00:00Hello, I'm Brandi Victorian, singer entertainment editor at Essence Magazine,
00:03and we are here at the 64th Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.
00:07Check out the stars we caught up with on the red carpet.
00:09The Academy has talked a lot about trying to make things more equitable,
00:12you know, for artists of color, for women, across genders.
00:15As an artist yourself, are you feeling the effects of some of those changes?
00:19Am I feeling it?
00:21To be frank, I know people are putting in the work, but I'm not feeling it.
00:24Under 2% of producers in this industry are women.
00:30And I know why that happens.
00:31All these, the men block access.
00:33Like every engineer, and they act like women aren't smart enough, capable,
00:38you have to sleep with them to be in it, or just sing a hook.
00:43All that is putting women in their place, and I hate that.
00:46I've hated that since I was young and seen that happen.
00:48So no, I'm not feeling it.
00:49I won't feel the effects until 50% of the people walking this carpet
00:53are women and their producers and their engineers and their artists as well.
00:57That's when we'll feel it, because we're missing out on entire genres.
01:01You know what the world would look like if women were producing?
01:03It'd be crazy.
01:05America have enough talent to have Grammy around the clock.
01:09They could just do their work here and nobody cares.
01:13But it's not what the Record Academy is about.
01:15It's about educating and giving platform for artists from around the globe,
01:20gender included, to be in here.
01:24And for them to be in this time, day and time,
01:29and realizing that it's about time that this Record Academy really represents who we are.
01:36No more.
01:38Everybody has to be represented.
01:40Every color, every language, whatever it is out there.
01:44Every gender.
01:45The more black, the more better.
01:48I don't got no better way to say that part.
01:50You dig.
01:51I just see my cousin on the red carpet.
01:54I see my brothers and my peers.
01:57So I feel like it's getting there now when we're talking about getting these awards and stuff.
02:02And really, you know what I'm saying, that's another story.
02:05But I feel like over time it's going to happen more and more.
02:09And you know people talking about doing their own platforms and stuff too.
02:12So it's enough to go around for everybody.
02:15I feel like I am.
02:16I feel like I'm a representation of that, you know, to even be here tonight.
02:19I love all the work that the BMC is doing.
02:22And, you know, like we don't do it for this.
02:25You know what I'm saying?
02:25Like I don't, we don't do this music stuff to get awards.
02:30But it's a great, great confirmation.
02:33It's a nice gold star, you know, and it's good to be recognized for all your hard work.
02:38And the heart and soul we put into our art.
02:40And to me, that's all it's about.
02:42I'm starting to.
02:42I feel like I'm starting to.
02:44Just even being here is, I think it's a step in the, you know,
02:49a great direction, especially creatively.
02:50I feel like I'm just, I don't know.
02:52I just feel like we're headed there, you know, you know, we're going to do so much.
02:59Absolutely.
02:59I mean, because there was a moment where best R&B album wasn't even televised.
03:06And now it's like, it's rad to see all these awesome artists and black, you know,
03:14and black music to putting out so much good art.
03:19And so we should always champion black art because that's kind of what runs it, you know.
03:26You can definitely see a lot of the crickets straightening because all you need is a little
03:32straightening, in the words of my guys, Migo.
03:37And I'm proud of that.
03:39I'm proud of that as a member of the music industry.
03:42I'm happy about that, especially like they're fixing a lot of publishing stuff.
03:45They're fixing a lot of artists stuff.
03:46They're opening their eyes to more things.
03:48They're opening the algorithm routes, you know what I mean?
03:51Taking the shadow bands off.
03:52I don't know what's going on, but it's beautiful because we're learning how to like mix and
03:59we're doing it well.
04:01I feel like it's slowly but surely, you know what I mean?
04:03I feel like everybody's talking about it.
04:06The right conversations are being had, you know what I mean?
04:08So I'm optimistic for sure.
04:10I am definitely feeling some of those changes.
04:12And I actually want to mention that the woman in media awarded me with a black woman in music
04:21award when I came here.
04:23And I felt so gleeful over the opportunity because oftentimes, you know, sometimes they
04:27want black woman to feel like they haven't made it.
04:30They are not successful.
04:32And so it gives me great pleasure to see that we're getting the recognition.
04:35I'm the first hardcore female dancehall artist to be nominated for this category.
04:40And I don't take it lightly.
04:41I feel like they are taking steps to try to be more inclusive.
04:46And I think with things like this, you know, and with, you know, the African-American community
04:51and women, it just takes time and it's one step at a time.
04:54And we just, you know, watching you and holding you accountable.
04:59Yeah.
05:00So, you know, I think we're on our way.
05:02I think we're starting to feel it.
05:04Yeah.
05:04We still need a lot more support.
05:07We're getting there.
05:08But I think that there's still a lot of, like, ways to go.
05:12What's expected of us is not what's expected of everybody else.
05:16And so I think that the space needs to open up so that we can be all the things that we
05:20are, whether we're R&B or pop or alternative, because that space isn't open to us just yet.
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