The GRAMMY Awards are given through the American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in an annual event to celebrate new media, especially music. This year’s addition was hosted on Feb. 1 as the 68th ceremony, streamed nationally with the spotlights on releases from August 31, 2024 to August 30, 2025.

The nominees and winners are decided through a voting process in The Recording Academy, which is made of over 11,000 industry professionals. The ‘Big Four’ GRAMMY Awards are the most prestigious and sought after  made up of Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. 

“Best New Artist really stood out. I feel like it always stands out every year, though, because it’s usually whenever a career starts and that person gets more noticed after that,” band player Maximilian Cortes said.

This specific title is often a targeted focus for viewers due to its potential to boost the popularity of the winner as well as the nominees. The trophy also gives foresight to the possible future of music in terms of musical value for the younger generations.

“I was really happy that Olivia Dean won Best New Artist because I feel like music in our generation is more for TikTok than [it is] real music [with] substance and musical know-how,” choir singer Alyssa Obamese said. “She won because she’s really great, she worked from the bottom, and her music actually talks about real things.”

Depth in songs is sought after by many individuals yet ignored by many as TikTok audio snippets overwhelm the need for purpose with the search for catchy audio clips. But creators are not limited by their art, because once they have our attention, the crowd will listen to what they have to say.

“I loved how the celebrities talked about political things and stood up for what they believed in. That was pretty inspirational to me,” theater actor Sophia Fish said. “If you have the platform, I think you should be able to speak your truth.”

Alongside their speeches, many singers also took the stage to perform live for the in person and virtual audience.

“One of the [performances] that stuck out to me the most was for the pre-Grammys show and Zara Larsson’s because it wasn’t on the main stage, but she [did] great singing Midnight Sun,” Cortes said. “I really liked Justin Bieber’s performance. Even though it wasn’t crazy, I liked his vocals.”

However, with any public decision comes disagreements. The GRAMMY Awards don’t escape this trend as some of their nominations and chosen winners are questioned by viewers.

“I feel like a lot of those nominees [for Best New Artist] weren’t new at all. Like the Marías, I’ve known them for years and obviously I think that she and her band deserve their flowers but seeing them perform for best new artists just felt strange to me,” Cortes said.

As a whole, the GRAMMY Awards are a way to reward artists of today, while spotlighting different aspects of what is valued in media now.

“[It was] pretty dang flashy, in my opinion…Honestly, I was a fan of everyone that was nominated,” Fish said. “I’m really proud of everybody.”