Grammy Awards 2021 – Best & Worst

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So the 2021 Grammy Awards happened. And as this is a pop culture blog, I guess I probably should write something about it. Truthfully, trying to come up with five things I enjoyed about this year’s show was all but impossible, and so I limited my best and worst to four each. I should add that I had no such issues picking the worst.

In the end, this year’s ceremony was mostly predictable (yeah who didn’t call Taylor Swift winning Album of the Year), with one or two surprises thrown into the mix (hello Billie Eilish winning Record of the Year) and a combination of bad, to decent and good performances. I can’t say there was any that wowed and made me sit up in awe.

I’m sure by this point you can tell that I wasn’t particularly impressed by this year’s ceremony. But as I said, it had its okay moments. And so without further ado, here’s my best and worst of this year’s Grammy Awards.

BEST

• Pandemic Appropriate Ceremony – This year’s Grammy Awards was the first big awards show to try an in-person ceremony while sticking to the limitations of the pandemic. And I must say, it surprisingly worked very well. The small, outdoor venue created a nice intimate atmosphere and admittedly, it was nice to see winners accepting their awards in person again and being applauded by their peers. Word is the Academy Awards are considering using the show as a model and will attempt to have some type of in-person ceremony as well. I hope they do.

• Trevor Noah Delivers – It wasn’t the greatest hosting performance of all time but it was by no means terrible. And these days, that’s good enough. The main thing Noah had going for him was enthusiasm. If you read my Golden Globes recap, you’d know this was the factor I felt most hurt Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s performance. At one point in the night, they just seemed over it. But to his credit, Trevor Noah remained upbeat, warm, and inviting throughout the night, with a few awesome zingers to boot.

• Harry Styles Cements Solo Career – Directioner no more. Harry Styles cemented his solo career legacy at Sunday night’s ceremony with a slinky and sexy Bowie/Jagger-esque opening performance of his hit single Watermelon Sugar, followed by his first Grammy Award win for Best Pop Solo Performance. And he did it all while wearing boas of varying colors throughout the night.

• H.E.R.’s Deserving Song of the Year – It’s easy to be cynical and consider H.E.R’s I Can’t Breathe as award baity. And maybe on some level, it was. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a powerful and necessary message. All great artists channel their truth, whatever that may be, through their art. Their hurt, pain, fears, triumphs, etc. And that’s exactly what H.E.R. along with her co-writers, D’Mile and Tiara Thomas did through I Can’t Breathe, making it a more than worthy Song of the Year.

WORST

• Taylor Swift’s Anemic Performance – Don’t worry, I’m not going to comment on her record-making third Album of the Year win.  I imagine many are tired of reading my rants about how Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly was robbed (it was). And frankly, based on this year’s list of Album of the Year nominees, Taylor’s win was a complete whatever to me – not undeserving but not exactly a triumphant win for me either. To quote Ms. Swift herself, “it’s not hate, it’s not dislike, it’s just indifference”. That said, what was that performance? This is the second time Taylor Swift has won Album of the Year while delivering a mediocre at best Grammy performance. If I had not listened to the album and only had that performance to go by, I’d be very confused as to why this woman won Album of the Year. It just never went anywhere. It started okay and just meandered for however long the performance lasted.

• No Eddie Van Halen Tribute – Simply unacceptable. Eddie Van Halen deserved far more than a barely minute acknowledgment in the In Memoriam segment. Considering how under-represented rock was and has been in the last few years, amongst the major categories, the least the producers could have done was put together a small yet fitting tribute for one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time.

• Dua Lipa’s Everything – I don’t get it. I have tried and I simply do not get the Dua Lipa hype. Her music to me is mediocre, her voice even more so (though I guess when your genre is pop/dance, strong singing ability is not really required) and last Sunday’s performance didn’t exactly sell me on her being a stellar performer either. At one point, it felt like I could see her counting steps in her head. It felt very high school talent show. When I think of Lady Gaga’s Fame debut or Robyn’s Body Talk, I just cannot buy into the Dua Lipa hype.

