And The Winner Is... Grammys Recap
Bruno, Kendrick, Childish Gambino, Logic, Time's Up and Jay-Z snub? Let's talk about it.
This year's Grammys was basically a long concert along with a sprinkle of awards. Those six names are the highlight of the ceremony and here is why.
Bruno Mars can be considered the winner of the night. He took home six awards including album and song of the year for "24K Magic" and "That's What I Like". He gave a funky choreographed performance alongside Cardi B. of their hit single "Finesse'. Overall I feel like he deserved all of his accolades.
Kendrick Lamar opened the award show with "XXX", "DNA" and "Kings Dead". His performance was filled with pyrotechnics and great dancers, he also collaborated with U2 and Dave Chappelle. His performance literally gave me chills, it was so raw, woke and honest. It was followed by a well deserved standing ovation. Lamar took home four Grammys sweeping the rap category winning for "DAMN." and "Humble." He gave a nod to Jay-z, Puff Daddy and Nas as his hip hop idols in his acceptance speech.
I will admit, I'm probably giving more credit than I should to Childish Gambino, but there was something about his performance of "Terrified" that was slightly mesmerizing. Maybe it was the lighting or the tone and mood he set, but I was intrigued. Near the end of the song he brought out JD McCrary who will be playing young Simba in the upcoming live action film, The Lion King. Gambino took home the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Redbone".
Logic came to the Grammys on a mission to address social issues. Along with Alessia Cara and Khalid they performed "1-800-273-8255" (which is the suicide help hotline). At the end of the song Logic gave a chilling speech about social justice that was very inspiring. The way that he took command of the audience and used his huge platform was very respectable.
Janelle Monae introduced Kesha's performance of "Praying" with a short speech addressing the Time's Up movement. Guests to the awards were also asked to wear white or a white rose to symbolize solidarity with the social issue. Even though there was acknowledgement of the cause, the Grammys failed to recognize a lot of women this year. (For more on this see Trending Artist.)
Jay-Z came into the awards as the most nominated artist, eight in total, so you would think that he would at least get one of those eight potential awards. But he did not get any. As I said, Kendrick Lamar swept the rap category so that left the big awards which Bruno Mars swept, leaving Jay empty handed. In my opinion "DAMN." was slightly better than "4:44" but that's arguable. I do feel like he could have gotten one, but then there would probably be backlash for a song winning that has the "n-word' every other word ("The Story of OJ"). Meanwhile social media got a few funny memes and gifs from Miss Blue Ivy though.
The host, James Corden, who I did not previously mention, was forgettable. There were so many performances and in between a few awards, he was barely on stage. He had a "subway karaoke" with Sting and Shaggy, but the whole thing was awkward and I would rather forget. I would give the show as a whole a solid B, it was good, but it could have been better. We will have to see how they improve next year.