The 65^th Grammy Awards will be airing this Sunday 2/5 on CBS at 8pm ET and streaming live on Paramount  Plus. A lot has changed when it comes to award shows. There used to be a time when the Grammys would attract over 20 million viewers or higher. 8.9 million viewers watched the 2022 Grammys. Live award shows have gone down in the ratings over the years. They don’t have the same buzz they once did. Every year, I am always seeing headlines saying “the least watched (pick award show) yet. “Grammys are down from last year. Grammys hit record low. However, last year’s telecast was up slightly from 2021. In music the Grammys were the main event. It was the crown jewel the same way the Oscars are to film, or the Emmys are to television. That has drastically changed and not just for music. The Oscars and Emmys have also been attracting lower numbers over the years. Music is most notable because there are so many award shows for music. There is the Country Music Awards, the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, the Video Music Awards, and more. All of those shows have been struggling in the ratings. This is referring to live viewing because these shows are live events. I do not know how much streaming makes a difference when it comes to these shows. Ratings are down in the television landscape in general. Only sporting events and the Superbowl seem to pull in large numbers these days.

Live events seemed to have lost their buzz. The Grammys, has lot its buzz as time has gone on. I did not watch The Grammys last year and that is because I had to work when it was on. I DVRD it but was so busy with work that eventually I just deleted it without watching it. There was a time if I had to work during an award show I would watch it once I returned home from work.  

The Grammys is still important and is still a big deal in the music industry. I think there are many factors why it has lot its buzz. First off, it does not help that a lot of the big stars are not attending. That has been the case for awhile now. Drake has not been at the Grammys in a few years. The Weeknd will not be there this year. Bruno Mars is sitting this one out. I just found out that Silk Sonic opted not to submit their album for consideration as well as Drake and The Weeknd. A big draw for the Grammys and all music shows is the performances. The Grammys is probably one of the only music award shows that actually spends a decent amount of time giving out awards. A lot of the other music award shows will spend the duration on performances and sprinkle in presenting the awards.  The Grammys has a ton of categories that do not air. The list itself is ginormous. If they were to present every single category, it would be an all day event. Beyonce has multiple nominations this year including Record of the Year for Break My Soul which went number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has been reported that Beyonce is not expected to attend which also means there won’t be a performance by her. Taylor Swift who has won tons of Grammys over her career which Beyonce has as well, is also not expected to attend. Taylor Swift has been dominating ever since she dropped her latest album Midnights with Anti-Hero dominating the billboard charts. The song was number 1 for a total of 8 weeks nonconsecutively. Over the years a lot of stars have been refusing to participate in the Grammys which does include Drake and The Weeknd which is also probably why they did not submit their work. Things like that are not helping the Grammys. The Grammys is the award show that has all the biggest stars in music. As years have gone on, more of the stars are not attending which also means they are not performing. The performances are a big draw to any live music show. The Grammys produced memorable performances like Eminem and Elton John who teamed up for Stan. There was Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar who performed Radioactive (Remix) and m.A.A.d city. Beyonce and Jay-Z gave an electrifying performance of Drunk in Love and so many more.

Will the Grammys be able to rebuild its buzz? In this day and age, never say never. Nothing is impossible. There could be a time the Grammys and other award shows reclaim some of their former glory. Top Gun: Maverick was a huge hit, and it finally came out 35 years after the first one. Running Up that Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush entered the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year after being featured on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. It found a second life on the chart and on radio. The song originally came out in 1985. There are tons of other examples. I think it could be possible for The Grammys to become buzz worthy again. I am looking forward to watching the telecast. I will be honest. It does get a little disappointing to not see my favorite artists perform or attend. The Grammys is a great platform to promote singles and albums as is all award shows. The landscape has changed so much. Artists don’t necessarily have to make the rounds to promote their singles or albums. A lot of recent hit songs have blown up because of TikTok. There are also social media platforms for artist to promote their latest material. There are other ways to market music without making TV appearances or doing radio interviews. The traditional marketing campaign is still useful and there are still a lot of artists who use it.

There are many reasons why The Grammys has lost its buzz. Some of it stems from office politics so to speak which has also contributed to the Oscars and Emmy issues as well. This is also a big part of why more and more artists are refusing to attend the award show. With all big award shows there will always be the question of them getting it right. The Oscars will nominate big movies that people actually saw to draw people in but the awards will go to films no one has seen or heard of in some cases. The Grammys has done that before when nominating big artists to get the eyeballs to watch the show but will then give the award to an artist many people are not familiar with. A common complaint for big award shows is that the usual things get the awards. How many times have popular songs or artists been nominated but lost out to a song or artists no one has heard of? Britney Spears is a huge pop star and does not have many Grammys or nominations. Katy Perry is another one with massive hits but zero Grammys. She has been nominated thirteen times. If The Grammys become more open minded, I think it will be able to build up buzz again. I also think The Grammys should try to work things out with the artists who currently are refusing to attend which would help by having tons of star power and performances.