Category: Music

The K-Pop Trainee System – Interest of the Week

July 19, 2021 / Gavriel Sacks / 0 Comments

Sayon begins off his blogging career with the beginning of a new series: what Sayon looks into this week. For his debut, he explores the K-pop training system. Check it out!

19th July 2021

By Sayon

History of the K-pop training system

In 1989 Lee Soo Man, founder of SM Entertainment (home to groups such as EXO, Red Velvet and NCT), implemented the modern-day K-pop trainee system. His goal was to ensure his idols stood out amongst the rest. In 1996 the ‘first K-pop group’ H.O.T debuted. Now, let’s look into the phases involved in creating an idol.

Scouting

Firstly, before we even enter the practice room, we need to find people with the potential to become an idol. One way of doing this is street casting. This involves scouts being sent out to major cities in South Korea to find attractive children. Yes, children. Nowadays the age of a scouted trainee is usually around 11-13. But, in 2000, while on a family trip to Korea, f(x)’s Krystal was street-cast at just age 6.

Auditioning

So after being street-cast, if the person finds the opportunity to enter the K-pop industry appealing, they will enter the auditioning phase. Those who were not street-cast most likely dreamed of becoming an idol from a very young age and therefore spent much of their early years improving their vocals and dancing skills to ensure they were in the best condition possible for their auditions.

Starting from a young age is beneficial. You are conditioning your body for the trainee process, which is useful. Also, post-debut your time as an idol will normally be no shorter than 7 years, so having prior training will always be an advantage.

The aim of the auditioning phase is to get a training contract. The auditioning phase is the first filtering stage where one’s individual talents are pointed out. This stage will usually indicate how their training will be structured. Say, for example, you are heavily complimented for your rapping ability.

Some candidates are extremely unlucky and will sometimes spend years in this phase. For example, TWICE’s Jihyo started auditioning at age 8 and was not picked up by a company until 10 years later. This is where street-cast candidates somewhat have an upper hand as they are usually selected around the time a company is trying to form a new group. Thus, they are brought in to fill a specific role as their face fits the concept of the group the company is trying to form.

Sidenote: Roles within a K-pop group

Leader – usually the eldest member, or whoever spent the longest time as a trainee, a good leader is someone who is able to take care of their members and be a mature representative of the group
Vocalist – if you showed potential in your singing ability you were trained to be a vocalist
Rapper – usually when you cannot sing, you are made to rap
Dancer – when you cannot sing or rap, you dance
Visual – definitely a controversial role, as it essentially means you were not good at singing, rapping, or dancing so you are simply there to look pretty
Center – refers to one’s position during promotions such as photoshoots; this is generally the most attractive and/or popular member
Maknae – a term given to describe the youngest member of the group

Survival Shows

Survival shows are a public form of auditioning. However, instead of aiming to receive a training contract, winners of these shows are immediately debuted. This is after the number of candidates is reached after some are eliminated. Groups that you may have heard of that are a product of such shows include Monsta X (formed by No Mercy), iKON (formed by Mix & Match), and BIGBANG (formed by BIGBANG Documentary).

Training Costs

After successfully passing the audition phase, candidates sign a contract with the company that chose them. However, this contract has a few issues. For one, trainees must pay for the training they are about to receive. This can range from $500 (~£360) to $2000 (~£1440) a month. These costs will go towards vocal coaches, choreographers, stylists, make-up artists, accommodation, living expenses, and staff salaries. So, as you can imagine, the kill fee is rather large.

Another issue with these expensive training costs is that in the trainee contract that is signed after the audition phase, it states that the company cannot tell the trainee when they will likely debut. Hence why some people stay in this phase for years. On average a person will spend 4 years as a trainee. Let’s say you pay a grand a month for training, they’re looking at about $48,000 (~£35,000) of debt to their company.

To ensure they stay in the training system and/or company, some talented trainees will have their fees waived until they debut. Now, this may sound like a great deal, but not every idol debuts and grows to become a millionaire like the members of BTS. An extreme case would be the girl group Lovelyz, who for most of their time as idols, were not paid a single penny of profits. Anything they earned simply went back to the company as a means of paying off their debt to them.

Debt as a result of training costs is usually the reason why some idols have a second job as well. This is even worse if you’re still in full-time education as you will need to balance school, a part-time job and being an idol.

