This year's Grammy Awards have come and gone, stirring up quite the controversy on social media. Of course, everyone has their own opinions on what “good music” is. However, this year seemed to leave many people confused.

The Grammy Awards are organized by the Recording Academy, and the selection process is thorough, with many stages. The first thing considered is the eligibility period, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Anything released within that time frame is eligible for a Grammy nomination.

The Recording Academy has an online submission platform where artists, record labels, and other industry professionals submit their work.

When submissions close, the first round of voting begins. These pieces are voted on by industry professionals who are members of the Recording Academy. Members vote for nominees in each category.

Voting members can only vote in categories relevant to their expertise. After the first round of voting, there are usually five to eight nominees in each category.

When the second round of voting begins, this vote is again done by the Recording Academy members. However, this time, members can vote in all categories, not just those in their field.

These votes determine the winners and are allegedly based on artistic merit, not commercial success or popularity.

This year, we saw many talented musicians produce very popular albums, albums that left the awards without recognition, leaving fans confused.

A trend on TikTok blew up after Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter took home the Grammy for Best Country Album of the Year. The trend showed country music fans fishing with songs from the album playing in the background, captioned, “Nothing like fishing while listening to the best country album of the year.”

The trend was meant to poke fun at the large disagreement fans had with the choice of winner.

The audio “SPAGHETTI” by Beyoncé currently has 15,000 posts under it, the majority of which are from disappointed fans or Chris Stapleton fans, who hoped he’d walk away with the Grammy.

Many pointed out the immense difference in chart performance between Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft in comparison to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, which ultimately took home Album of the Year.

I understand fans' disappointment; I also preferred the work of other nominees over the winners. While you could argue that the awards aren’t based on popularity, I would argue that there’s a reason those albums are popular. An album with no artistic merit is unlikely to be a top streamer.

However, I also understand that this is graded by experts, people who likely listen to music much differently than the average person, like you and me.

I believe music is about finding understanding, peace, and art in emotions. The more people relate to your music, the better job you’ve done at artistically conveying that emotion through sound and lyrics.

All of this makes me wonder why the Grammys are considered the highest honour. Personally, I would be more honoured to win a fan-voted award or an award based on popularity. It means my music touched, reached, and meant something to that many people, which, in my books, is a higher honour than some industry professionals’ opinions. But perhaps that’s just me.