In many ways the 60th Grammy Awards were not only lacking in star power, but any sense of history for a major anniversary for music’s most prestigious honor. Perhaps considering the political and social justice tone of the evening the artists commandeered it to be about looking forward and not to the past. That’s a good thing.
Unfortunately, the winners were sadly predictable in may respects. Too few won too many awards (in this case Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar) and the artist who would have been the most generic pick possible took home the major honors (Mars). But for pure spectacle the Grammys have always been hard to beat and while there was no Beyonce, Adele, Nicki Minaj or Drake to light up the stage, Lady Gaga, Lamar, Mars and, as we’ll discuss, Kesha found a way to make it a night few will forget.
Keeping that in mind here is some of the best and worst of the Grammy’s 2018 return to New York City.
Best: Kendrick Lamar, U2 and Dave Chappelle
What a way to kick off the show. Lamar appeared on stage first among masked dancers in soldier fatigues as American flags waved around him. He sang a verse of “XXX” which then found U2 joining him on stage. There was then an interlude with Chappelle remarking, “I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America.” Lamar was then back eventually ending with his new single “King’s Den” from the “Black Panther” soundtrack (although there was no visual tie in). It was political, it was in your face and, more importantly, it was a perfect set up for the rest of the night.
Worst: The non-gender categories need to go
Ed Sheeran winning Best Pop Solo Performance over Kesha and Lady Gaga was embarrassing enough, but the fact men completely dominated the non-gender categories from nominations to wins is a huge problem. When the parred down categories were introduced the idea was to create more time during the broadcast for live performances and to avoid embarrassing nominations in fields with either a dearth of male or female contenders (mostly in the male pop and female rock categories). Instead, unless Taylor Swift or Adele are in the mix it’s been something of a disaster. Fix this Recording Academy, we know you can.
Worst: “Despacito was a mess
Listen, we love “Despacito” like everyone else. I mean 4.7 billion views on Vevo don’t lie. Unfortunately, Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi’s live performance was something of a mess. Both artists sounded great, but the two-bit choreography and cliche-filled staging did them no favors. It was often so awkward you could tell the director in the control booth wasn’t exactly sure what was the best camera to cut too. Sadly, a wasted opportunity.
Worst: James Cordon
Yikes, where to begin. Cordon didn’t appear as much in the first half of the telecast as he could have (good thing), but he did drop this cringe worthy line noting that the show had “for the second year in a row had the most least diverse host.” Somehow bringing up the obvious elephant in the room didn’t make us feel any better about it James. He also had quick bits where he introduced the Educator of the Year, tried an obviously staged version of carpool karaoke in a subway that had “passengers” (paid actors) upset that he was disrupting their ride and gave consolation puppies to the Comedy Album losers (a new twist on a bit Ellen DeGeneres started at the Oscars almost four years ago that’s getting crazy old). He also recruited his parents for an appearance where they pretended they’d skipped most of the ceremony to see “Hamilton” instead (again, that joke is what, two years old now?). All and all, Cordon actually made the case for him not to return for a third run as Grammys host except for…
Best: The Spoken Word recording of “Fire and Fury”
Perhaps the only inspired bit Cordon and his came up with was pretending to find famous voices to narrate the bestselling “Fire and Fury” album. This was going to be an obvious win for the overwhelmingly liberal Grammy membership and most viewers. First John Legend, then Cher, then Cardi B (“I can’t believe this. This is how he lives his life?”), then DJ Khaled and, drop the mic, Hillary Clinton read aloud from the book. When Clinton appeared the crowd went nuts and social media exploded. O.K, James, you got points on that one.
Best: Pink
No she didn’t do any aerial acrobatics from the ceiling or have back up dancers and pyrotechnics, but Pink’s stripped down performance of “Wild Heart’s Can’t Be Broken” was stunningly beautiful. Singing at a microphone with only a deaf interpreter to her side allowed greater resonance to some of the song’s more powerful lyrics. It was a gutsy choice from an artist who rarely gets the credit she deserves for her songwriting ability.
Best: Rihanna turning it out
If Rihanna is showing up at an awards show you know it’s going to take 10 min of airtime before she’s a meme. That’s already the case after her fiery performance of “Wild Thoughts” with Bryson Tiller which, unlike Cardi B and Bruno Mars before her, she performed live while still dancing to some pretty intricate choreography (and potentially also pregnant). Also, sure DJ Khaled is a great producer, but when did this legitimizing him as a live artist happen? How did he become an actual thing? Anyone?
Best and Worst: The non-political Vegas victims tribute
Maren Morris, Eric Church and the Brothers Osborne came on stage to sing Eric Clapton’s “Tears from Heaven” to honor the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas this past fall. Morris also reminded the audience of those killed at the Manchester Ariana Grande concert a few months earlier, but almost nothing was said about the inaction on gun control to help prevent the Vegas tragedy. Morris did speak about it on the red carpet, but was she silenced for the broadcast? It seemed odd and slightly tone deaf considering the political nature of the rest of the show.
Best: Janelle Monae reminding everyone “Time’s up!”
Introducing a performance of “Praying” by Kesha and a choir of well known female singers, Janelle Monae had something poignant to say. “ Tonight, I am proud to stand in solidarity as not just an artist but a young woman with my fellow sisters in this room who make up the music industry. Artists, writers, assistants, publicists, CEOs, producers, engineers, and women from all sectors of the business. We are also daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, and human beings. We come in peace, but we mean business. For those who would dare try to silent us we offer you two words: Time’s up. We say time’s up for pay inequality. Time’s up for discrimination. Time’s up for harassment of any kind and time’s up for the abuse of power. Because you see it’s not just going on in Hollywood. It’s not just going on in Washington. It’s right here in our industry as well. And just as we have the power to shake culture, we also have the power to undo the culture that does not serve us well. So let’s work together, women and men, as a united music industry, committed to creating more safe work environments, equal pay and access for all women.”