This year’s Grammy Awards held many surprises, but the predictions and outcomes of the awards were straight forward.

Billie Eilish took home five awards out of the six that she was nominated for including, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. This isn’t surprising to most fans because she wrote some of the most trending songs of 2019, as we all know the tune, “Bad Guy.”

Another surprise of the night, although she was nominated for three categories, Taylor Swift flaked on the awards show altogether. Online news outlets such as The New York Post and CNN say that it is unclear why she decided not to show, but that it is plausible to assume it was because she knew that she wasn’t going to win.

The beloved Lizzo started off her Grammy performance with addressing the death of Kobe Bryant, a tragedy that happened earlier that day. She won three categories including Best Pop Solo Performance for her empowering song “Truth Hurts,” a tune that one can call the female anthem of 2019. Although Lizzo’s sound is unique and is not appealing to some, Pitchfork, an online music reviewer says, “Lizzo’s music performs an important social function. The sound might disappoint, but there will be people moved to transformations of their own thanks to her songs.”

Ariana Grande, Bon Iver and H.E.R. were nominated for multiple categories, but did not win any Grammys this year–mostly due to the fact that Eilish and Lizzo swept the top categories.

There were many performances this year including Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, Aerosmith, H.E.R. and many others. Billboard, another music reviewer, says, “the healing, cathartic power of music prevailed and led to genuinely moving and excellent showings from artists across all genres.” Every single performance meant something to all of the viewers and ranged from new artists to ones that have performed in past award shows, making the event significant to everyone who watched.

For some it was very unfortunate to see their favorite artists lose their category (-ies), but the Grammys are known for having some controversy. Deborah Dugan, the Chief Executive of the Recording Academy (overseer of the Grammy Awards), was placed on leave just a little over a week before the Grammys, after being accused of bullying. Dugan filed a discrimination complaint and it is unclear at this time if we can really trust the Grammys to tell the public what music and producers are really “the best of the best.”

Some of the most popular artists have declined being considered for The Grammys and have questioned their integrity. Frank Ocean was one of these artists, saying that the Grammy award process “doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.”

If things don’t change in the industry, the future of music has an unclear path and we will continue to see the artists we love today, step out of the Grammy Awards altogether.