Life as a K-pop Trainee

As I previously mentioned most people are around 11-13 when they become a trainee. So, they will spend their mornings and afternoons at school. But, the rest of their evening will be dedicated to training and practicing usually until midnight. Trainees who have graduated or made the decision to drop out of school however will practice between 16-18 hours a day. They start from around 9/10 am and practice until 2/3 am the next morning. Due to this tightly packed schedule, many trainees have come out and said that they generally do not receive the recommended amount of sleep. On average they get at about 4 hours a night.

Maintaining Appearances

The K-pop industry is home to some of the harshest fans. So, it is unsurprising that during the training process individuals are encouraged to undergo surgeries such as blepharoplasty (double eyelid surgery) and rhinoplasty (a nose job) to meet Korean beauty standards. These standards, to use an understatement, are high. However, plastic surgery is an interesting topic in the K-pop industry. Although the surgeries help idols meet the standards, I have seen some online users criticise idols for not maintaining their “natural beauty”.

Diets

Even though most trainees are going through puberty, unhealthy relationships with food and body management are common. They are forced to maintain a certain standard so as not to be criticised by the public. A common diet among girl K-pop groups before a comeback (release of a new album/single) is one where their calorie allowance is set to 1500. Now, as a short-term diet, this is alright especially if your daily life consists of mostly sitting down. However, for teens practicing 16-18 hours a day with little to no sleep, 1500 calories is appalling. They practically burn all the calories they consume and more.

Personality Training

Yeah I know, the sub-heading is weird. You seem not only are the physical appearance standards high, but the standard of behaviour expected from idols is debatably even higher. There is an argument to be made here that this is why companies scout for trainees during their formative years, as this will give them more time to edit and extract all their imperfections in time for them to fit the mold for the company’s next group. This ‘personality training’ will transfer over to events such as fan signings and meetings. This is where idols are meant to give off happy vibes only, if not, they risk being slandered online for being ‘unfriendly’ or ‘rude’.

Speaking of online usage, cancel culture is much much stronger in the K-pop industry. As I am sure you are aware of K-pop stans’ activity on platforms such as Twitter. They have no chill. A famous example would be Jay Park’s removal from the group 2PM. This was after online users found messages attacking Korea on his personal Myspace page. They were posted 4 years prior.

Evaluations

Probably the most iconic part of the modern-day trainee system is the monthly, sometimes weekly evaluations. During these evaluations, all the trainees are ranked in each of the skills they are developing. As a result, one of three things can happen.

If the company is in the process of forming its next group, scoring high enough will increase your chances of debuting in it.
Scoring low enough can get your contract terminated. As the industry has become more and more saturated, companies will be incentivised to cycle in more talent whilst side-lining or scrapping those who do not show potential immediately.
Trainees are sometimes swapped around companies.

Post-debut K-pop

Unfortunately, life after a debut does not get any easier. The skeletal structure of trainee life remains the same but now as idols schedules are packed with promoting your new albums/singles. This is through filming commercials, attending photoshoots, and appearing on variety shows such as Weekly Idol and Knowing Brothers. However, I have rambled on long enough. So, to tease my future plans, I will leave the struggles of being a K-pop idol for another day.

ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ

Elliot’s Songs of the Week: No. 3

July 15, 2021 / Gavriel Sacks / 3 Comments

Elliot finally returns with his mega-famous Songs of the Week series. Elliot talks about songs which you might have never ever heard of but they are well worth checking out – he is the world’s best music critic after all!

15th July 2021

By Elliot

Welcome back to probably one of the most inconsistent [not very weekly] weekly blog segments you will ever encounter, where I find songs which I have enjoyed and talk about them, making the assumption that the world relishes in hearing my opinion. This in turn feeds into my ever-expanding ego and superiority complex until I have convinced myself that I am the only person who truly understands music as I set out to kidnap, torture and silence every other music critic that does not agree with me.* That being said, here are some of my favourite tracks that I have been listening to this week.

The Ultracheese – Arctic Monkeys

The final track off of Arctic Monkeys’ sixth commercial album Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is The Ultracheese, a heavily Bowie-influenced venture into Alex Turner’s vision of a dystopia for celebrity. It is a look into a man’s mind whose loneliness caused by a loss of friendships and detachment from society leaves him paranoid. Turner’s characteristic lilting vocals beautifully accompany his piano as the song progresses, maintaining an almost lounge-like style.

