We know the Grammy routine: Every year we somehow hope for good television, good music, and deserved awards—really, one of three would be fine—and every year the show yanks the football away to the halcyon tones of a piano ballad from the musical past. And every year, the streak continues: Kendrick Lamar lost to Daft Punk. Beyoncé lost to Beck. Kendrick Lamar lost to Taylor Swift. Beyoncé lost to Adele. And now Kendrick Lamar, despite sweeping the rap categories, lost Record and Album of the Year to Bruno Mars.

Bruno Mars is a lot like Adele, too: talented and immensely likable, hard to begrudge at a personal level, and he even used his status as the Grammys’ beloved to shout out Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But it looks worse when put into a pattern like this, right?

#MeWho?

Days before the Grammys, executives, artists, and hosts took a cue from the Golden Globes’ Time’s Up movement by urging attendees to wear white roses as a stand against sexual harassment. As protests go, this ranks somewhere around wearing a safety pin to #resist Donald Trump. But by Grammy standards it’s radical, and was hailed upon announcement as a daring move to bring #MeToo to the forefront of the music industry. This is technically true, but it’s also like saying a sudden wind brought water to the forefront of the ocean: sure, it’s louder, more dramatic, makes a bigger splash, but it’s also the same damn water that’s been there since time eternal.

At the Grammys, it was more like a pinkie’s ripple in the tiniest kiddie pool. Only 17% of award winners were women. Most female nominees—notably Tina Turner, for the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Lorde, whom the internet rallied around—were denied solo performances. “There’s no way we can really deal with everybody,” said producer Ken Ehrlich, about a show that gave multiple slots each to relevant artists Sting and Shaggy.

As for Time’s Up, Janelle Monáe was the first to even mention the movement, two hours in, before introducing Kesha’s much-awaited “Praying.” Of course no one on the Grammys was going to mention Kesha’s alleged abuser Dr. Luke or anything he did, lest they be sued by multiple entities. (Presumably the Grammys’ entire legal budget went to the city of New York, lest its residents sue for damages resulting from Bono shouting on a yacht.) But without acknowledging what “Praying” is about, it’s just another piano ballad on a show with dozens; the effect is blunted, the understandably emotional Kesha is left to flounder.