The Annual Grammy Awards - General Discussion

[WhitneyWhit]

I'm really tired of Taylor acting like she's all about girl power, she has done nothing but make a career on perpetuating the stereotype that girls are bitchy, catty and vindictive.

[CarpeDiem54]

Uptown Funk? Double blech!

Pitbull? Triple blech.

[rustyspigot]

Beyonce and her fashion doily. Meh.

[Callaphera]

I love how Taylor was jumping up and down and all excitedly for the Uptown Funk win. Because a camera is on her so she needs to perform. 

 

Is it just me or does every Pitbull song sound the same? I honestly think he's been rolling with the same song for the past four years, just changing it up a little bit here and there to try and trick us.

[Fostersmom]

How is this a song?

[WhitneyWhit]

Ugh, Robin Thicke, seriously?

[ebk57]

This was the All-Star Finale...  oy vey

[CarpeDiem54]

Happy wedding, Callaphera!

I'm outta here. There's only so much a gal without Jack Daniels can take.

[WhitneyWhit]

Wasn't that supposed to an all star finale? Because they forgot to include the stars.

[mtlchick]

So Taylor decided to throw the shade back at Kanye.  Too bad I had mentally tuned her out half way through.  As much I can say she does a lot for the fans especially for this album, "the squad" needs to be disassembled.

Edited February 16, 2016 by mtlchick

[mojoween]

Well that's odd...my local channel must have had enough because the local news came on when Pit Bull was still performing. Sofia just started shimmying across the stage, screen went black and then bam...weather report.

Spoiler alert -it's going to snow in Syracuse.

[Spacecow]

Go Taylor and a Kanye diss too!

 

wait what did she say? I tuned her out. 

[ebk57]

Have a fabulous wedding tomorrow, Callaphera!!!! 

[laugard]

As I much as I can't stand Taylor Swift's fake ways, I thought 1989 was a well-done pop album. She knows how to write catchy, pop songs, fine. But to win Album of the Year over Kendrick Lamar's? Ugh. So disgusted right now.

[Maysie]

I'm not particularly keen on Taylor Swift - tired of the "you were mean to me so I'm going to write a nasty song to get back at you" thing from her. But I have to admit, she can write a catchy tune (I keep thinking of The Rock singing "Shake it Off" in Ballers). I also admit to getting a giggle at her little dig at Kanye (I presume).

 

And I like Uptown Funk. Can't help it.

[DearEvette]

How is this a song?

 

It isn't.  it is a horrible, pitbull bastard version of a very cool Reggae Dancehall song called Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus and Pliers

 

[reggiejax]

Is the lead singer of Alabama Shakes a women or a man in drag? Or transgender? I'm not sure

 

For my money, she is the one person tonight who brought some real heart and soul to their performance, She was ferocious. I had only heard of Alabama Shakes, never heard their music, but they definitely made me a fan tonight.

 

I have to say, I am very disappointed with the Lemmy tribute. As Dave Grohl rightly said, Lemmy was one of those people who was Rock n Roll, yet the tribute didn't reflect that. I have nothing but respect for everyone on stage (OK, as a musician Depp is a dilettante, but he does have respect and love for rock music), but rather than a performance that was a stripped down force of nature like Lemmy, instead we saw a hollow, overblown production put on by aging tattooed millionaires, seemingly more concerned with perfecting an insouciant stance while playing guitar, and making sure their scarves, hats and mascara were just right. It was a lot of generic "attitude" but very little of the balls that made Lemmy a God. Scratch that, Lemmy was God.  If only he would have used his powers to resurrect his mortal vessel just for tonight, and show up to show these guys how its done. 

 

But worse than the performance was the sad truth that this was a testament to the fact that rock really is dead. I mean when the hot "new" band doing the Lemmy tribute has an average age of 61 (and would have been older were it not for the "kid" of the group, 52 year old Johnny Depp), you know the music is on its last legs. Sixty fucking one! That makes them older than the Grammys.

 

I know there is good rock music out there, played by people who aren't AARP members, but it has been relegated to the fringes. 

