Brian May slams Brit Awards

[Suspiria 10,683]

I'm kinda surprised to see all the comments agreeing with this. The Grammys Big 4 are 'gender neutral' - not because they're being ~woke~, but just because as another user said, music doesn't necessarily have anything to do with gender. There have always been 'gender neutral' awards, this is just a buzz-word label that is being unnecessarily slapped on.

 

I do hate the way the media always over sensationalise things though. 'Slams' 'excoriated' 'spoke at length' all make it sound like he's red in the face screaming about this, when he was no doubt just casually expressing his thoughts.

[huttont 4,679]

I don’t understand why everyone is not in support of this change? And why will women never win? Am I missing something?
 

Artists who don’t identify as either now can be included…

[Teletubby 117,737]

9 minutes ago, huttont said:

And why will women never win? Am I missing something?

Last year Little Mix won Brit for British Group, they are the first female group to win in all 43 years of The Brits. Spice Girls, Sugababes, Girls Aloud all lost to male groups.
 

[huttont 4,679]

Just now, Teletubby said:

Last year Little Mix won Brit for British Group, they are the first female group to win in all 43 years of The Brits. Spice Girls, Sugababes, Girls Aloud all lost to male groups.
 

Thank you. I just didn’t understand since I haven’t really followed the Brit Awards in the past

[StrawberryBlond 13,286]

1 hour ago, huttont said:

I don’t understand why everyone is not in support of this change? And why will women never win? Am I missing something?
 

Artists who don’t identify as either now can be included…

Along with the BRITS example provided, I'd also like to add that one that really sticks out in GGD's memory is when, at the 2018 Grammys, Ed Sheeran won best pop solo for Shape Of You and he was the only male in the category and he was competing against the likes of Gaga, Pink and Kesha, who were singing powerful, affecting stories about break ups, social justice and abuse. People pointed out that it was so typical that a man was winning for a fun song about sex while the women he was competing against were singing songs that were far better written and dealt with serious topics. This was the year where there were a lot of female performers and they wore white roses in solidarity of the MeToo movement and yet this was the year where barely any women won awards. The Grammys chief even had the cheek to say that "women need to step up." And the sad thing is, so many men didn't see any problem with this, saying women just weren't making music that was as good as the men. This was despite the fact that so many of the women who missed out had acclaimed albums. This is just the reality for women. Even when you're just as good as or better than men, you're still regarded as second best. You'd think, by the laws of probability, where 4 out of 5 nominees are female, it would be a female win, but even then, they miss out. I feel making categories gender neutral hasn't accounted for the clear gender bias that goes on in the minds of critics and public alike. And honestly, I think non-binary people would be unlikely to win as well. There is an undeniable bias towards believing that cisgender straight males make the best music in the minds of many. It's just the way the world works and separating by gender can alleviate this somewhat.

Problem is, there's no easy solution to this. My suggestion is simply to make more awards categories. That way, no matter how you identify, everyone has a chance to shine. Everyone has an equal chance to be a winner. What could possibly be the downside with that? If you ask me, a big reason why most awards are gender segregated at all is actually nothing to do with gender politics and all to do with the fact that the industry just wants to give as many of its artists as many chances to win as possible!

[huttont 4,679]

11 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Along with the BRITS example provided, I'd also like to add that one that really sticks out in GGD's memory is when, at the 2018 Grammys, Ed Sheeran won best pop solo for Shape Of You and he was the only male in the category and he was competing against the likes of Gaga, Pink and Kesha, who were singing powerful, affecting stories about break ups, social justice and abuse. People pointed out that it was so typical that a man was winning for a fun song about sex while the women he was competing against were singing songs that were far better written and dealt with serious topics. This was the year where there were a lot of female performers and they wore white roses in solidarity of the MeToo movement and yet this was the year where barely any women won awards. The Grammys chief even had the cheek to say that "women need to step up." And the sad thing is, so many men didn't see any problem with this, saying women just weren't making music that was as good as the men. This was despite the fact that so many of the women who missed out had acclaimed albums. This is just the reality for women. Even when you're just as good as or better than men, you're still regarded as second best. You'd think, by the laws of probability, where 4 out of 5 nominees are female, it would be a female win, but even then, they miss out. I feel making categories gender neutral hasn't accounted for the clear gender bias that goes on in the minds of critics and public alike. And honestly, I think non-binary people would be unlikely to win as well. There is an undeniable bias towards believing that cisgender straight males make the best music in the minds of many. It's just the way the world works and separating by gender can alleviate this somewhat.

