by The Cowl Editor on October 10, 2019
Arts & Entertainment
by Anne DeLello ’20 A&E Staff
Lately it seems that any time Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande releases a song, it is bound to be a hit. Swift has outdone herself yet again with the release of her seventh studio album, Lover, and Grande’s album, thank u, next, catapulted the singer even further into superstardom.
This past February, the two pop princesses were nominated for Grammys for Album of the Year, Swift for Reputation and Grande for Sweetener. Grande ended up taking the award home. This is not the first time the two artists have been up against one another at the Grammys.
After they were nominated for the same awards at the Grammys, which neither star attended, a fight ensued between loyal fans of Swift and Grande on Twitter. The two stars have not commented on any supposed rivalry in which their fans have participated.
Though the artists are competing for Album of the Year and Record of the Year at the upcoming Grammys, they are similar in that they are strong female artists. Both women have fought for female equality in the music industry and have broken down barriers for female artists who will follow them.
They continue to break barriers with these Grammy nominations. It has only occurred 10 times in Grammy history that the same artist has won Record of the Year and Song of the Year with two different hits. In this year’s upcoming Grammys, both Swift and Grande will have the opportunity to do so. Swift’s single “You Need to Calm Down” is up for Record of the Year and matched against Grande’s “7 rings.” The stars are also competing for Song of the Year—Swift with “Lover” and Grande with “thank u, next” and “Boyfriend,” which was written in collaboration with Social House.
Although Swift’s album launched to its high position on the Billboard charts soon after its release, it did not initially have as many streaming downloads as one would expect. According to the New York Times, “Its streaming total—225 million—was also relatively modest for such a high-profile pop release; Ariana Grande’s thank u, next, for example, started with 307 million in February.”
However, no one should count Swift out based on these numbers. In a world where streaming services have become more and more popular and CD purchases are rare, “Nielsen credits 679,000 sales of Lover as a complete album, a nearly impossible sum these days—all 199 other titles on the Billboard 200 this week sold only 361,000 copies combined.” Both stars have a shot of winning Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and if one of them wins both awards, then Swift or Grande could join the exclusive club of artists who have achieved this feat.