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Apple Announces Winners of Third Annual Apple Music Awards

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Apple has announced the winners of the third annual Apple Music Awards, which recognize "the best artists of 2021 and their influence on global culture."

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The awards honor achievements in music across five categories, with winners chosen through a process that reflects both ‌Apple Music‌'s editorial perspective and what customers around the world have been listening to most.

Apple has named The Weeknd as Global Artist of the Year, while Olivia Rodrigo is Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Rodrigo also bagged the Album of the Year award for her debut album, "SOUR," and Single of the Year for "drivers license." The Songwriter of the Year award went to multi-instrumentalist H.E.R. especially in recognition of her 21-track R&B album "Back of My Mind."

This year, the Apple Music Awards also introduces a new category of awards for Regional Artist of the Year, recognizing artists from five countries and regions: Africa, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia. The Regional Artist of the Year awards recognize artists who made the greatest impact culturally and on the charts in their respective countries and regions, according to Apple.
"The past 12 months have proved to be a remarkable year for music, and we're thrilled to honor the artists who are shaping culture and connecting with fans around the world on Apple Music," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Beats. "This year we're also recognizing more regional artists, showing the world the impact of extraordinary talented musicians who are making waves globally."
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The Apple Music Awards celebration kicks off Tuesday, December 7, 2021, with interviews, original content, and more all streaming worldwide on Apple Music and the Apple TV app. Apple's full article has a more complete list of details on all of the artists that are to be honored with a special Apple-designed award.

Article Link: Apple Announces Winners of Third Annual Apple Music Awards
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/30/2021-apple-music-awards-winners/
RobertoDLV

RobertoDLV

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Aug 7, 2021
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Upeo said:
Why do you say that?
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She’s the exact opposite of an artist. She is an empty product created for mass consumption with no idea of what she’s doing. She even recognized herself that she didn’t know what the lyrics she’s been writing meant (because they don’t mean anything whatsoever). Appart from the lyrics, the music is also quite… appalling.
 
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Stevez67

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Dec 24, 2016
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Industry awards like these are intended to continue the corporate revenue stream from performers who are already part of that stream. These awards go to performers in whom the music industry has already invested. It's a bit like slapping insurance policy onto an asset. I've listened to all the awardees and they're listenable, but unremarkable. They break no new ground, musically.
 
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Upeo

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Aug 23, 2018
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RobertoDLV said:
She’s the exact opposite of an artist. She is an empty product created for mass consumption with no idea of what she’s doing. She even recognized herself that she didn’t know what the lyrics she’s been writing meant (because they don’t mean anything whatsoever). Appart from the lyrics, the music is also quite… appalling.
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I never really understood this argument regarding pop music, regardless of how I feel about it. Let's say she is an empty product created for mass consumption, doesn't that mean the appetite for whatever it is she's producing is out there? You think it's just ignorance that has people consuming what she's producing? Can't it be that they're simply looking for something in their music that you're not looking for in yours?

Music is meant to elicit an emotional response out of people. Whether to energise, help contemplate or think, inform, emotional processing, or what else, it's popular with human beings precisely because it affects the way we feel and it can do so in multiple different ways.

You can't judge a song for what it's not trying to be, she's not going after a Pulitzer. It's music meant to help you decompress. That has its value too. Apple Music is a streaming platform, they go by what people listen to. We may not enjoy it, but for something as utterly and completely subjective as music, who are we to either say they're not allowed to or the music we listen to is better?

If these people are doing good, more power to them. Music you like is still out there, music I like is still out there. There's room for both. Not everything has to be for everybody.
 
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RobertoDLV

RobertoDLV

macrumors member
Aug 7, 2021
35
58
Upeo said:
We may not enjoy it, but for something as utterly and completely subjective as music, who are we to either say they're not allowed to or the music we listen to is better?
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I will reply to this part because I agree with the rest (I’ve never said the contrary in my post).
This is where I disagree : music, like all the other art forms, is not completely subjective.
If it was the case there wouldn’t be any award in the first place as nobody would agree on criteria.
What I just said is among all the artists in my country the choice for « best artist » is indeed… a choice.
 