If you take a step back and look at this song with the conceptual context of the album in mind, rather than a standalone reminiscent pondering, this in fact appears to be Turner once again imagining this hotel, on the moon, as a residence for those celebrities who have long passed out of the limelight. I would even go so far as to say this song portrays a man looking back at the Earth, where they once lived, thinking of those friends that he has left behind. Although in the first person, for me it is hard to say whether Turner is talking about what his future may look like or utilising a larger scope and predicting the doom of his peers as well.

Did these songs predict the future?

It is also worth mentioning that, while dystopian to most extents, day by day this album as a whole seems to be becoming more relevant with lyrics such as ‘no one’s on the streets’ and ‘we moved it all online as of March’ which very weirdly predicts the time at which the UK went into lockdown last year. I could not recommend this album or song enough. Since its release, verging on three years ago now, both have continued to grow on me with its unique imagery and luscious production. This huge musical left turn for the band took many fans by surprise but the Arctic Monkeys’s seemingly outdated grunge sound was in dire need of a replacement.

Rapp Snitch Knishes – MF DOOM, Mr. Fantastik

It would be a crime to have not included, at some point, MF DOOM in one of these track lists. In light of his recent passing, it only seemed fitting to me. In 2004, ‘your rapper’s favourite rapper’ released Madvillainy and subsequently one of my favourite tracks off of it – Raid. Madvillainy was a collaboration album between prestigious hip hop sample producer Madlib and obviously DOOM.

To start off with, Madlib’s genius use of a sample taken from Bill Evans’ trios performance of Nardis at the Montreaux Jazz Festival is looped throughout and produces a very laid-back jazz lounge feel to the intro of this track. Furthermore, DOOM’s lyricism and sheer quantity of rhymes produced is, as always, unparalleled with lines such as ‘wrote the book on rhymes, a note from the author // with no headshot he said it’s been a while,’ flaunting the fact that he can rhyme so well whilst also explaining that as the author of the ‘book on rhymes’ he still covers his face with a mask preserving his identity.

Overall, I love this track and every single one off of Madvillainy: it caught DOOM and Madlib at their very best, an instant classic. This album was one of the first albums that introduced me to hip hop and opened my eyes to the genre and out of all rap and hip hop production it has still remained one of my very favourites. I cannot recommend MF DOOM’s entire discography enough – he is the underground king of hip hop.

Dump – Kero Kero Bonito

Dump is British, electronic, J-Pop influenced, indie band Kero Kero Bonito’s statement on getting rid of old things that you do not need anymore. Having surprised me with their fusion of rather cheery sounding electronic music and conscious lyricism while watching them live for the first time at End of the Road Festival in 2019, Kero Kero Bonito enlightened me to a huge new world of music I had previously neglected.

Dump, although the production is somewhat simplistic and midi centralised, it really emphasises the band’s clear desire to maintain many aspects of dance music. Sarah Bonito, the band’s lead singer on this track, expresses her sadness in throwing her dead parakeet’s cage on the dump and this feeling is reflected in the, more sorrowful than usual, production on this track. I would heavily recommend this song and this band’s music with recent projects like their ‘Civilisation Series’. I would jump on the bandwagon now before their eclectic style of music truly spikes in popularity.

*In the interest of not jeopardising future job applications and as to not be the next guest featuring on a CANCELLED blog segment, this is sarcasm.

Check out all the songs featured in this series below!

Cynics

Check out Elliot’s own music below!

The Top 10 Best Colours

May 2, 2021 / Noah Mendel / 24 Comments

2nd May 2021

By Noah

In this fast-moving, electronic world it’s so easy for days and weeks to go past in the blink of an eye. Do you ever look around you and consider the beauty and the hierarchy of things around you? Yes, the hierarchy. The true hierarchy of the visible light spectrum is often ignored by the ordinary person. But, as usual, I’m no ordinary person. Sure, any 6-year-old will proudly tell you what their favourite colour is as if it defines who they are, but no one ever asks what your second favourite colour is or least favourite. However, whereas your favourite colour is subjective, I will now, objectively, state what the top 10 best colours are and explain why.

10. White

Idioms/uses: White as snow

Movie quote: ‘I just did an entirely white poo’ – The Brothers Grimsby

White sucks. It is literally the blandest colour known to man and anyone who chooses to get a white car is a joke. Oh yeah, and it also happens to be the colour of the race that has been the primary contributor to racism in the last 2000 years. So yeah, white goes bottom of my list.