• What Was With the Envelope? – Whose idea was it to design the envelopes as they did? I get that they were trying to go for something cool and interesting but these envelopes were just impractical. And watching multiple presenters try to figure out just how to open the damn thing was a little cringe.

And there you have it. My 2021 Grammy Awards recap. I sincerely hope next year’s nominees are just a teensy bit more exciting for me, so I can return to the days when I passionately cared about this ceremony.

10 Pop Culture Moments of 2020

I think it’s safe to say that 2020 will be a year many of us will never forget – much as we wish we could. A year that started like any other, with big hopes and plans for exciting adventures, quickly turned into a nightmare for many. “Normal” no longer existed, as the world seemed to flip on its axis.

However, despite much of the entertainment industry screeching to a halt – late-night shows were relegated to Zoom, movie premieres and big red carpet events were no more, concerts were non-existent – the world of pop culture did not stop, for better, and in some heartbreaking instances, for worse.

The following are ten of the most significant pop culture moments of 2020.

1. The Death of a Sports Legend – When we all look back at the year that was, I think many will agree that the month of January was in some ways, something of a predictor of what was to come. I remember, and I’m sure many do, feeling at one point like January would never end, as it was one shocking incident after another, barely 30 days into the New Year. And none was more shocking than the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter Gianna, and seven other individuals, in a helicopter crash on January 26. The sports world and the world in general was stunned – shock, heartbreak and grief poured out across the world.

2. Diversity Wins Big at the Oscars – Probably hard to believe and even remember at this point, but an Oscar ceremony did take place this year, complete with all the glitz and glamor that comes with Hollywood’s biggest night. And while there were many memorable moments – namely, Brad Pitt winning his first acting Oscar and Eminem’s surprise performance of his Oscar-winning song Lose Yourself – the big story of the night was the dominance of Parasite. The South Korean film made history, becoming the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture, with its Director, Bong Joon Ho, also picking up Best Director. Read my Best and Worst of the 2020 Oscar recap.

3. Girl Power at the Super bowl – Once again, it’s probably hard to remember but a Super Bowl halftime show occurred this year. And it was a pretty damn awesome one. After a series of underwhelming male-driven halftime shows, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez teamed up for a fiery and energetic halftime show that showed others how it should be done. Whether or not you are a fan of these women or their music, you could not deny the exciting and just plain fun musical performance they put together.

4. Jordan Reigns Supreme Once Again – As the inevitable shut down of all sporting activities came to fruition, sports fans everywhere searched for an alternative to satiate their sporting needs. Enter The Last Dance – the ESPN, in collaboration with Netflix-produced drama about the legendary final championship season of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. Sports fans, old and young, clung to the documentary like a life-line. Those who were old enough to have been alive during the Jordan-era reminisced and those too young were introduced to the magic (and controversy) of the greatest basketball player of all time. No matter what side of the argument you fell on – some viewed the documentary as a Jordan-driven hagiography, while others viewed it as a deconstruction and dismantling of a legend, exposing some ugly sides previously not known – it was inarguably one of the most compelling sports documentaries. And it further cemented, whether you like the man or not, Michael Jordan’s supreme dominance and legacy in the sport.

5. The Tik Tok Explosion – As anyone who has an understanding of and works with social media marketing knows, Tik Tok has steadily been on the rise in the last two to three years. However, hours and hours of lockdown and little to do, saw the social media platform explode in a way it hadn’t before. As the pandemic lockdowns made influencer life hard, many took to the emerging app to share their content and find an alternative source of income. Tik Tok memes and videos were suddenly all the rage, and much like YouTube years ago and later Instagram, a few Tik Tok personalities emerged as future stars. Leading the charge was Charli D’Amelio, a former dancer who is the most followed personality on the platform and is soon to become a reality star, with a show about her life on Hulu. On a personal note, I’m not exactly sold on the Tik Tok hype. Read more here, where I discuss whether or not the app is the future of social media marketing or merely a fad.

