#GrammysSoMale trends after night dominated by men

And the Recording Academy President sounds off.

ByABC News via logo
January 29, 2018, 12:17 PM

— -- It was a star-studded night at the 2018 Grammys for sure, but there was one thing many people said was lacking -- women taking home major awards.

Out of all the major categories, only one woman won this year: Alessia Cara for best new artist.

PHOTO: Alessia Cara performs "1-800-273-8255" at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards Show Jan. 28, 2018, in New York City.
Alessia Cara performs "1-800-273-8255" at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards Show Jan. 28, 2018, in New York City.

Bruno Mars took home the top award of the night for album of the year, with Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Stapleton and others taking home awards for best performances and albums.

After the show, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow sounded off about the male-dominated night.

"I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls —- who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level —- to step up, because I think they would be welcome," Portnow said backstage, according to USA Today.

Many fans weren't happy with Portnow's comment or the lack of women taking home trophies, and the hashtag "GrammysSoMale" began to trend. All of this after a night that featured Janelle Monáe's powerful speech about the Time's Up movement and artists wearing white roses on the red carpet to support gender equality.

A study from USC Annenberg also made the rounds on social media, with statistics citing the lack of gender diversity in music.

Some of the stats referenced by critics of the Grammys included a 3.5 to 1 ratio of men to women in popular music and women representing just 11.4 percent of songwriters in 2017.

While many took to social to slam the awards for recognizing mostly men this year, some played devil's advocate and brought up past years when women dominated the Grammys.

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