The Grammys Cultivated A Diverse Cast Of Winners -- And Then Cut Them Off - Forbes

Dua Lipa with her awards for Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording during the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)Getty

Last year, the Grammys came under fire for underrepresenting hip-hop among the major category winners and lacking female nominees and winners across the board. In the latter case, Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow made matters worse by suggesting the problem was that women needed to "step up."

Flash-forward one year. The academy expanded the number of nominees from five to eight in major categories, attempting to bring more diversity to the ceremony. This plan largely worked, with the results reflected in the makeup of nominees and winners alike. Women took home two of the four big prizes of the night—Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour for Album of the Year and Dua Lipa for Best New Artist—while hip-hop claimed Song of the Year and Record of the Year for the first time (Donald Glover's "This Is America").

Yet the Grammys still found a way to limit the big winners—the ones who showed up, anyway. While Glover was missing in action, his collaborators got a quick hook when they went to accept an award on his behalf. Drake didn't win in any of the four major categories, but after he claimed his hardware for Best Rap Album, the telecast cut away from him mid-sentence and went to a commercial break. A Grammy rep said that the switch was made in the midst of a natural pause—and that Drake had been offered extra time but declined.

Perhaps the most egregious example of truncation came in the midst of Dua Lipa's victory speech for Best New Artist. She offered uplifting words on the importance of being proud of one's heritage, along with an apparent tweak at Portnow—"I guess this year we stepped up"—but then the music started, and eventually the cameras cut away from her.

"For my speech, I was so lost in what had just happened," she explained backstage after the show, finally able to finish thanking fans, family and friends. "Without them, I probably wouldn't have dreamt as big as I did."

After what happened to Dua Lipa, Grammy host Alicia Keys seemed eager to send a hint to the powers that be: "The wrap music is getting quicker and quicker," she said before announcing the Album of the Year award. Yet Musgraves was played off, too.

To be fair, awards shows can't give everyone unlimited time to talk—even superstars like Drake and big winners like Musgraves and Dua Lipa. That said, the Grammys had ample time for lengthy performances and retrospectives, most of them by artists much less relevant than the aforementioned trio.

The Grammys should be a place for the world to hear from the diverse cast of musicians driving the industry forward. And while the Recording Academy took some positive steps this year, as reflected by the list of nominees, much of that progress was undermined by a few boneheaded moves that were the product of a misguided set of timing priorities. The academy would do well to keep that in mind for next year.

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