys
Let’s take, for example, Sam Smith a.k.a. the new Rick Astley. As the winner of Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year and Record of the Year, Smith (also bearing one of the whitest monikers in existence) was one of the most apparent instances of the way in which music continues to favor a decidedly Anglican feel. Beck and Chris Martin perform, adding to the whiteness a-go-go
Even Beyonce couldn’t over take her white male competitor Beck for Album of the Year. And yeah, Beck is obviously amazing, but it almost seems like malicious intent on the part of the Grammys to choose such a sleeper album as the victor of a category of such stature. Gwen Stefani and Adam Levine
The bias toward whiteness didn’t just stop at the winners either. The performances, too, were, by and large geared toward the whitest kids you know, including AC/DC, Tom Jones, Miranda Lambert, Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani, Hozier and Annie Lennox, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Sia and Beck and Chris Martin. Phew. That’s a lot of white bread for one bread box of an auditorium to contain.
