The 2019 Grammys were a wild ride from start to finish.
With amazing performances from Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, Post Malone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, H.E.R., a Motown mashup featuring some of music’s biggest stars, and many more, the soundtrack was diverse and well-received.
However, some of the Grammy winners might not have been the ideal candidates. Here are some comments about big winners and big losers that took home the Golden Gramophone.
Best Rap Album of the Year
Winner: Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy.
Losers: Mac Miller or Travis Scott.
Perhaps this is because I’m not a big Cardi fan, but I thought Scott’s Astroworld was outstanding. And Mac Miller’s Swimming would’ve been a nice posthumous tribute.
Best Country Album
Winner: Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour.
Loser: Chris Stapleton, From a Room, Volume 2.
This one is an awesome country album. Stapleton’s voice and his guitar playing are fresh. Musgraves is still incredible though, but I feel Stapleton was snubbed.
Musgraves did win big with four Grammys. Stapleton was also robbed in Best Duo/Group Performance collaboration with Justin Timberlake.
Best R&B Album
Winner: H.E.R., H.E.R.
Loser: Leon Bridges, Good Thing.
Known as the “New Sam Cooke,” I have been a fan of Bridges for a few years and he is quickly becoming a rising star. I had never heard of H.E.R. prior to Sunday night, but I liked her sound.
H.E.R. did say additionally that “it’s not an album; it’s an EP,” and felt guilty for claiming it, even though she is a multi-instrumentalist, which is impressive.
Best Alternative Album
Winner: Beck, Colors.
Losers: Arctic Monkeys and St. Vincent.
I have to admit, I have not heard this winning album, so I might be wrong about this.
Truth is, I haven’t listened to Beck since like 2002. Arctic Monkeys released Hotel Tranquility Base and not a lot of fans liked it, because it was a new direction.
I liked it because it’s a new, refined sound they experimented with, and it works. They channeled Prince and David Bowie with Hotel Tranquility Base; a step up from their usual songwriting formulae.
St. Vincent won Best Rock Song, which I don’t agree with. The artist does have immense talent, but I wouldn’t classify her as ‘rock.’ See comments below.
Best Rock Song
Winner: St. Vincent, “Masseducation.”
Loser: Everyone else nominated in the category.
St. Vincent is kind of like new-wave meets techno and industrial music. I work at two rock radio stations and listen to about six additional stations heavily throughout the day, but I haven’t heard her once.
The one time I did hear her, was on 92.3, New York’s New Alternative. Therefore, I think this belongs in the Alternative category.
Best New Artist
Winner: Dua Lipa.
Loser: Greta Van Fleet.
Greta Van Fleet is a young rock band from Michigan that has a retro sound, immense talent, and very high potential. This is one of the hottest bands in rock music right now.
Van Fleet sound so much Led Zeppelin that even Robert Plant has endorsed them. Although Dua Lipa has over a billion views on YouTube for her breakout song “New Rules,” I root for the underdog; the slowly rising tour de force as opposed to the overnight sensation.
Best Rock Performance
Winner: Chris Cornell, “When bad Does Good.”
There are no losers; the Recording Academy got this one right.
A posthumous salute to one of music’s most recognizable voices with a beautiful, haunting swan song. “When Bad does Good” might even be Cornell’s magnum opus.
It would’ve made for great television had it been shown during the broadcast and not before. Rest In Peace to Chris Cornell.
Best Metal Performance
Winner: High on Fire,“Electric Messiah.”
Again, there are no losers. I would’ve been happy with anyone in this category. I am unhappy with the lack of applause they received en route to the stage, though. In a very diverse, unorthodox, and researched list of candidates including Trivium, Deafheaven, Between the Buried and Me, and Underoath, it seem the Recording Academy is paying more attention to metal.
Song of the Year
Winner: Childish Gambino, “This is America.”
Loser: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, “Shallow.”.
Gambino raked in four Grammys for “This Is America” with Best Rap/Sung Performance, Record of the Year, and this category. The artist wasn’t present at the event.
I think three Grammys to a single song might be a little redundant. Even with the message of the song and the music video, which is important, this just feels lazy work by the Academy.
The rest of the candidates for this category weren’t spectacular.
Gaga blew everyone away with her performance of “Shallow,” and she did take home two Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media for this song.
Gaga also netted Best Solo Pop Performance for her song “Joanne.”
IMAGE TAKEN from Radio Now 92.1
IMAGE TAKEN form Variety