Problem is, there's no easy solution to this. My suggestion is simply to make more awards categories. That way, no matter how you identify, everyone has a chance to shine. Everyone has an equal chance to be a winner. What could possibly be the downside with that? If you ask me, a big reason why most awards are gender segregated at all is actually nothing to do with gender politics and all to do with the fact that the industry just wants to give as many of its artists as many chances to win as possible!

Thank you for that explanation. It makes total sense. I also wish there was more transparency with HOW the winners are selected. Are there any regulations? Sorry for my cluelessness/ignorance for how award shows work. But I’m sure each show has their own set of rules 

[zakariah 11,556]

from how i see it, more cateogries = more deserving artists get nominated & recognised, especially for non-mainstream artists

[AJRocketMan 2,684]

19 hours ago, RahrahWitch said:

when gender identity really has nothing to do with musical talent at all?

That’s not true. Women are generally more musical and creative than men are.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771742/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/research-proves-female-artists-are-more-creative-than-men-962899/amp/

[StrawberryBlond 13,286]

5 hours ago, huttont said:

Thank you for that explanation. It makes total sense. I also wish there was more transparency with HOW the winners are selected. Are there any regulations? Sorry for my cluelessness/ignorance for how award shows work. But I’m sure each show has their own set of rules 

Far as I'm aware, they all claim it's to do with artistic exellence and nothing to do with commercial success. You just have to fit the category name and make good music, that's it. Naturally, the most popular, known names are more likely to get selected. For something like the BRITS British single of the year, they only pick super popular songs to nominate, however, so that's the rare kind of award I've seen where it's clearly based on popularity but that's about it. Women dominated at this years BRITS, winning 8 of the 11 awards, a feat never achieved before and, when categories get neutral, unlikely ever to happen again. I don't mind males dominating in any given year, as long as it's not consecutive dominance, but that's not how it will work out when they're put in the same field as women. And in the case of Best British Single, as it's viewer voted, men nearly always win as it's fangirl types who vote for this and they vote for men, so men have historically always won this. The same will likely happen with the newly announced viewer voted genre awards. They thought they were giving women a chance with these but ironically just lowered their chances by making it viewer voted. The majority of voters are female, who typically vote for men. Even women don't vote for other women, which is sad.

[skaxboy 3,490]

With all respects to this legend, it’s different times now. I am positive people in the 70’s and 80’s felt the same, only now we are able to express our concerns online and organizations actually address those concerns. I’m not saying he is entirely wrong but I think adding more categories would be a better idea. The BRIT Awards are more artist based, why not just add song genre awards? I mean, we can all agree awards are kinda cool but also irrelevant to anything but bragging. 

[Teletubby 117,737]

8 minutes ago, skaxboy said:

why not just add song genre awards?

they added 4 fan voted:
Alternative/Rock Act
Pop/R&B Act
Dance Act
Hip Hop/Rap/Grime Act

[Nemo 3,968]

23 hours ago, Queen Bitch said:

“He was a musician, he was our friend, he was our brother. We didn’t have to stop and think: ‘Ooh, now, should we work with him? Is he the right color? Is he the right sexual proclivity?’ None of that happened, and now I find it frightening that you have to be so calculating about everything.”

Nobody does that now -- maybe when casting a TV show, or when assembling one of those "pre-fab" producer's bands, but most current bands (to the extent that bands are still a thing) barely have any diversity within them, and still nobody cares.

[Nemo 3,968]

7 hours ago, Nemo said:

Nobody does that now -- maybe when casting a TV show, or when assembling one of those "pre-fab" producer's bands, but most current bands (to the extent that bands are still a thing) barely have any diversity within them, and still nobody cares.

Oh, and when it does happen, it's not because anyone's afraid that the Woke Mob will come after them if they don't -- it's "we should include an X, to appeal to that demographic".

[Lucas 20,615]

On 11/27/2021 at 12:42 AM, Queen Bitch said:

, and now I find it frightening that you have to be so calculating about everything.”

He added: “[Queen] would be forced to have people of different colors and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person]. You know life doesn’t have to be like that. We can be separate and different.”

 

 

this is 100% right though

[mwjuell91 215]

We had this debate in Norway in 2007 when Susanne Sundfør famously won best female artist at out Grammy equivalent. She got up at the stage and said; I am first and formost a musician before I am a woman. She left the trophy on the stage and walked down. 
 

they removed the categories after this. The problem is not the categories, it’s more about how you choose the winner and on what merits? If they can manage equality within that there should be no problem