Pink Wrote a Powerful Open Letter to the Grammys President for Saying Women Need to 'Step Up'

Christopher Rosa

Updated January 30, 2018 at 8:59 AM

Following the Grammy president's comments that women need to 'step up,' Pink wrote an amazing letter that illustrates the power of women in music.

So many women released great music last year: Cardi B., Kesha, Lady Gaga, Lorde, SZA, Pink, Katy Perry...and that's just a few examples. And while some of these artists received Grammy nominations for the 2018 ceremony, the final list of honorees was predominantly male. This was perhaps most apparent in the Album of the Year category, which only featured one female nominee (Lorde's Melodrama).

When it came to the final winners, men swept the 2018 Grammy Awards on Sunday night, too. The only woman who won a major award was Alessia Cara for Best New Artist. Four women were nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, but Ed Sheeran—the only male nominee in that category—won the honor. Women, more or less, were completely shut out of the show, which for many was both confusing and infuriating.

But not as infuriating as the Recording Academy president Neil Portnow's rationale for the snubs. "I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls—who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level—to step up, because I think they would be welcome," he said, according to USA Today.

Yes, you read that correctly. Portnow thinks women weren't awarded at the Grammys Sunday because they haven't "stepped up" to the plate—whatever that means. This should go without saying, but women have been stepping up—for decades. There's just an institutional bias in the music industry toward male artists. Their work is viewed as more valuable, and that's why they keep winning year after year.

Pink echoed this in an open letter to Portnow that she posted to social media. “Women in music don’t need to ‘step up’ – women have been stepping since the beginning of time," she wrote. "Stepping up, and also steppin aside. Women OWNED music this year. They’ve been KILLING IT. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women STEP UP every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair.”

See her message for yourself, below.

https://twitter.com/Pink/status/958121509540761600

Female artists quickly rallied around Pink after she posted this. "Another powerful woman, leading by example," Katy Perry tweeted. "We ALL have a responsibility to call out the absurd lack of equality everywhere we see it. I'm proud of ALL the women making incredible art in the face of continual resistance. ✊🏻" Charli XCX tweeted, "Women are making AMAZING music right now wtf is this dude talking about ?????" (We have no idea.)