Grammys Prez Tells Women to 'Step Up' as Men Win All But One Major Prize

Neil Portnow has defended the Grammys after all but one of last night’s major awards went to men. The Recording Academy president told Variety, “It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome.” The only woman to be presented a 2018 Grammy was Alessia Cara, for Best New Artist. Among those snubbed was SZA, this year’s most-nominated woman, who won in none of her five categories.

Portnow went on to tell Variety that, while he has no “personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face,” the Grammys needs “to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative.” Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich sidestepped a question about whether Lorde should have been offered a solo performance, like the male nominees for Album of the Year. “I don’t know if it was a mistake,” Ehrlich said. “These shows are a matter of choices. We have a box and it gets full. She had a great album. There’s no way we can really deal with everybody.”

Read Pitchfork’s report from the red carpet, “What the Women Who Brought White Roses to the Grammys Are Hoping to Accomplish.