Pink has written an open letter to the president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, in response to his comments that if women want to win more prizes at the Grammy Awards, they need to “step up.”
Portnow made his comments following the criticism that male winners dominated the ceremony held at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday night, Jan. 28, 2018.
After the ceremony, he was quoted as saying, “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.”
Pink, 38, was furious with Portnow for his alleged slight against all the female recording artists and women working in the music business and posted a handwritten letter on Twitter in response.
The letter read: “WOMEN IN MUSIC don’t need to ‘step up’. Women have been stepping since the beginning of time. Stepping up, and also stepping 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.”
Only one woman, Alessia Cara, who was named Best New Artist, won a major award at the Grammys.
Pink, whose real name is Alecia Moore, performed “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” at the ceremony but lost out on the Best Pop Solo Performance to Ed Sheeran, the only male artist nominated in the category.
Bruno Mars was the big winner at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, picking up six prizes including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “24k Magic,” and Song of the Year for “That’s What I Like,” as well as Best R&B Album, and Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Single for “That’s What I Like.”
In addition, his LP was recognized as Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