QuarterSwede

QuarterSwede

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Oct 1, 2005
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Upeo said:
I never really understood this argument regarding pop music, regardless of how I feel about it. Let's say she is an empty product created for mass consumption, doesn't that mean the appetite for whatever it is she's producing is out there? You think it's just ignorance that has people consuming what she's producing? Can't it be that they're simply looking for something in their music that you're not looking for in yours?

Music is meant to elicit an emotional response out of people. Whether to energise, help contemplate or think, inform, emotional processing, or what else, it's popular with human beings precisely because it affects the way we feel and it can do so in multiple different ways.

You can't judge a song for what it's not trying to be, she's not going after a Pulitzer. It's music meant to help you decompress. That has its value too. Apple Music is a streaming platform, they go by what people listen to. We may not enjoy it, but for something as utterly and completely subjective as music, who are we to either say they're not allowed to or the music we listen to is better?

If these people are doing good, more power to them. Music you like is still out there, music I like is still out there. There's room for both. Not everything has to be for everybody.
Click to expand...
Thoughts on what you wrote; not necessarily replying to you:

The problem with going by what the data says people listen to is that some things are marketed more than others. Using the data to solely pick a top in a category is not telling the truth. It’s still biased.

However, you’re definitely right in saying that music is subjective. If you don’t like pop then these awards are going to disappoint every time. Why bother reading who they awarded? There is no system which is 100% perfect in awarding subjective material. There never will be.
 
U

Upeo

macrumors newbie
Aug 23, 2018
19
22
RobertoDLV said:
I will reply to this part because I agree with the rest (I’ve never said the contrary in my post).
This is where I disagree : music, like all the other art forms, is not completely subjective.
If it was the case there wouldn’t be any award in the first place as nobody would agree on criteria.
What I just said is among all the artists in my country the choice for « best artist » is indeed… a choice.
Click to expand...

I don't think anybody agrees on the criteria though, which ends up being why these awards end up fostering these discussions. I think what happens is that a group of people with the means and platform agree on the criteria and then share their conclusions with the world based on that.

I think "music" is too wide a net to cast, there are genres that are only similar in the fact that they both produce sound, I don't think it's possible to come up with widely accepted criteria to make a selection of the best, some things are just not comparable. So something like "Best artist", "Best album", "Best song" will never mean what their titles say they are. It's always gonna be recognition for how relevant the winners are in the context the award is being attributed in. Their streaming platform for Apple, the American market for the Grammy's, so on and so forth.

I think if we break it down to more specific aspects in music, then we can start adding more objectivity to it. "Best lyricist" is something you can come up with consensus criteria to judge. Same for "Best instrumentals", "Best voice", so on and so forth. Things that have a clear objective and for which technique can be graded you can come up with an objective award for I feel. Anything else and I think it becomes too subjective to draw any conclusions from.

QuarterSwede said:
Thoughts on what you wrote; not necessarily replying to you:

The problem with going by what the data says people listen to is that some things are marketed more than others. Using the data to solely pick a top in a category is not telling the truth. It’s still biased.

However, you’re definitely right in saying that music is subjective. If you don’t like pop then these awards are going to disappoint every time. Why bother reading who they awarded? There is no system which is 100% perfect in awarding subjective material. There never will be.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree on the marketing, it definitely has an impact. I also feel like there's an interesting conversation to be had on whether marketing influences culture or culture influences marketing more. Over who dictates popularity pretty much. But to your point, I agree that it's both a flawed method and that it's next to impossible to come up with one that isn't.
 
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Thebrochure

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Aug 9, 2021
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Gotta love it when someone wins "Songwriter of the Year" award, even though every track on their only album has like, five million other people in the songwriting credits lol.
 
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