‘Women owned music this year’: Pink hits back at Grammys President in open letter after he tells female artists to ‘step up’

Pink has hit out at the president of the Recording Academy after he told female artists that they needed to “step up” if they wanted to win Grammy Awards.

The US musician, who performed at Sunday night’s ceremony, wrote an open letter to Grammys boss Neil Portnow following the show, which saw male stars walk away with all the top prizes.

Without directly naming Portnow, Pink referenced his bizarre defence of stars including Lorde, Lady Gaga and Kesha walking away empty handed.

“Women in music don't need to 'step up'—women have been stepping since the beginning of time. Stepping up, and also stepping aside,” she wrote in the letter, posted on Twitter.

“Women owned music this year. They've been killing it. And every year before this.”

She added: “When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women step up every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal and what it looks like to be fair.”

After Sunday’s ceremony, which saw the hashtag ‘#Grammyssomale’ start trending on Twitter, Portnow suggested the women should double their efforts.

“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,” he told journalists backstage at the ceremony.

“I don't have personal experience with the kinds of brick walls that (women) face,” he continued.

“But I think it's really a combination of us in the industry making a welcome mat very obvious: creating mentorships, creating opportunities, not only for women, but for all people.

“And moving forward, creating that next generation of artists who feel like they can do anything and say anything."

Bruno Mars won all of the top prizes at this year’s ceremony including Best Album and Best Song.