[Artsda]

At one point Taylor had 5 songs from 1989 in the top 10 of Billboard at once. She alone was 50% of the Billboard chart! She deserved Album of the Year.

[truthaboutluv]

As I much as I can't stand Taylor Swift's fake ways, I thought 1989 was a well-done pop album. She knows how to write catchy, pop songs, fine. But to win Album of the Year over Kendrick Lamar's? Ugh. So disgusted right now.

 

Exactly. No question, girl deserved her nomination but winning over Kendrick and Chris Stapleton is the biggest pile of crap and I think it's clear the people in the Staples Center weren't expecting that. Only her bestie Selena and of course Jack Antonoff who worked on the album, seemed truly thrilled for her. I am honestly sitting here just stunned that Taylor "cannot hold a note to save her life" Swift has two AOTY Grammys before the age of 30. WTAF...

 

God forbid these voters ever give a Rap album AOTY. It took Lauryn Hill and Outkast who were both Hip Hop which meant there was as much R&B on the albums as Rap, to win. When someone puts their soul into their music and telling their truth like Kendrick and Chris Stapleton did, to lose to "cause the haters gonna hate, hate and the players gonna play, play..." Again, WTAF. What's worse is I was fine with every other category win and couldn't even enjoy Bruno's well deserved ROTY win because of that bullshit. 

 

At one point Taylor had 5 songs from 1989 in the top 10 of Billboard at once. She alone was 50% of the Billboard chart! She deserved Album of the Year.

 

Katy Perry had five #1 songs from her Teenage Dream album, making her only the second artist to do so after Michael Jackson for a little album called Thriller. I guess Katy deserved AOTY for Teenage Dream too.

Edited February 16, 2016 by truthaboutluv

[Chrissytd]

Good luck on your big day, Callaphera.

Don't drink all the liquor ;)

[Bethorz]

I think rock is only really "dead" in the states, it still seems to do pretty well in other english speaking countries.

Edit sorry about the copy of the post, my phone freaked out before i could make it a quote

Edited February 16, 2016 by Bethorz

[Steph619]

I am pissed on Adele's behalf. I was so happy when Bruno Mars announced she would be singing "All I Ask" since it's one of my favorite songs off her new album and then the audio issues had to go mess it all up. It's a shame because it could've been a great performance.

 

I'm not surprised Taylor Swift won Album of the Year as it probably had the most commercial success out of all the albums nominated in that category. Congrats to her for being the first female artist to win that award twice, but I'm honestly not a fan of hers. Something about her is just so fake and rehearsed from her "surprised" reaction to winning to her speech about female empowerment.

 

"Uptown Funk" is an awesome song so I'm glad it won Record of the Year.

[Nite Ryder]

At one point Taylor had 5 songs from 1989 in the top 10 of Billboard at once. She alone was 50% of the Billboard chart! She deserved Album of the Year.

 

Have you heard of Max Martin?  

[UYI]

I'm probably going to get roasted to death for this, but here it goes:

 

I love Meghan Trainor. She actually has a very impressive voice, as her song "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" proves, and while she has written some...questionable lyrics, I don't think she was intentionally trying to hurt anyone's feelings with "All About That Bass". Some of the criticism she gets is SO nasty, and it feels like a lot of it goes back to her weight. Just because she doesn't have a supermodel body like Taylor Swift doesn't mean she isn't worth anything (and I do sometimes think Taylor can, unfortunately, be immune to criticism in some ways by some people due to her looks, even though it isn't fair). I actually think her has a pretty face, although I DO wish she had kept the blonde hair. :)

 

The only real complaint I have about her, other than the questionable song lyrics--and I think she has time to grow and evolve from that--is that she technically should have been nominated last year for BNA; before this year she wouldn't have been eligible for it (although she would have lost to Sam Smith like everyone else, anyway). But still, her teary reaction got to me. She seems so sweet. And her song from the Peanuts Movie is really cute, too.

 

Anyway, it was nice knowing you guys. ;)

Edited February 16, 2016 by UYI

[UYI]

And now, for more Grammy talk:

 

I was crushed at how short the Glenn Frey tribute was, and how bungled the introduction was. Still, I loved seeing everyone all the same.