6. Social Justice – As if dealing with a pandemic was not difficult enough, 2020 also saw the fight for social justice take center stage again, as the Black Lives Matter movement reemerged on a national scale in the wake of the horrific murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Various public figures came out in support by taking to the streets, donating money, lending their voices, and leading nationwide protests, such as the NBA lockdown. Things are not better, and there is still a lot of fight to be had. However, this time the voices were louder and many more were willing to listen. Check out my list of social media influencers telling the Black Lives Matter story the right way.

7. Taylor Swift Returns to Her Roots – The inability to tour and promote their music the old-fashion way did not stop many artists from releasing new music this year. 2020 saw releases from Beyonce to Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Megan Thee Stallion, and more. But unquestionably, none was as successful as Taylor Swift, who surprised her fans in July, with a midnight release of her eighth full-length studio album, Folklore. More surprising than the unexpected release was the album’s sound, which saw Swift return to her musical roots after her foray into the pop world, starting with 2014’s 1989 and up to her most recent release, Lover. Tender and poignant, Folklore was the dreamy and delicate sound many did not know they needed and wanted while dealing with this year. The album placed Swift back into the “one million albums sold in its first-week” category and saw her return to the Album of the Year category at the Grammys. On a personal and perhaps unpopular note, I thought Folklore was good though not great, only because I think three or four songs could have been left off. And we did not need Evermore, which sounds like nothing more than a collection of discarded, “not good enough to make the original album” songs.

8. Zoom Becomes the New Entertainment Media – As the world shut down, including all studio-driven shows, such as late-night and morning daytime shows, many wondered how the entertainment industry was going to function. Enter Zoom. A popular tool in the business world for the last few years, Zoom had mostly been used by global companies with offices around the world, as a way to stay in touch with company members across various time zones. But as the pandemic raged on, it became the ultimate entertainment tool. Morning shows were functioning by interviewing guests via Zoom, late-night shows were delivering monologues, and interviewing guests via Zoom. It was so overwhelming that the software crashed a few times, unable to handle the sudden global and excessive use.

9. The Unraveling of Ellen Degeneres – For a few months, during this past summer, 2020 seemed to be about two things – the pandemic we were living through and the fall of Ellen Degeneres. It began with a Twitter call-out by podcaster Kevin T. Porter, hashtagged #EllenIsMean, where Porter encouraged users to share their individual stories and experiences of Ellen being a mean person. What soon followed was a bombshell expose about intolerable working conditions at The Ellen Degeneres Show, including instances of racism and sexism. Through much of it, the comedian stayed mostly silent, angering many even more. When Degeneres finally addressed the scandal, during the September season opener of her show, many felt it was all too little too late. It’s hard to predict where things will go from here for Degeneres and The Ellen Degeneres Show. But suffice to say, irreparable damage has been done to her once seemingly shiny halo. Read more of my thoughts on the scandal and Degeneres’ handling of it, from a Public Relations standpoint.

10. The Death of a Super Hero – Along with the many difficulties of the pandemic, 2020 also saw the passing of many famous figures (RIP Alex Trebek, Jerry Stiller, Kelly Preston, Naya Rivera, and many more). However, none was more shocking and devastating for many, than the passing of Chadwick Boseman. Boseman’s death at the age of 43 due to complications of colon cancer stunned many, as the public never knew he was sick. Like the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, Boseman’s death was a stark reminder to us all of the fleeting nature of life. It was a brief life – but what a life it was. And in the bitterest of ironies, Boseman left us with one of his finest and most poignant performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

5 Biggest Snubs of 2021 Grammy Nominations

The nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards were announced this week, and it would be an understatement to say many people had a lot of feelings about said nominations. Spoiler alert – many of these feelings were not positive.

