The 58th annual Grammy Awards were held last night, and while this year’s ceremony was certainly not as boring as last year’s, that may not be saying much. The night saw its fair share of great performances, some not-so great performances, some “why is this happening” performances, sound and technical issues, deserving and some not-so deserving wins. And in keeping with the past few years, it was for the most part just a very long concert, with only 8 categories being awarded on air. So without further ado, here are my best and worst moments from the 2016 Grammy Awards.
Best
Kendrick Lamar’s Performance – There are so many adjectives and superlatives I can think of to describe this performance, many of which I’m sure other more experienced entertainment writers have used, but the words that come to mind as I think about how I felt watching it are heart-pounding intensity. This was a performance that both mesmerized and disturbed you, moved you and made you uncomfortable in the best way possible. In conclusion it was powerful, genius and brilliant.
Adele, The True Professional – It went wrong right from the start. Many viewers sitting and watching at home were wondering if something was wrong with their television sets when it was clear that for a few seconds we couldn’t hear Adele’s singing. And then there was the very loud, very awkward clanging. Basically, this was a bit of a disaster technically but being a true professional, not to mention a freaking out of this world singer, Adele persevered and powered through one of the most amazing ballads on her new album, not to mention one of the most difficult vocally. After the show, she tweeted about the situation, admitting that a mic in the piano dropped onto the keys which caused it to go off key and create the weird clanging sound we were hearing. In typical Adele fashion though she shrugged it off and stated she was going to treat herself to an In ‘N Out burger for having to deal with the situation. And that’s why we love her.
Uptown Funk Wins ROTY – Let me just say that for the most part, I was okay with most of the wins at this year’s awards, except for one obvious notable exception that I will get to later. That said, I was particularly thrilled about this win because one, I adore Bruno Mars and think he is one of the best male artists currently in music and two, I just think this song is pure genius and one of the best damn pop songs in years. Kudos to Mark Ronson, who we all already knew was a genius producer just from the late Amy Winehouse’s brilliant Back to Black album, for constructing a sound so infectious and ear wormy that even when you didn’t want to dance and sing along, you were almost powerless not to.
Amazing Fresh Faces – This year’s Grammy ceremony saw a number of stellar performances from a few fresh faces making their Grammy debut. The standouts for me were James Bay and Tori Kelly, both nominated for Best New Artist and Andra Day and Ellie Goulding. While Goulding may not necessarily be a complete unknown to many, this was her first time performing on the Grammy stage and she held her own beautifully, especially against someone with as stellar a voice as Day. The name Andra Day may not have been instantly recognizable to many when she first took the stage but by the end, she made sure viewers were paying attention with a performance of pure and gorgeous vocals. James Bay and Tori Kelly also acquitted themselves beautifully, their voices blending perfectly as they delivered a gorgeous duet of their songs.
Musical Tributes – This year’s ceremony was a bit heavy on the musical tributes but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact I quite enjoyed many, but the standouts for me were definitely the tribute to Lionel Ritchie who was MusicCares Artist of the Year; the tribute to Glen Frey of The Eagles, who recently passed away and the tribute to B.B. King. If I have to make a few quibbles, I thought the Lionel Ritchie tribute could have done without Demi Lovato who seemed to be trying way too hard to have a “moment”. I get that this was her first time ever performing on the Grammy stage and every artist wants to have that moment that all the media will be talking about the next day, but this just wasn’t the time and place for it because the performance wasn’t about her. It was about honoring Lionel Ritchie and not trying to show off how much she can over-sing and scream a song. Also, while I loved the B.B. King tribute and thought Gary Clark Jr., Bonnie Raitt and Chris Stapleton were all incredible, I wish that Chris had gotten the chance to sing a little of one of his own songs, just because he had so many nominations and so much praise for his album and I feel like those who didn’t know who he was coming into the show, may still not truly know just how amazing his own music is. And trust me, it’s really freaking amazing.
Worst
Taylor Swift Wins AOTY – With her win last night, Taylor Swift became the first female artist to ever win two Album of the Year awards in Grammy history (a fact she was quick to point out in her “humble” speech). Seriously, I would like us to all just ponder that for a second. That in the entire history of the Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift; a decent to okay songwriter with a good ear for a catchy hook and below average vocal ability is the first woman to win two Album of the Year awards. Let me be very clear, before the accusations of being a hater are slung, that I have liked much of Taylor’s music for years. As I have written before on this blog, I’ve been aware of and listening to Taylor’s music since her first album and her first single. And as one of my close friends will attest to, I fervently defended her AOTY win for Fearless and I stand by that even today. Against the competition she had that year, I do still believe her album was critically and commercially the strongest. However, in my opinion, that was most definitely not the case this year. Don’t get me wrong – was 1989 a pretty damn good pop album, absolutely. And did it deserve to be nominated for AOTY, absolutely. But there is simply no conceivable way that this album – cohesively, lyrically, musically and artistically – was better than Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly or hell even Chris Stapleton’s Traveller. Some critics claimed that Taylor went somewhere new on this album and I disagree. All she did was complete the pop transformation she’d been on since Red. Her subject matter hasn’t truly changed or evolved and she did not revolutionize pop music in the way Michael Jackson’s Thriller, for example, did. And just to be clear, I’m not saying every AOTY has to do those things. But what I am saying is that ultimately 1989 was merely a good pop album with some decent songs and rewarding it with the music industry’s highest honor was the definition of rewarding basic and safe. There is also the fact that I cannot think of an artist who needed to have their ego stroked some more, less than Taylor Swift. Again, when truly examining the full quality and history Taylor Swift’s discography, not to mention her barely there vocals, the fact that she is now as critically rewarded and lauded as she is, is truly absurd.