 

That 12 year old kid ROCKED. 

 

Bonnie Raitt is still a goddess and I loved that tribute to BB King.

 

I'm SO happy Adele is back. Love her. 

 

Chris Stapleton deserved Best Country Album, but I'm a HUGE fan of Ashley Monroe and ESPECIALLY Kacey Musgraves, and it's a damn shame country radio won't play them and other truly talented women. We gotta make room for Bro Country fake R&B sounding crap like Sam Hunt! /sarcasm (actually, Sam Hunt kind of reminds me of some late 90's happy pop bands like Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray, which is fine, but country he ain't).

 

Taylor Swift...Holy humble brag, Batman. And you KNOW she had that 2 AOTY Grammys line planned FAR in advance, too. 

[Superpole2000]

I was switching channels back and forth between this and The Bachelor. I caught three performances (all were tributes to dead musicians) and the deceased tribute/montage. That's four segments, all about dead people. I'd say that's a bit too stuck in the past for an annual awards show...and I actually loved Bowie (not Gaga's "tribute").

[UYI]

I forgot to mention the Hollywood Vampires! I really did need some honest to God ROCK music at the Grammys...and you know, in general. REAL rock music, not "Maroon 5 doesn't rap so we'll call them rock even though they're actually pop" music.

 

As a HUGE Guns N' Roses fan (my screen name, UYI, is for Use Your Illusion, and the cover of UYI2 is my avatar!) I was THRILLED to see Duff McKagan. 

[Readalot]

I need this to happen so so badly. This would be the best wedding gift ever!

THIS.would.make.my.year. I so wish I could of gifted it to you. And congrats on your upcoming nuptials!

[mojoween]

I like how Ryan basically said this song flopped.

I know this is from pages back about "Girl Crush" but what I think he meant is there were some conservative radio station types who got their underwear in a bunch and thought that LBT were singing about *gasp* lesbians and instead of actually listening to the fucking song and understanding what it was actually about, they decided they weren't going to play it because you aren't going to hear THAT type of music on their good ol' boy radio, no sirree. I mean, there were boycotts, FFS.

I personally loathe country music but when I read an article about that I bought the song post-haste.

[UYI]

I know this is from pages back about "Girl Crush" but what I think he meant is there were some conservative radio station types who got their underwear in a bunch and thought that LBT were singing about *gasp* lesbians and instead of actually listening to the fucking song and understanding what it was actually about, they decided they weren't going to play it because you aren't going to hear THAT type of music on their good ol' boy radio, no sirree. I mean, there were boycotts, FFS.

I personally loathe country music but when I read an article about that I bought the song post-haste.

 

The thing is, that song isn't even about a true lesbian. It's about a woman jealous of another woman with the guy she wants, which is some cop out BS. 

 

The majority of the great country music today isn't on the radio, because the industry apparently is happy with serving the public with country music that sounds either as stereotypically country (yay trucks, bikinis, and beer! BARF) or as inexplicably rap/R&B sounding as possible. Actually singing about deeper things, or having a traditional country sound, is basically a no no on the radio now.

 

Meanwhile, a young woman who actually CARES about making REAL country music--and recording duets with REAL country legends--gets shunned by the radio. Pisses me off. (This is the song that played when her nom for Best Country Album was announced, BTW):

 

 

If you go to the website Saving Country Music, I think you'll enjoy it a lot:

 

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/

[Callaphera]

Thanks everyone! Watching with you (and my bottle of wine) was a lot more fun than fluffing flower arrangements for the 10th time. See you all here next year!

[tom87]

This was  2 1/2 hours of an In Memoriam  segment and  1 hour  of awards and commercials.

[VCRTracking]

It's a good thing I heard the Hamilton soundtrack first or else I would have been distracted by the female dancers in old timey underwear!

[Celia Rubenstein]

On the west coast now ...  watching the Gaga/Bowie performance.   I am so disappointed.   It's like some kind of horrible, awful Vegas way-off-the-strip tribute act abomination.  It's just awful.  It's so bad it's almost like it is some kind of joke.  

