This past Sunday, performers of popular music all gathered for a nontraditional version of the world’s biggest annual celebration of music.
The 63rd Grammy Awards took place on March 16, featuring comedian Trevor Noah as the host and emcee of the night.
The ceremony itself was interesting, even though it ultimately received low ratings. According to Variety, viewership for the awards was down over 50 percent from 2020.
Regardless, though, the structure of the program was a refreshing and enjoyable departure from most years, in which grandiose performances and spectacular collaborations are commonplace. Instead, with Noah at the helm and a greatly reduced attendance list, the Grammys this year featured a charming set of relatively straightforward performances from the music world’s most influential and listened-to artists, all in one neat package.
The Grammys are usually my least favorite awards show of the season, precisely due to that culture of one-upsmanship that results from the magnanimity of usual performances at the show. My favorite part of any award show is seeing the awards and making predictions; the Grammys are simply never satisfying enough in that regard (to a list freak like me).
Speaking of which, I’m contented to remind you that, in the Dec. 2, 2020 issue of The Outlook, I made my predictions for the “Big Four” Grammy Awards: Record, Song, and Album of the Year, and Best New Artist.
While I was wholeheartedly rooting for white-haired skeleton queen Phoebe Bridgers in all the categories for which she was nominated including Best New Artist, I predicted Megan Thee Stallion’s win in that category. I also got H.E.R.’s win for Song of the Year and Taylor Swift’s Album of the Year correctly, not to toot my own horn. However, I way overestimated Doja Cat’s TikTok clout that she gained from the Grammy-nominated “Say So.” Instead, Billie Eilish won Record of the Year for the melancholy yet pulsing “Everything I Wanted.”
One thing that is abundantly clear is the absolute dominance displayed by the women who were nominated for awards Sunday night. There were parts that I enjoyed quite a lot, parts I cringed at, and parts that were just weird to me. Here are a few of those Grammy moments.
GOOD: Dua Lipa Wins Best Pop Album
British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Future Nostalgia, following an energetic performance with DaBaby that left me in a disco state of mind. Am I surprised? No way. Dua Lipa has made hit after hit after hit, many just from her most recently award-winning album. In all, I don’t think it’s ever a bad time to give Lipa an award; she just seems to be dedicated to making the world a more fun place.
BAD: Taylor Swift’s Cardigan Medley
I know I might get chewed out for this. But was this a medley at all? I understand Swift’s genre-defiance, and I support it. This performance just fell flat for me, and I think in the introspection of her lyrics something is really lost in translation when it comes to a live scene. Swift has had some of her greatest successes in the past two projects she’s released, but this performance really lacked an energy that’s important for such a big platform.
BAD: Phoebe Bridgers wins Zero Grammys
The Weeknd may have been snubbed right off the bat. But Phoebe Bridgers got snubbed while she was at the Grammys! I wasn’t necessarily shocked when Bridgers lost Best New Artist to Megan Thee Stallion. What did shock me, though, was that she won exactly no awards at her freshman Grammys. She lost Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance, and Best Alternative Album. She tweeted at Megan Thee Stallion following the awards to congratulate her; I think she might be taking it better than me.
UNEXPECTED: Blue Ivy Carter Wins First Grammy
Blue Ivy Carter, the nine-year-old daughter of Grammy sweethearts Jay-Z and Beyoncé, took home a gramophone of her very own, for Best Music Video. Blue shares the award with her mother, in whose music video for “Brown Skin Girl” she starred. If she’s getting started this early with racking up the Grammys, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had more than her mom by the time she’s 30!
GOOD: Megan and Cardi Perform “WAP”
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this one. It was dirty, it was fun, it was a genuinely great and vivacious performance, regardless of how racy the song is. Just move your kids away from the TV or something, because the song (which Trevor Noah joked is about kittens getting bathed), is worth hearing and seeing live.
IMAGE TAKEN from Billboard
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IMAGE TAKEN from NME
