How Beck Beat Beyoncé for Album of the Year

ROBYN+BECK%2FAFP%2FGetty+Images%0A

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

The Grammys 2015. Last award of the night. And the winner for Album of the Year goes to…Beck! Huh?

Beck took home two awards at this year’s 57th Grammys , but many think he shouldn’t have. This was Sunday night’s biggest surprise—even Prince, the presenter of the award, was taken aback.

Beck, known for music that fuses folk, rap and hip-hop, blew up social media, striking controversy as to how this alternative artist beat out some of the most talented and influential artists of 2014. Even celebrities, such as Kanye West and Jay Z, were dumbfounded that an artist whose record didn’t even make it to the top 50 Billboard Charts beat Beyoncé for this prestigious award.

“I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists, to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them no more and Beck needs to respect artistry and he should’ve given his award to Beyoncé,” West said in an interview with E!.

Beyoncé, the most nominated woman in Grammy history, dropped her self-titled album that quickly rose to the number 2 top-selling record of the year. The record was all about female empowerment and inspired many around the world.

“I think Beyoncé should have won because the Grammy’s seem to feature music that is mostly modern, top 40 type music like Sam Smith and Taylor Swift. To be consistent, Beyoncé should’ve won given that she fits the theme of music the Grammy’s feature, unlike Beck,” junior Ashkaan Khalilzadeh said.

So, how did Beck and Beyoncé even get nominated for the same category? It all has to do with the voting committee and the Recording Academy.

“The academy declines to release a breakdown of its 13,000 voter-eligible members by age, race or gender,” CNN reporter Brandon Griggs said.

Despite this, the Recoding Academy is filled with people from various backgrounds, such as composers, technicians, producers, etc. and every single person that makes up this committee votes on Album of the Year.

The reasons Beck won this award is because of how the other nominees split the vote: Beyoncé, Pharell Williams, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith split the pop and R&B votes, while Beck took all the votes in his genre.

A similar scenario occurred in 2011, when indie rock band Arcade Fire beat out Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Lady Antebellum for Album of the Year.

But the question still is…was Beck nominated fairly?

“The Recording Academy is seen by some critics as being old and out of touch with edgier, contemporary music, especially when it comes to rap and hip-hop,” CNN reporter Brandon Griggs said.

With this in mind, it only makes sense that Beck was nominated for his melancholy album “Morning Phase.”

Samantha Nerpel, a junior at Agoura High School, did not know how the voting process worked, but educated herself about it.

“In my opinion, it sounds like Beyoncé was more deserving of the award,” Nerpel said. “All these men, who are apparently out of touch with today’s music, were splitting up the vote or giving it straight to Beck. I understand why Beck won, but if Beyoncé had won, she would have really deserved it because she was able to overcome the ongoing issue of the split vote.”

Don’t blame Beck for winning the award; if anyone, the voting committee is the one to blame.