was going about my day and came across this new article from a university publication that stopped me in my tracks

The Crimson White

Opinion | The Best New Artist award is broken. Addison Ra...

The easiest thing in the world is to root for the critically-acclaimed darling Olivia Dean; the hardest — and perhaps more honest — path for the masses is admitting that Addison Rae didn't just partic

when I first saw the title on Google News I thought, oh lordy here they go complaining about TikTokers not being "worthy" of Scammys…

but then I opened it and was actually surprised by what I read

the piece argues the BNA category is broken cuz it doesn't reward what it's supposed to. it's not meant to go to the "best singer" or the most commercially successful act, but to whoever made the biggest cultural impact or had the most defining breakthrough that year

they use The Guardian's Artist of the Year™ Addison Rae as the example, pushing back on the idea that she's "unworthy" bc she came from TikTok as the writer says that's actually what makes her case stronger: going from lowbrow internet personality to an artist critics take seriously is a pretty major shift, and that crossover made her one of the most culturally relevant and conversation-starting artists of the past year

meanwhile, artists who fit the typical Grammy mold.. polished, critically embraced and commercially strong at that moment, might seem like safer picks. but they argue that doesn't necessarily mean they had the most meaningful artistic breakthrough & often the award just goes to artists who've already been active for many years and whose "breakthrough" is really just their first big Billboard/mainstream moment

I've seen a few similar takes about this too and while I don't really care about the Scammys (and already found her nomination surprising tbh) I'm glad to see people supporting Goddison especially after some haters tried to hijack her moment last week.. here's Yungblood basically saying the same thing btw

and I never posted this one either so might as well do it now

does anyone here write for their university paper? s/o to the lovely person behind this, hope they get picked up by a major publication after they graduate

Edited February 10Feb 10 by okgo

Oh Goddison.

She may not have success, but she has the best ART out of all the nominees.

ATRL is not gonna like this

Olivia rightfully won

The Addison Rae who supports and respects the MAGA?

It's true, no one knows who that Olivia girl is irl and she makes music for Whole Foods. Addison = raw talent and more deserving of fame is a gun.mp3

this makes 0 sense.....even if you take all of that stuff into account why is she more deserving than Olivia????

Stay mad, Olivia's the rightful winner. Addison is hella overrated, akin to Oklou.

1 minute ago, FailSafe said:

The Addison Rae who supports and respects the MAGA?

girl, no

18 minutes ago, okgo said:

but to whoever made the biggest cultural impact or had the most defining breakthrough that year

I love Addison and thought her album was fab, but by what metric did she have more cultural impact or a bigger breakthrough than someone with one of the biggest songs in the country right now?

?

Take it up with the 13k+ recording academy members that vote for the awards.

What a weird take. Olivia Dean deserved it - she's mega talented and TAOL is a fantastic album.

Raddisson is dogshit, get over it.

8 minutes ago, AM98GJ said:

this makes 0 sense.....even if you take all of that stuff into account why is she more deserving than Olivia????

If we look at it from afar, Addison just seems more bold, conceptual and daring than Olivia, both sonically and visually.

That's just my take, Olivia is a cute girl, but very forgettable to me.

Olivia's whole album is smashing, if that's not cultural impact then I don't know what is

Someone you weren't rooting for wins and it's suddenly irrefutable proof that the Scammys are broken... tale as old as time

I mean they are broken but we need a better argument than "person I think should've won didn't win"

2 minutes ago, supaspaz said:

I love Addison and thought her album was fab, but by what metric did she have more cultural impact or a bigger breakthrough than someone with one of the biggest songs in the country right now?

Alex Warren also had the biggest song in the world in the past year at one point. when British newspaper The Guardian named Addison artist of the year, they talked a bit about how crazy her breakout has been:

"No one in pop has had a year like Addison Rae. She may not be the biggest star – that remains Taylor Swift – or even the most commercially successful breakout act. But the dreamy dance-pop haze of her debut album, Addison, made her into an artist's artist, loved by the likes of Charli xcx and Lana Del Rey – the leftfield pop acts who paved the way for someone like her. Like a pre-Brat Charli, or perhaps Sky Ferreira, the 25-year-old is the pop connoisseur's choice, justly earning comparisons to Del Rey, her fellow Louisiana girl Britney Spears and Ray of Light-era Madonna, while knowing her way around her R&B and Jersey club. She's up for best new artist at next year's Grammy awards – and with Addison and its knowingly anaesthetised single Headphones On placing in the Guardian's top five albums and tracks of 2025 respectively, she's our artist of the year.

So it's crazy to flick back just two years to when Rae wasn't just a flop, but a punchline. In 2021, she released her debut single Obsessed, a perfectly average Benny Blanco-produced single that attracted disproportionate hatred because Rae was then just a TikTok star whose breezy dance videos had made her the platform's fifth most-followed figure. The song flopped. Two years later came the AR EP: featuring a Charli guest verse – she asked to feature on a leaked demo that she loved – it made Rae a cult favourite. Last summer, she returned the favour, guesting on a remix of Charli's Von Dutch: "While you're sitting in your dad's basement … Got a lot to say about my debut!" Rae taunted.

Full:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/ng-interactive/2025/dec/18/i-enjoy-fame-its-very-exposing-and-raw-though-you-pay-a-price-addison-rae-the-guardians-artist-of-the-year

And if anything, The Marías should have won

It's actually insane how delusional Addison Rae stans really are. (Headphones on is literally my 9th most streamed song last year btw). The hate Olivia is getting on Twitter for no reason is genuinely deranged.. like it's the lowest low. No self awareness, no embrrassment, no sense of shame etc.

34 minutes ago, Johnny Jacobs said:

Olivia rightfully won

Edited February 10Feb 10 by HarajukuPrincess

Olivia is most likely taking home 2-4 more Grammys next ceremony, so her win is very much justified. She is the biggest artist out of the selection of new artists.

Proof of what? Being talentless

Olivia deserved

Edited February 10Feb 10 by TayDuaStan

So the Grammy shouldn't go to the talented one, or the one that had the biggest mainstream breakthrough but should go to someone with…twitter vibes? As I said in another thread, Olivia had the whole package. Talent, acclaim AND success. It was a no brainer.