 

Gaga is so talented.  Bowie was one of the most talented people ever to walk the face of this planet.  How did this happen?  

 

Everyone involved should be banned from everything.  Forever.  And then banned from everything again.   It was that bad.

[WendyCR72]

I was switching channels back and forth between this and The Bachelor. I caught three performances (all were tributes to dead musicians) and the deceased tribute/montage. That's four segments, all about dead people. I'd say that's a bit too stuck in the past for an annual awards show...and I actually loved Bowie (not Gaga's "tribute").

 

Well, a lot of musicians recently died. In this case, I don't think the Grammys had a choice as those who died were big in the industry and deserved their honors. Depressing, maybe, but again, also deserved.

[Dee]

The Hamilton, Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes & Gary/Bonnie/Chris BB King tribute were the performances of the night for me.

 

The Earth Wind & Fire tribute was ridiculously short, and was solely saved by the grace of the legendary Stevie Wonder, since I loathe Pentatonix with the heat of a thousand white hot suns.

 

Miguel's 'She's Out Of My Life' was nice. His album not being nominated in any of the major categories was major garbage.

 

Also major garbage? Natalie Cole not receiving a posthumous tribute. Especially with Jazmine, Faith & Lalah sitting RIGHT THERE in the audience.

[BW Manilowe]

Does LLCoolJ always host this event?

I missed the intro, so I didn't realize that was Carrie Underwood with the short hair (wig, I assume) in the duet.

LL's been hosting for a few years now; I'm not sure how long his deal's for. But, you have to admit, it's great cross-promotion for both his music career & his role in NCIS: Los Angeles which, of course, also airs on CBS.

Carrie's hair is real. She actually got it cut in early December--the article I'm linking is from, like, December 9th or 10th, 2015. Probably because, besides being a busy (& currently touring) singer & wife, she's also the mother of an almost 1 year-old son (I think his birthday's at the end of the month). A lot of mothers of very young children find it easier to have short hair as opposed to long.

http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2015/12/09/carrie-underwood-new-haircut-bob/

[BW Manilowe]

I liked seeing Lionel, too.

I can see why this Little Big Man (or whoever the hell they are) song didn't zip to the top of the charts. Zzzzzz....

That's Little Big Town. And the song, Girl Crush, was actually #1 on Billboard's Country Singles Chart for 13 weeks. It's 1 of the group's biggest hits, if not their actual biggest hit so far.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Crush

[BW Manilowe]

This is some boring ass shit.

Kendrick's performance kinda took my breathe away. Not because it was amazing (it wasn't boring, so that's good), but that was some spitfire rapping at the end there. I feel like they're atoning for Kendrick not getting BNA the other year because they gave it to Macklemore for his pandering "Same Love" song.

Kinda loved Stevie's nyah-nyah-y'all-can't-read-braille thing. It's kinda weird that Sheeran won for a song he performed last year. Same as when Beyonce won for Drunk in Love the year after she opened the show with that song. I literally said, "TAYLOR SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!" when she hopped up like her team just scored. Such an attention vampire.

Florence and the Machine is rock? The fuck?

I'm tired of the Weeknd. I think someone at his label told him that he needs to do Bruno Mars' music while he's in-between albums. I think if cut his hair nobody would give a shit. As long as it looks like Cthulhu we think he's doing something.

Carrie and Sam Hunt would've been a little better if their mics had been working.

Adele's...reliably good. There's a reason why she's Adele and the rest of them aren't. And it proves what I've always said about her: when you bookend her with a bunch of people who are only used to singing about sex and parties, she sounds awesome.

I liked James Bay and Tori Kelly. I hope Tori wins BNA.

Meghan Trainor looks like she's going to a singles mixer at the local Jewish community center.

Responding to the bolded. It's not necessarily all that weird if you know the cutoff date for eligibility for the Grammys is September 30th of the previous calendar year (so, for tonight/last night's Grammys, all the nominees had to be released/on product released between October 1, 2014 & September 30, 2015). The "year before they got nominations" song performances were probably to promote that they had new CDs out that were ineligible for that year's Grammys.

