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Photo Credit: Laurent Chevalier for Okayplayer.
Photo Credit: Laurent Chevalier for Okayplayer.
Today the 2018 Grammy Award nominations were announced and one of the biggest revelations from the list is that this marks the first time in Grammy history that a white man was not nominated for album of the year.
READ: Here Are your 2018 Grammy Award Nominees
Nominees for the category are Childish Gambino (Awaken, My Love!), Jay-Z (4:44), Kendrick Lamar (DAMN.), Lorde (Melodrama), and Bruno Mars (24K Magic). Fans were quick to take to social media to speak on the artists that the Grammys snubbed, specifically Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry for the album of the year category.
Through a Twitter "moment" the social media website had declared that the "Grammys album category has no white men for the first time in 19 years," adding that the last time this was the case was back in 1999 when five women were nominated for the category: Lauryn Hill, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, and Garbage.
However, the Washington Post notes how Garbage is a peculiar case because even though Shirley Manson is the lead singer, the band also includes three white men: Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker.
"So if you count Garbage and search through every other album of the year category since the Grammys started in 1959, this actually marks the first time in history that no white men have been nominated for the night's biggest prize," the Post writes.
Something like this has been a long time coming for the Grammys. For the past few years critics have questioned the winners for the album of the year award.
"The results are reflecting the music of the times — hip-hop and urban music is pervasive in our society worldwide — not just in America," Recording Academy president Neil Portnow said. "So when that continues to be evident and evolve, this is a reflection of that."
The 2018 Grammy Awards will take place on January 28, 2018, on CBS.