9. Yellow

Idioms/uses: To be yellow

Movie quote: ‘Nobody calls me yellow’ – Back to the Future Part III

Yellow is only a tiny bit better than white because it has different shades. At best you get the delightful golden-yellow sunrise, which would put yellow around sixth on this list. On the other hand, however, you have beige. The colour of sand. But not sand on the beach. Sand when you’re pouring it out of your shoe afterwards. No wonder Marty McFly famously said, ‘Nobody calls me yellow!’ Simply because, like white, yellow sucks.

8. Brown

Idioms/uses: How now, brown cow?

Pretty boring. Also, the colour of poo. Countered by being the colour of chocolate. If you wear brown, you look like a tree. Weirdly if you wear green you don’t. But if you wear brown you do.

7. Black

Idioms/uses: Black as night

Movie quote: ‘Black?! That’s the worst colour there is! [to Carl] No offence there, Carl’ – The Simpsons Movie

No, not the colour black that you’ve seen before. What gets black all the way up to number 7 is ‘true black’. The blackest of the black. In fact, the pure black that I’m talking about doesn’t even exist on Earth. Recently, a British company produced a strange material so black that it absorbs all but 0.035% of visual light. I think they won a Guinness world record for that. Pretty cool, no? Otherwise, black’s kind of boring. Almost like a ‘staple’ colour. The only person who really pulls off this colour is Batman.

6. Green

Idioms/uses: Green about the gills

Movie quote: ‘Don’t make the super suit green, or animated’ – Deadpool

Had a pair of bright green trousers once. My prized possession. Everyone else thought I looked stupid, but I knew I looked pretty cool. I’ve got a lot of respect for green, and it doesn’t get the fame it deserves. Also, my Mum’s favourite colour. Got nothing against green, it just doesn’t have much going for it. Also, Decablogs.

5. Red

Idioms/uses: Face going red (blushing)

Movie quote: ‘A red sun rises. Blood has been spilt this night.’ – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Song: Seeing Red (by Decablogs’ very own Elliot)

The crowd’s favourite. Everyone loves a bit of red. Slap some red racing stripes on a car, and it goes three times faster. True story. Red’s the colour of my underpants and Arsenal. So, can’t be going wrong. Also, ‘Seeing Red’ by Cynics, is one of the greatest songs to grace this planet. So go listen. But Fool’s Paradise isn’t for me.

4. Pink

Idioms/uses: Tickled pink

Movie quote: ‘On Wednesdays we wear pink’ – Mean Girls

If you’re a girl and you wear a lot of pink, you’re probably annoying. If you’re a boy and you wear a lot of pink you probably think you’re too handsome for these shorts. In moderation, it’s a great colour, but just slightly worse than purple.

3. The Color Purple

No not the actual colour. But the film (editor’s note: THE BOOK). It follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900s. At the age of 14 she was impregnated by her father and the film follows the next 30 years of her life. Absolutely brilliant film. Also, released to the world ‘Miss Celie’s blues’, with a pitch-perfect opening lick. Strongly recommend. Oh yeah and the actual colour isn’t too bad either.

2. Blue

Idioms/uses: Blue balls

The crème de la crème. Colour of lots of things. No argument required. If blue balls were actually blue then this would be lower on the list but seeing as they’re still the colour of your normal balls, then it doesn’t really matter.

1. Jazz

Yes, I know, not a colour. However, it is the best music genre out there and it’s dying. So please, please, go listen to some jazz. You will not regret.

PS: To check out some awesome jazz analysis click the following link.

One Note Samba Lyrics

PPS: For other amazing blogs click the links below or check out some of the other ramblings posted elsewhere on this wonderful website/

Elliot’s Songs of the Week: No. 2

April 18, 2021 / Elliot Hamilton-Croft / 0 Comments

18th April 2021

Trigger warning: the first image contains blood and sensitive imagery

By Elliot

Falling Out the Sky – Armand Hammer, The Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt

