It was a good night for Bruno Mars. Another Grammy Awards ceremony came and went and the talented pint-sized crooner walked away the night’s big winner, completing the rare trifecta of Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. While it may have been a good night for Mars, it wasn’t so much for the music industry and the show itself, with the following day’s ratings reflecting a significant drop from the previous year’s show. Here are a few of my best and worst moments of the night.
BEST
Kendrick Lamar’s Opening Performance – It almost feels a little redundant at this point to say that Kendrick Lamar gave an amazing Grammy performance, as he’s been doing it since his epic collaboration with Imagine Dragons at the 2014 ceremony. Some thought that performance couldn’t be topped – they were wrong. In 2016, K-Dot had viewers completely shook with an epic and jaw-dropping performance of his hits that included The Blacker the Berry and Alright. Raw, bold and in your face, viewers and audience members alike were left stunned and mesmerized. And that’s exactly what he did again this past Sunday, this time as the ceremony’s opening performer. Throwing everything into his performance, including cameos by U2 and Dave Chappelle, Lamar delivered another stirring and visually powerful number that evoked an intense reaction from those watching. Electrifying, bold, intense and unapologetic, the Compton native once again showed everyone why he’s one of the most powerful and talented voices in music today.
Ben Platt’s Soaring Performance of Somewhere – Sometimes, all you need is a voice. Especially when that voice is so beautiful and special. Dressed fairly casual for an award show, standing solo on a small stage and accompanied simply by a guitarist and cellist, Ben Platt (critically acclaimed for his performance in Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen) delivered an absolutely gorgeous and stellar rendition of Somewhere, from West Side Story, in honor of Broadway’s legendary composer, Leonard Bernstein. Simple, tender and pitch perfect.
Kesha Sings Her Truth – Long before the New York Times’ explosive expose on Harvey Weinstein that not only brought down one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers but launched a full out attack on decades of systemic sexual and emotional abuse by men in the entertainment industry, singer Kesha was fighting her own battle against another powerful man, her former producer and mentor, Dr. Luke. The battle began in 2014, when Kesha sued to have all her contracts with Dr. Luke voided, on the grounds that he sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abused her. The producer denied the claim and the Court ultimately sided with him, ruling against Kesha. As such, the singer is still tethered to Dr. Luke’s label, which means her most recent album Rainbow, was released through his label. And that alone should make anyone understand the likely raging emotions Kesha experiences performing and promoting her new music. And all that emotion – the pain, anger, the hurt, sadness – was on full display as she belted out a powerful performance of her song Praying, flanked by numerous powerful female voices in music, including legend Cyndi Lauper. It wasn’t always pitch perfect but it was raw, honest and real.
Logic’s Timely Performance of 1-800-273-8255 – It was only fitting. With a final image of Chester Bennington to end the In Memoriam slideshow, the producers wisely chose to transition into Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid’s performance of their social anthem on suicide prevention, 1-800-273-8255. With two iconic music stars lost this past year to suicide, it was the most fitting and one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the night.
Gary Clark Jr. and Jon Batiste Pay Their Respects – The only criticism was that it was too short. The always brilliant Gary Clark Jr., joined by Jon Batiste, performed a brief tribute to the late great Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. Fun, bluesy and oh so smooth, it was musical perfection.
WORST
Kendrick Lamar Loses AOTY (Again) – *Sigh* Well, I was wrong about him losing out to Jay-Z but I wasn’t wrong about his losing again. This is tough for me because I am a huge Bruno Mars fan and have been saying for the last few years that he is, in my opinion, the best male pop artist right now (sorry not sorry Justin Timberlake and Ed Sheeran). So I don’t want to entirely begrudge him his success and I felt bad for him with the slight booing that ensued when he was announced as the winner. However, I simply cannot agree that he deserved this win. Especially since as much as I loved 24K Magic, I don’t think that’s even his best work. But more importantly, as I stated in my predictions blog post, the simple truth is that Kendrick Lamar had the best album of 2017, just like he had the best album of 2015 and so once again, he was robbed.
Tribute to Victims of Concert Terror Attacks – It truly pains me to have to put this as a worst as the sentiment behind the performance was such a meaningful and beautiful one. But I am very curious as to why Grammy producers chose these specific artists for that tribute and that specific song. Don’t get me wrong, I love Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven. It was one of my favourite songs and in my opinion, one of the greatest songs of all time. And considering the meaning behind the performance, the song was a suitable choice but it very clearly did not go with the artists’ voices. And there are many other songs that are fitting for a tragedy. So if they had to go with these artists, they should have chosen another song. Or they could have gone with some other artists because again, no offense to Maren Morris and Eric Church and company, but this was just not the right song for their voices. And it made a moment that should have been incredibly moving and touching, one that I spent half the time cringing and the other half muting the television.
No Tribute for Chester Bennington/Chris Cornell/Delores O’Riordan – Yes, I know there was the tie-in performance of Logic’s 1-800-273-8255 but with three such iconic voices in music passing away last year, as well as Tom Petty of course, I feel like a separate tribute performance could and should have been done. After all, it’s not like the Grammys hasn’t done multiple musical tributes in one show before. Hell, last year’s show had Adele’s moving tribute to George Michael and Bruno Mars’ amazing tribute to Prince. And 2016 was like a show of musical tributes, including Lady Gaga’s, in honor of David Bowie, the Eagles’ tribute to Glenn Frey and the tribute to B.B. King. So I definitely think this trio of artists deserved a special performance.
Elton John/Sting/Sam Smith Performances – And to piggyback off my previous point, they especially could have thrown together a tribute for the above, since they had time for these three performances that were in my opinion, completely unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I love Elton John and Sting and I know Elton is starting a farewell tour and Sting is about to release a collaboration album with Shaggy (yes, you read that right) but the fact is they both just sang old hits of theirs that truthfully, really didn’t add much to the show. Again, don’t get me wrong, Englishman in New York is my jam and I totally grooved a bit to the performance but let’s be honest, nothing would have really been lost without it. And regarding Smith, not only did he look hideous in what looked like pajamas (did he crawl out of bed for this performance), the song and performance were both boring and underwhelming and he wasn’t nominated for anything. So again, this could have been left on the cutting room floor.
The Host Without the Most – Did James Corden serve any real purpose at this year’s ceremony? The Fire and Fury bit, as well as the subway sketch with Sting and Shaggy were decent enough but both were pre-taped. He didn’t have to be present for either of those two things to run. The fact is he was barely ever on the stage and when he was there, he wasn’t particularly funny or memorable. You know who was funny, Dave Chapelle. Just throwing it out there – Chapelle for Grammy Host 2019.
*All images courtesy Google Images*
PoPnOgR@PhY 