Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said he does not believe the Grammys suffer from racism in an interview with Pitchfork.
The assessment has been thrown at the Grammys over the years for countless reasons, but rose again Sunday after Adele outdone Beyoncé for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Even the British singer seem like baffled as she received the top honor for 25, saying, "What the fuck does one have to do to win Album of the Year?" As many have also noted, a black artist has not won Album of the Year since Herbie Hancock in 2008.
Portnow Does Not Mind Critics Over Grammys
Retorting to the critique, Portnow said, "No, I don't think there's a race problem at all. Think of, this is a peer-voted award, it's not a commercial entity - it's the 14,000 members of the Academy ... It's always hard to create impartiality out of something that's integrally idiosyncratic, which is what art and music is about. We do the best we can do."
Portnow also said he thought that Grammy voters - a mix of artists, songwriters, engineers, producers, art directors and more - don't listen to music based on gender, race or culture. "When you vote on a piece of music - at least the way that you approach it - is you almost put a covering on and you listen. It's a matter of how you respond and what in your mind as an expert really increases to the highest level of excellence in any given year. And that is going to be very personal. That's what we ask our members to do, even in the polls."
Portnow also acted for Chance the Rapper's win for Best New Artist as a poker chip to this critique saying, "You don't get Chance the Rapper as the Best New Artist of the year if you have a affiliation that isn't diverse and isn't open-minded and isn't really heeding to the music, and not really seeing other elements beyond how great the music is."
Sales Is Not The Only Foundation To Be Awarded In Grammys
However, as Rolling Stone's Steve Knopper pointed out, not only can sales, prominence and fame all influence Grammy outcomes, but Recording Academy members - though they do skew liberal - remain white dominantly, male and old. To that, Portnow was asked if the Recording Academy was concerned in diversifying their association as the Motion Picture Academy did after the #OscarsSoWhite backlash.
"We are always working on increasing diversity in membership, whether it's ethnicity, gender, genre, or age," he said. "To maintain our weight, we have to be appealing all the time and we have to be doing that across the board."
Somewhere else, Portnow conversed Frank Ocean's choice not to submit Blonde for deliberation this year. Ocean particularly expressed a wariness to participate in the Grammys, telling The New York Times that the society "doesn't seem to be on behalf of very well for people who come from where I come from."
"Not everybody likes or wants to be part of every organization or awards process," Portnow said. "I respect that. What I'll say about Frank is he did have his earlier album out at an early stage of his career, we were delighted that it was entered, we were delighted that he was a Grammy winner, we were pleased to have him on our stage, which gave him a platform very early in his career. That's something we're proud of, and down the line he may feel differently. Artists change their opinion. I don't begrudge his choice at all and we'll see what the future brings."