Renowned American producer The Alchemist has once again worked his magic on this track. Taken out of Billy Woods’ and E L U C I D’s recent collaborative project, Haram, Falling out the Sky really caught my eye or should I say ears. With a dreamy and intergalactic beat, Earl Sweatshirt, this song’s feature, grips the listener, as his emphatic lyrics and lazy flow, describing how he has felt since his father’s passing in 2018, paint his world in gruesome detail with his father’s ‘swollen body behind [his] eyes’. Earl’s stellar wordplay also shines throughout this feature as he explains how his ‘rhymes’ allow him to interpret the world that he lives in. Then comes Billy Woods who is, in my opinion, a wildly underappreciated underground rapper. His signature east side twang compliments the beat beautifully as he talks of a summer smoking with his friends. Last but definitely not least E L U C I D rounds out this track and with swing; he recalls many childhood memories to the listener. Evoking recollection at one point of his friends hazing those that ‘fell asleep first’ by basically just beating them up, depicting what he describes as a ‘vicious cycle, hurt people hurt people’. Overall, this track even though it is just verse, verse, verse, is an exceptional showcase and grouping together of four very talented individuals. I live for it.

Despair – Black Midi

In anticipation of UK art/noise rock and post-punk outfit, Black Midi’s new album Cavalcade, due to release during late May this year, released one track early: Despair. One of two singles thus far. This one is by far my favourite. With a more laidback feel to it and clear folkish influences, Geordie Greep (lead singer), for me at least, really embodies his unique, croaky, almost Jim Morrison-esque vocal range. Subtle and sorrowful guitar passages guide you

The song takes on a medieval feel as Greep talks of ‘man’ taking up a philosophical role. The minimalism of this track compared to a lot of Black Midi’s other endeavours which was a good hand to play for them. I cannot wait to hear the rest of this album and I hope that you join me in that impatience.

The Light Pt I & II – BROCKHAMPTON

BROCKHAMPTON, after a decidedly and deservedly long hiatus from music, have come back with their most personal and remarkable album to date with ROADRUNNER. The Light and The Light Pt II really stood out to me amongst the tracklist of this project. Joba and Kevin Abstract shine on both of these songs as Joba describes the aftermath of his father’s suicide and Kevin discusses how it is still hard to talk to his own mother about his homosexuality. Joba’s descriptions of his father’s suicide and subsequently his views on death and what happens afterwards at times verges on hard to listen to. A line of Joba’s which is almost macabre to me – ‘a bloody backdrop, skull fragments in the ceiling // felt your presence in the room’ – not only is this so powerful but the horrendously honest imagery here and throughout these two tracks transports you into a man’s mind so obviously traumatised. The instrumentals across these tracks are gorgeous not to mention. Fuzzy guitar licks reflect both artists anguish as they navigate their way through their psyches. If you do not feel like listening to the entire album, then definitely give these two songs a listen.

One Note Samba Lyrics

April 12, 2021 / Noah Mendel / 8 Comments

12th April 2021

By Noah

For the first time in history, I am going to attempt to do something that no one has ever done. Scientists and musicians alike have failed to do this great feat. But I will now, as you are witnessing, solve one of the world’s toughest questions: what are the lyrics to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of One Note Samba? It was sung only once ever, on June 22nd, 1969. As someone who enjoys scatting regularly, be it at house parties or at supermarkets, I love listening to Ella Fitzgerald. However, a limitation to my scatting is that I never know what words to sing. Hopefully, by finally discovering what they are in ‘One Note Samba’, my scatting will be all the more improved. I will not deny that this is an incredibly difficult and daunting task, and so only the first 30 seconds will be transliterated. On the YouTube video below this is from 0:49 to 1:19. Of course, this is only my interpretation of the lyrics and this does not take into account the eccentricity of the rhythm. Anyway, my lyrics are as follows:

Shum digidi boom boom bigidi gdning nang dunalang guna lang loo – AH

Shigilidi ooo boom bigidi didooo dung bazizoo – AH

Boo didilinindilin doondidilindoodoo bindoon d – AH

Boodun boobi boodin booba boodun doodi doodun doobib doob – AH

Shundidilin beeeee doo dun doo doo doodidlindoo didlilidoo dibum – HO

Didilindoo dididilidoo didiliyoo – AH

Shibidoodeeeeee din doo din dun don lood – AH

Daboobabooboo dandoobey babadoo dandilindooy – AH

Shabidiloobididiboo dibidoiiiiya dibidoiiiya

Shabidilidoondiboo didoiiiya badoodidoiiiya!

I apologise to anyone who is offended by some of the inappropriate words that were necessary to transliterate this work of art. For example, doody and booby. Unfortunately, Ella Fitzgerald never released the clean version, and I am simply a fan. I hope you enjoyed this. I know I certainly did.