There were quite a lot of WTF, huh, what, why…reactions across social media. A few names were expected (should we all just prepare for Taylor Swift’s record-breaking third Album of the Year win), others were a pleasant surprise (hi Jhene Aiko) and some were just inexplicable (Noah Cyrus…really? Miley was never even nominated for New Artist).

There are certainly debates to go around on who should and should not have been nominated, so I’m sure some will disagree with this list or at the least think I should mention another artist or two. But the following is just my opinion of the snubs that particularly stood out to me the most.

The Weeknd Shut Out – At this point it’s probably all been said. Possibly the one consensus across the board regarding this year’s nominations was, “where the hell was The Weeknd”. It genuinely was the first thing that immediately stood out to me when I read the list. Whether you are a fan of The Weeknd’s music or not, his critical and commercial impact this past year is unquestionable – an 80 Metacritic score for After Hours, almost 450,000 in first-week sales and of course Blinding Lights not only a Billboard Top 100 number one single, but a global smash. To not only be left out of the big categories – Album of the Year, Song of the Year and, Record of the Year – but left out entirely is just baffling. There is simply just no way to make sense of this.

No Album of the Year Nomination for Fiona Apple – While she did not have the commercial success like The Weeknd did, Apple’s first full-length studio album in eight years, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, topped almost every critic’s list, garnering a stunning Metacritic score of 98. Only Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came as close to a score that high with a 96 and 94 respectively. Certainly, Fetch the Bolt Cutters was not the most fun or accessible album to listen to. It was equal parts stunning and strange. However, it was certainly more deserving of an Album of the Year nomination than a few of the albums that were nominated. That said, at least Grammy voters didn’t completely forget about her, as the album and single, did garner three nominations in Rock and Alternative categories.

No Love for The Chicks – The artists formerly known as The Dixie Chicks returned with their first full-length studio album in almost 14 years, Gaslighter (yeah, as crazy as it is to believe, it’s been that long). As a long-time fan of The Chicks (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played and sang along very loudly and very badly to Fly), I will say this wasn’t my favorite album of theirs. That said, the depth of these women’s talent means that even their “not the best” is still pretty damn good. The album had an indescribable depth and poignancy to it. It may not have been Album of the Year worthy, but it was certainly worth a few country nods.

No Love for Country Music At All – Speaking of country nods, didn’t seem like Grammy voters had much love for country artists at all. The biggest snubs were Luke Combs and Maren Morris. Morris at least received a nod for Best Country Song for her hit The Bones. However, many felt the song should have garnered at least a Song of the Year or Record of the Year (or both) nomination, particularly it has become Morris’ highest-selling single and seen crossover success on pop radio. That said, one nomination is better than none, which is the story of Luke Combs’ Grammy journey. And much like The Weeknd’s snub, this one is particularly baffling. Combs’ sophomore album, What You See is What You Get, was one of the biggest selling country albums of the year and one of the most critically successful, even winning the Country Music Association (CMA) Award for album of the year. And therefore, to say it’s surprising that a committee of Combs’ peers did not nominate him for any of the individual country categories is an understatement.

Harry Styles Misses Out on The Big 3 Categories – In the interest of fairness, Harry’s doing a lot better than some other artists on this list, with three nominations (two in the pop category and one for Best Music Video). He’s also now become the first member of One Direction to receive the industry’s highest nod for his solo work. So not too shabby. That said, with the critical and commercial success Styles enjoyed this year, for his sophomore album Fine Line, it was surprising that he didn’t garner at least a Record of the Year nomination.

So there we have it. Another year of Grammy nominations and another year that I feel my interest waning. I can’t say I’ll likely watch the January ceremony, especially as we’re still living in unprecedented times. But I might have been more willing to entertain the idea if the nominations had been a little less “what’s happening here” and more “I’m loving all of this”.