why SZA lost to Taylor Swift for Album of the Year at the Grammys

A semi-deep dive of the 2024 Grammys, from a semi-historical, semi-political, semi-referential, mostly subjective point of view. In a semi-way.

A semi-retrospective of the last 25 years of the Grammy Awards, with a more detailed frame of reference for the years at the Grammys in which black women were nominated for Album of the Year, since the last time a black woman won Album of the Year in 1999 (Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill).

Although the overarching thesis pertains to the most recent 2024 Grammys ceremony as it relates to Taylor Swift and SZA, further analysis of the last 25 Grammy Awards ceremonies provides historical context and varying analytical metrics of the Recording Academy's biases toward specific genres and even specific artists.

Edit: At 16:03 it is incorrectly stated that HER won Best New Artist the same night as her album HER. While HER did win 2 Grammys for R&B Performance/R&B Album, but did Not win Best New Artist.

Timestamps:
2024 Grammys Intro: 0:00 - 3:20
2000 Grammys: 3:23
2001 Grammys: 4:31
2002 Grammys: 4:37
2003 Grammys: 5:26
2004 Grammys: 5:30
2005 Grammys: 6:31
2006 Grammys: 7:34
2007 Grammys: 8:25
2008 Grammys: 8:29
2009 Grammys: 8:34
2010 Grammys: 8:40
2011 Grammys: 10:03
2012 Grammys: 10:07
2013 Grammys: 10:54
2014 Grammys: 10:58
2015 Grammys: 11:02
2016 Grammys: 12:35
2017 Grammys: 13:30
2018 Grammys: 14:51
2019 Grammys: 14:55
2020 Grammys: 16:19
2021 Grammys: 17:24
2022 Grammys: 18:10
2023 Grammys: 18:50
2024 Grammys: 20:26
An Ode to Lauryn Hill: 24:39
Closing Notes: 25:52

All Grammys footage, album covers displayed, and brief audio clips belong to their respective owners. Clips and visuals are intended to aid with the accompanying verbal analysis of the visuals displayed. Credit to the copyright holders, No copyright infringement intended. For educational purposes only.

Song(s) featured under free license:
Time Alone by David Renda
On My Own by David Renda

#taylorswift #sza #grammys #grammys2024 #beyonce #sos #music #laurynhill #jayz #midnights #videoessay #popculture #musictheory #analysis #rihanna #aliciakeys #musicreview #2010sthrowback #popsongs #2010smusic #2000smusic #2000snostalgia #albumreview #retrospective #retrospectives #2010s #2000s #2000ssongs #renaissance #fearless #1989 #kendricklamar #artists #whitneyhouston #nataliecole #lizzo #missyelliott