Elliot’s Songs of the Week

April 6, 2021 / Elliot Hamilton-Croft / 0 Comments

6th April 2021

By Elliot

Magpie – Lava La Rue

Up and coming Ladbroke Grove local Lava La Rue has released arguably her strongest single to date with ‘Magpie’. Lusciously layered soul samples dunk the listener into what can only be described as a dreamy psychedelic RnB experience. Lava’s vocals weave in and out of the contagiously likeable beat, with her rap verses flowing effortlessly. While, at face value, it would seem this song is devoted to past lovers, once examined, it is clear through lyrics such as – ‘hear the beat // London city set me free’ – Lava is celebrating the historical diversity of the city she has grown up in. Not a love song to a partner; instead a love song for her city. With heaps of self-confidence, Lava has once again shot herself into the limelight with this single especially in the UK scene and I look forward to hearing more from her.

Sisyphus – Quadeca

To say that Quadeca has come far from his days of dissing and collaborating with YouTubers would be an egregious understatement off the back of his recent single ‘Sisyphus’. The depth and grandiose nature of Quadeca’s production on this track is the first thing that took me by surprise. The combination of choral vocals, synth arpeggios and glitchy blemishes adds to the mountainous feeling throughout. Quadeca’s introspective and mature lyrics use the Greek myth of Sisyphus to explain how he only loves his significant other when he is working or ‘pushing the boulder’ so to speak. The song comes to end with a huge crescendo of jarring drums and distorted guitar something not too dissimilar to Deftones with its metal/hard rock influences. Quadeca has very clearly pulled out all the stops to produce something as gorgeous as ‘Sisyphus’ is and I cannot wait to hear more out of his camp. Whether you have not liked or listened to Quadeca in the past this track is a must-listen for anyone who enjoys good music.

Born in Luton – Shame

‘Born in Luton’ is a delightful new track by Shame a band hailing out of South London. Riding the wave of a fresh EU post-punk movement spearheaded by bands like Idles and Viagra Boys. With its screeching heavily distorted guitars from start to finish, the song almost diverges into noise rock at points. The song reaches its climax by the end where it seems to implode as Steen, Shame’s lead singer, with anguish, screams his vocals to outro the song. A really enjoyable listen and definitely worth a shot if you are enjoying the sort of post-punk revival that is happening currently.

The 2021 Grammys

April 5, 2021 / Shyam Patra / 0 Comments

5th April 2021

By Shyam

The biggest night in music, the Grammys, were held on Monday 15^th March. After what was a long and polarizing year, many fans (including myself) were looking forward to a night of celebration. A celebration of music, of people and the art they produce. However, as usual, they arrived amid a cloud of controversy.

The Recording Academy’s decision to snub multiple major artists once again brought up questions about their selection process. This year, however, was the most controversial. The Weeknd released his fourth studio album “After Hours“, which was received well by critics and fans alike for its immersive production, flawless songwriting and well-crafted tracklist. A notable highlight was the track “Blinding Lights” which peaked at number one in thirty-four countries and shattered record after record on its way to 2 billion streams (and counting). To state it in no uncertain terms, The Weeknd was the biggest personality in music this year. It’s easy to understand the backlash when the Grammys chose not to include him in any nominations while offering a weak and quite frankly insincere apology when confronted about it. Many artists over the years mentioned the “lack of transparency” in the voting process and have alleged that favouritism and prejudice play a role when deciding which artists get nominated. The Weeknd echoed these thoughts, calling out the “opaque election process” and stating he would no longer be submitting his work to the Grammys. The Grammys losing the support of (arguably) the biggest artist in the world right now, and numerous others is a pathetic reflection on how the industry as a whole treats artists and the work they produce.

However, it wasn’t all bad. Women made history at the 2021 Grammys with Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish winning Album and Song of the year respectively with “Folklore” and “Everything I Wanted”. Megan Thee Stallion also won Best New Artist (although I would have preferred Phoebe Bridgers for Punisher) and H.E.R picked up her 3^rd Grammy for her powerful single “I Can’t Breathe” which came in light of the police brutality that plagued America across the year. A big step in the right direction. In a year characterized by hardship, political turmoil and the pandemic, creators used their platforms to speak on issues that resonated with people and they deserved to be recognized for their work. The under-representation in the Grammys is not only insensitive but irresponsible. We can only hope next year is better.