Taylor Swift announces new album at possibly the worst time

This article is not meant to upset Swifties. While I am not a Swiftie myself, I do respect what Taylor Swift does in writing her own material, understanding how the music business works and using that knowledge to her advantage, and being a fantastic performer. But I do wonder if there was possibly a better, and less selfish, way of letting the world know that Swift is releasing a new album.

Swift announced after winning the Best Pop Vocal Album award early in the show. Maybe Swift was unsure if she would win another Grammy in 2024 and wanted to get the news of her forthcoming record out while she had a chance. But Swift must also be aware of how much attention she gets and how her announcement would make her even more of a focus the day after the Grammys.

Because of this, Swift also had to know - at least, assume - that she was intentionally overshadowing other worthy winners. Who cares, for instance, that boygenius won Best Alternative Music Album? (Swift has a new album out soon!) Or that Tyla won for Best African Music Performance? (Tyla who? Have you heard Taylor has a new record?)

Taylor Swift seems to do a disservice to fellow musical artists at the Grammys

Selling oneself and one's music is important. There are lots of ways of doing so and Swift uses them well. She is the queen of social media and extremely intelligent on when to put out new music and how to slow-burn the release. But the Grammys is about the music community and not one single star. Monday should not have been the night of Taylor Swift, but just as much the night of SZA (who won Best Pop Duo for "Ghost in the Machine" with Phoebe Bridgers.

Swift should not get the hate directed at her for cameras panning to her during NFL games when she is in a stadium watching her boyfriend, Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. Swift does not control the cameras. She is famous and the TV broadcast knows it.

But Swift can control when she announces the release of new albums (her latest is called Tortured Poets Department and will come out on April 19). She will never have a bigger audience watching than at the Grammy Awards so she was able to tell a mass of people at once about her new record. But in the setting she chose, she also did a disservice to her fellow musical artists.

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