Edited February 16, 2016 by BW Manilowe

[BW Manilowe]

From her Twitter feed, here's an explanation of at least some of the stuff that marred the Adele performance.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Adele/status/699457178717958145?p=v

[MyAimIsTrue]

I am mostly here for Hamilton.

 

That's all I wanted to see but I couldn't stomach the pop tartlets "singing" or the nominees and winners I'd never heard of so I turned off the TV.  Please tell me "Hamilton" was all kinds of awesome.

[DeLurker]

Bonnie Raitt is still a goddess and I loved that tribute to BB King.

I was reading your (collective) posts and not watching since there is too much fluff and stuff for me  - thanks for doing the hard work so now I can cherry pick the performances to watch (more importantly, which to avoid).  Bonnie Raitt will be at the top of the list to watch!

 

Disappointed about to read the Bowie tribute was not good.  Kinda neutral on Gaga, but do think she is talented so was expecting the tribute to be worth watching.

 

Callaphera - your wedding plans sound awesome and I hope the day goes well!

[redfish]

As much I can say she does a lot for the fans especially for this album, "the squad" needs to be disassembled.

 

 

Considering that her "squad" really consists of pretty famous girls, it's not as if she's really breaking ground. It's an entourage just like Paris Hilton when she had her group of friends.

[mtlchick]

 

Responding to the bolded. It's not necessarily all that weird if you know the cutoff date for eligibility for the Grammys is September 30th of the previous calendar year (so, for tonight/last night's Grammys, all the nominees had to be released/on product released between October 1, 2014 & September 30, 2015).

 

Which means in a year, it will be the "All the awards go to Adele!" show.

 

 

The only real complaint I have about her, other than the questionable song lyrics--and I think she has time to grow and evolve from that--is that she technically should have been nominated last year for BNA; before this year she wouldn't have been eligible for it (although she would have lost to Sam Smith like everyone else, anyway). But still, her teary reaction got to me. She seems so sweet. And her song from the Peanuts Movie is really cute, too.

 

 "Best New Artist" is very vague.  I remember Shelby Lynne won in 1998 and she mentioned she had released six albums and was in the business for 13 years before she won it.  The rules have been changed in the past few years though https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_New_Artistwhich explains why Megan won now instead of last year.

[Quof]

From her Twitter feed, here's an explanation of at least some of the stuff that marred the Adele performance.

Which in itself is hilarious, since Adele says she is not allowed to Tweet, Instagram, or Facebook without at least 3 levels of management approving it, because she has no filter.

 

Agree that Bonnie Raitt is a goddess.  One of my favourite performers to see in concert.  But as to the suggestion above that she would be fun to drink with, it would have to be a wheatgrass smoothie since she is Clean and Sober.

[UYI]

I think I should say, regarding Taylor Swift, that she technically had every right to call out Kanye for writing a lyric about her having sex with him because he "made that bitch famous" (more like MORE famous--he DID raise her popularity to another level after his VMA stunt, but she was already pretty popular on her own before that), because that was disgusting and crass (although the fact that he called his own wife a bitch in song--and basically implied that she's a gold digger--is even worse IMO. I mean, she and her whole family repulse me, but Kanye's married to her, not me.).

 

But like I said above, the humble brag about winning two AOTY awards soured it a bit for me. If she was going to mention it, I think she should have just straight up BRAGGED about it, rather than mention it under the guise of being humble.

 

And I'll admit that her past record on feminism, which has often looked more like a faux feminist PR tactic used to deflect genuine criticism off of her whenever she gets her delicate little fee fees hurt--also colors things a bit for me, but again, despite the humble brag, she deserved to call him out and I'm glad she did.

 

Conflicted feelings and all that good stuff. *shrug*

Edited February 16, 2016 by UYI

[vibeology]

I'm not surprised Taylor Swift won Album of the Year as it probably had the most commercial success out of all the albums nominated in that category. Congrats to her for being the first female artist to win that award twice, but I'm honestly not a fan of hers. Something about her is just so fake and rehearsed from her "surprised" reaction to winning to her speech about female empowerment.