Kendrick Lamar Loses AOTY – Here are a few facts to think about. No Rap/Hip Hop song has ever won Song or Record of the Year. And in terms of the Album of the Year, some point to Outkast and Lauryn Hill’s wins but Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was placed in the R&B categories the year she won and Outkast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below feature an entire CD with just R&B songs (the album was a double disc). So in other words, it’s kind of a toss-up to say that any true Rap/Hip Hop album has won AOTY. And in my opinion, it hasn’t and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. At least not until the Grammy voters stop treating the genre as the stepchild that’s just being tolerated. The fact of the matter is, in my opinion, rap music still makes a lot of people uncomfortable and people don’t like to feel uncomfortable. And so because of that, the music and artists will continue to get invited to the party but never be at the head of the table. And Kendrick, so raw and intense in his music really makes some people uncomfortable. Some of the comments I read online right after his performance and today have been quite telling – predictable of course but so telling. Because as moved as many, including myself, were by his brilliant performance, for some, all they saw was a “scary” black guy up there in chains rapping about how “My hair is nappy, my dick is big, my nose is round and wide/You hate me don’t you?/You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture. /You’re fuckin’ evil I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey”…. Yeah that kind of honesty makes a lot of people squirm, including Grammy voters. So when it was all said and done, voters went with what was safe and comfortable. The world is shitty enough and most people don’t like to be reminded of the awful. I truly believe that the Grammy voters have never fully respected rap and last night just further cemented that. I’m sure many are telling themselves, “well he swept the Rap categories and hell won the most awards, so what’s the big deal…” And just to be clear, I don’t think Kendrick should have won to make some statement and just to reward a rap album simply because they haven’t before. I truly believe he should have won because he deserved it and among the nominees, had the best album of the year. It may not have light, fun pop songs that topped the Billboard charts because millions of young people could sing along to it but what it is, is an honest and gritty portrait of the African American male story. It is an album that is in parts despairing yet hopeful, angry yet joyful, lost yet finding one’s self and in a word, brilliant.
Lady Gaga’s Tribute To David Bowie – I like Lady Gaga and yes, while I will admit I thought this tribute should have been a medley of artists and was bothered that she alone was doing it, I was willing to keep an open mind and give her a chance. And I also never questioned her authenticity in what Bowie meant to her as an artist. I mean Bowie was performance art to the very core of the term, long before Gaga even existed much less emerged onto the music scene. So I went into this with no bias but sad to say, when it was all said and done, I was very disappointed. I felt like the performance very quickly veered from tribute into parody. Midway through I didn’t feel like I was watching Lady Gaga honoring David Bowie but rather doing a parody of him, right down to the fake British accent while singing, weird teeth, weird walk, etc. And Bowie deserved way better than that in my opinion. Yes, Bowie was conceptual and out there but that worked for him and for whatever era he was performing in. Lady Gaga putting on some costume and mimicking everything about a performance of Bowie’s just made the whole thing cheesy and the bad kind of camp, as opposed to the brilliant camp that defined Bowie’s career.
PitBull’s Finale Performance – I found most of the choices for the last hour of the show very questionable. From placing Alabama Shakes that late into the night, who while an amazing group is still virtually unknown to the larger public, which means it would be hard for them to grab the attention of a mostly checked out audience at this point; to the random performance of The Hollywood Vampires, the so called rock super-group that in my opinion just seems like a makeup of random aging rock singers and Johnny Depp. But nothing was more random and wtf to me than Pitbull’s being chosen to give the night’s final performance. I am not trying to be a music snob here but I could not have been the only one wondering why Pitbull aka Mr. Worldwide was closing out the music industry’s biggest night, especially as he was not nominated for any major award and doesn’t currently have some hit that is tearing up the airwaves that everyone is loving and so just had to be performed last night. It just didn’t seem fitting of the moment. And then he delivered whatever that was. First he bastardizes the classic that is Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus and Pliers, then Sofia Vergara shows up in the most embarrassing fashion and proceeds to do whatever she was doing and then it morphed into some number with Robin Thicke that was just as bad. It truly felt like the show had morphed into The American Music Awards. The whole thing just seemed way too low brow for The Grammys.
Musical Tributes – Yes, I know I’ve mentioned this as a best and no, I promise I’m not losing my mind. The music industry lost a number of amazing talent and legends this past year and already in the first two months of the year. And of course I realize that not everyone can get a special tribute. That said, I definitely believe that Natalie Cole warranted a special tribute. This was a woman who had one of the most successful albums, with Unforgettable…With Love, where she re-recorded a number of her late father, the great Nat King Cole’s classic standards, as duets with him. The album went on to sell over 30 million copies and won Cole an Album of the Year Grammy. That she got nothing more than a minute glance in the In Memoriam segment was shameful, especially when the show clearly had enough time to include that hot mess of a finale performance. The time that was wasted on that could have been used to help pay a proper tribute to Cole. Finally, I would prefer a tribute not be done at all, rather than what seems to be a last minute, half-assed thrown together number that seemed like a way to appease some public outcry. I am of course talking about the Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix “tribute” to Maurice White, the late member of legendary band Earth, Wind and Fire. I know the audience loved it and I’m not saying it was necessarily bad. I just feel like it felt thrown together last minute and I would have rather the producers do nothing at all than do that.
PoPnOgR@PhY 