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[Grammys & Politics]: Fire, Fury, Lady Gaga Murdered Nature's Last Remaining Piano Bird
Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Today I received an alert usually devoted to warning me that a major disaster has occurred only it said "Bruno Mars sweeps the Grammys!"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-awards.html
The Highlights:
Bruno Mars walked away with six out of six awards he was nominated for including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
Kendrick Lamar swept the R&B awards and this NYT article creepily refers to Jay-Z as a reigning elder of hip-hop (he is 48).
Dollar sign free and now contract free Kesha gave an emotional performance basically giving the middle finger to her abusive ex-manager.
Our most stunning Android Janelle Monae and many other performers made multiple demonstrations, performance nods, or outright included references to the #MeToo movement.
Lady Gaga used her delicate delicate fingers to pluck the ribs of the majestic piano bird and produce wonderful sounds.
I was super pleased to see How Far I'll Go win for Musical because Lin Manuel Miranda is the best. I was very surprised that Bruno Mars won anything because I think his songs are deeply and expertly crafted milquetoast. I am most certainly missing a lot of stuff.
It seems like this year the Grammys were politically charged more than ever (as most things have become) and that the music industry is facing the same demons that the movie industry is currently facing.
Also Twitter is abuzz because Hillary Clinton showed up and read Fire and Fury with several other celebrities. Nikki Haley responded saying that "politics don't belong in entertainment."
The Hot Take engine is full steam ahead and Vox has an interesting interpretation. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/29/16943952/2018-grammys-recap-awards-winners-losers-boring
"Something big and bold would happen, but then it would immediately be followed by a safer (and usually whiter) choice. The show would go from Kesha performing a song off an album widely interpreted to be about the aftermath of a former producer sexually assaulting her to Camila Cabello giving a shout-out to DREAMers stuck in legal limbo to U2 performing on a barge in the middle of the river. All of these moments worked in isolation; stacked together, they made very little sense. As a result, the Grammys never built up any sense of momentum.
In particular, the show’s choice to essentially silo all political messaging into one 20-minute section in the middle of the production felt like a network note, as if CBS itself had descended to say, “Let’s not scare off Trump voters with a bunch of business about immigration and men’s sexual misconduct.” Indeed, the awkward, whiplash-inducing transitions from relatively safe material to riskier material felt very CBS — since the network is, after all, America’s most staid broadcaster."
How do we make sense of the political milieu that was this year's Grammys? I am no longer in the US so I am missing out on this cable news cycle. I feel like I am reading two takes:
1) Trump got owned at the Grammys.
2) Grammys ruined by politics.
Is there an accurate consensus of what happened? How does everyone feel about the insertion of politics into the Grammies? Was it too much? Too little?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-awards.html
The Highlights:
Bruno Mars walked away with six out of six awards he was nominated for including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
Kendrick Lamar swept the R&B awards and this NYT article creepily refers to Jay-Z as a reigning elder of hip-hop (he is 48).
Dollar sign free and now contract free Kesha gave an emotional performance basically giving the middle finger to her abusive ex-manager.
Our most stunning Android Janelle Monae and many other performers made multiple demonstrations, performance nods, or outright included references to the #MeToo movement.
Lady Gaga used her delicate delicate fingers to pluck the ribs of the majestic piano bird and produce wonderful sounds.
I was super pleased to see How Far I'll Go win for Musical because Lin Manuel Miranda is the best. I was very surprised that Bruno Mars won anything because I think his songs are deeply and expertly crafted milquetoast. I am most certainly missing a lot of stuff.
It seems like this year the Grammys were politically charged more than ever (as most things have become) and that the music industry is facing the same demons that the movie industry is currently facing.
Also Twitter is abuzz because Hillary Clinton showed up and read Fire and Fury with several other celebrities. Nikki Haley responded saying that "politics don't belong in entertainment."
The Hot Take engine is full steam ahead and Vox has an interesting interpretation. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/29/16943952/2018-grammys-recap-awards-winners-losers-boring
"Something big and bold would happen, but then it would immediately be followed by a safer (and usually whiter) choice. The show would go from Kesha performing a song off an album widely interpreted to be about the aftermath of a former producer sexually assaulting her to Camila Cabello giving a shout-out to DREAMers stuck in legal limbo to U2 performing on a barge in the middle of the river. All of these moments worked in isolation; stacked together, they made very little sense. As a result, the Grammys never built up any sense of momentum.
In particular, the show’s choice to essentially silo all political messaging into one 20-minute section in the middle of the production felt like a network note, as if CBS itself had descended to say, “Let’s not scare off Trump voters with a bunch of business about immigration and men’s sexual misconduct.” Indeed, the awkward, whiplash-inducing transitions from relatively safe material to riskier material felt very CBS — since the network is, after all, America’s most staid broadcaster."
How do we make sense of the political milieu that was this year's Grammys? I am no longer in the US so I am missing out on this cable news cycle. I feel like I am reading two takes:
1) Trump got owned at the Grammys.
2) Grammys ruined by politics.
Is there an accurate consensus of what happened? How does everyone feel about the insertion of politics into the Grammies? Was it too much? Too little?
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It started feeling more like a political rally than an awards show.
Plus, i'm bitter because they no longer televise best rock or best metal album awards. And, honestly, if you're doing politics how the hell do you not include rock and metal?
"Childish and KDots performances were pretty amazing, and I think 24k Magic was overrated albeit obviously the best selling.
Also, ABR and Code Orange robbed by Mastadon for Best Metal performance."
I didn't see the Lada Gaga highlight yet but damn that piano and costume look really really great.
I only saw a highlight for the end of the Kesha performance, but it was definitely an emotional thing to see.
Music has always been somewhat politically charged, so I don't see why the Grammy's wouldn't be. Maybe putting it front and center as the focus of the award show is a little much though.
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However, they shouldn't push so hard to make an awards show about politics instead of concentrating on the art. I thinks thats where it broke down for me.
Like, a band getting on stage and having a political word to say in the music is 100% what its all about.
But, it felt like they came up with the skits first and found performers to fill the slots.
I dunno.....
Like i said I'm old and bitter. Give me the bassist from Rage Against the Machine crawling on set dressings and refusing to leave, give me Eddie Vedder scrawling words on his arms, give me a punk band giving the middle finger to the establishment, give me the metal band scaring Mom's with devil imagery.....
Don't parade it out like you accomplished something because you wrote easy political jokes into the commentary to show how "woke" you are.
Yeah, I'd say that for all their political 'awareness' and for all the white roses and anger, it came off as incredibly bland and constrained. No (to steal and name) Fire and Fury.
Honestly to expose myself to some criticism, its a failing of modern music in its entirety. There's so little anger there these days. So little fire. There's a lot of sadness, a lot of loss, a lot of pain. But no rage.
http://variety.com/2018/music/news/lorde-shades-the-grammys-in-new-tweet-1202680214/
Also Donald Glover was, as always, on point.