The results are in, and surprisingly the 2018 Grammy Award nominations for Album of the Year have a diverse pool of individuals which excludes White men. Indeed, the five candidates chosen include three people of color and a White woman. This marks the first time that White men have been excluded from the Album of the Year category since 1999. Some have even gone as far as to say that the year 1999 did in fact include White males in the Album of the Year category, since a band nominated at the time called Garbage had a lead singer that was a White female while the band’s other members were White men. Many have speculated that the cause for the Grammy’s change up was because of a switch to digital voting and revamp of the Grammy online platform. Grammy nominees have always been chosen by voting memebers, or to be more specific “music industry professionals who have creative or technical credits on at least six commercial tracks on a physical music release, or 12 on a digital album” (Deahl & Singleton, 2017, para. 2). The switch to online voting allowed more of the Grammy’s 13,000 member voting block to participate. Previously members dealt with paper voting, which would be a hassle for those on the road or out of the country. In the past, this awards ceremony has come under fire for not being diverse in its decisions about certain artists winning in a variety of categories. Most notably, there was an outcry last year when singer Adele won Album of the Year over the singer Beyonce. As was to be expected, there are mixed feelings about White men not being among the Album of the Year contestants this time around. Some have pointed to the fact that this, in fact, shows a lack of diversity, while others felt headlines highlighting the fact that White men aren’t included was unnecessary. However, Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow reportedly told Billboard, a U.S. entertainment and media brand, that he was pleased. Portnow furthermore was quoted saying “[the nominations are] a wonderful reflection on our organization and how relevant and in touch and savvy are voting members are.” References Deahl, D., & Singleton, M. (2017, November 28). Thanks to online voting, The Grammy’s Album of the Year nominees are the most diverse ever. Retrieved November 29, 2017, from https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/11/28/16710620/online-voting-grammys-album-of-the-year-nominees-diversity