 

Here's the thing about AOTY. When Taylor wins its because she's a huge commercial success. When Mumford & Sons, Beck and Herbie Hancock win, its about rewarding artistry over sales. What it never seems to be about is awarding the albums of Black artists even when they're critically acclaimed and Platinum the way To Pimp a Butterfly was. The Grammys gave Kendrick all the rap awards last night but when it came to the general categories he's shut out in favour of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Kanye West has 20+ Grammys but has never won AOTY. Same with Beyoncé. You have to go back 10 years for the last Black artist's win in that category.

 

The sad thing is the awards are so secondary to the show at this point and its still a mess. If you're basically going to host a 3 hour concert, you need to get the sound right, get the visuals right and make sure there is enough variety in the performances to keep the audience entertained. There were way too many ballads. There's only so much you can do when ballads get nominated for song and record and the tribute numbers tend to be a bit more somber (though they shouldn't have to be and making them that way is misguided, IMO) but that was so much slowness that it killed any momentum of the night. Did Tori and James have to sing a slow song? Sam and Carrie? And I love her so I hate to say it, but Adele wasn't nominated last night so did we really need her? Couldn't we have filled that spot with Florence or Courtney Barnett or See You Again or Elle King? Something relevant to this year's show?

 

There was some energy with Hamilton and Kendrick performing nearly back to back but that was killed quickly with more ballads. It just was a poorly paced show.

[mojoween]

Considering what CBS did to the Super Bowl halftime show it's no surprise the sound was a mess.

As we are watching "Furious 7" this morning it reminded me that Tyrese Gibson was sexy as HELL last night and I would watch him do a Lionel tribute six days a week and twice on Sunday. John Legend can play piano and I would never leave the house.

[Mountainair]

So, I fell asleep part way through Bieber and have no desire to see what I missed.

I like Adele well enough but she always sounds like she is scream singing to me. She's just too loud most of the time.

Of the performances I did manage to stay away for I think I liked Stevie Wonder and the Pintonics(sp?) the best. They were just off the cuff, little to no stage dramatics, upbeat tempo, short and quick. I even liked Taylor Swift and I'm not normally a fan of hers because her performance had some energy to it.

I don't see what the big deal is about Hamilton. It was ok, I guess but still in the meh category for me. I missed whoever was the rap artist performing before Beiber due to a crying child but unless it was some old school rap I'm pretty much pre disposed to dislike it.

I don't mind that very few awards are given out and rather enjoy the fact that this is a big three hour concert however, as mentioned up thread, you have to get the sound and pacing right. I for one also miss the days when they would have at least one obscure artist perform that I'd never heard of before. Nowadays it is strictly top 10 artists that already have a huge fan base performing. Let some other artists have the spotlight for a bit. Also, I don't need to see a bunch of artists perform another artists songs when said artist is sitting right in the audience and willing to perform them themselves as was the case with Lionel. Just let him go up there and perform.

[kili]

Here's the thing about AOTY. When Taylor wins its because she's a huge commercial success. When Mumford & Sons, Beck and Herbie Hancock win, its about rewarding artistry over sales. What it never seems to be about is awarding the albums of Black artists even when they're critically acclaimed and Platinum the way To Pimp a Butterfly was. The Grammys gave Kendrick all the rap awards last night but when it came to the general categories he's shut out in favour of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Kanye West has 20+ Grammys but has never won AOTY. Same with Beyoncé. You have to go back 10 years for the last Black artist's win in that category.

I'm not sure I understand the argument. How can you use Herbie Hancock as an example of rewarding artistry over sales and in the next sentence say that it never seems to be about awarding albums of Black artist even when they are critically acclaimed? And Herbie won 8 years ago. 

 

I think the reason a lot of rap artists don't win is the same reason that "The Lego Movie" didn't get nominated for a Best Animated Movie Oscar. For animators, smooth movement is what is prized and "The Lego Movie"'s spot on rendition of choppy stop motion was the opposite of what they look for. I think a lot of musical artists want to see a combination of lyrics, melodies and hooks and traditional rap just emphasizes the lyrics. 

 

I'm sure that Kendrick will eventually win a make-up Grammy one year and we'll all be complaining about the hot new artist who got robbed.