brief grammy roundup

I'm a bit out of it, so I'll just elaborate on the Grammy email I sent Ms. Brownlow. And add a video or two and call it a night.

While I'm happy for Adele's wins, I'm tired of these things where someone Sweeps the Grammies. It becomes so predictable, you know who's gonna win each award. And feels like lazy voting by the academy.

Maybe that's just sour grapes because Rolling in the Deep beat out Kanye's All of the Lights. Rolling's a good song, but Lights blew me away the first time I heard it.

I thought Katy Perry looked awkward doing that bad girl style, like it didn't sit naturally on her.

I loved Bruno Mars performance, my fave of the night. Not my fave song on the album, but great moves, great look. (He's the guy who co-wrote songs like "Wavin' Flag" and "Fuck You.")

And then of course I enjoyed my Nikki Minaj, except I was distracted by some family drama going on. My husband's sister had to put one of her beloved cats down--kitties she's been through a lot with.

I thought the script writing was the worst part of the whole night. Trying too hard to be clever.

There were some sweet moments. Adele at the end, but also Lady Antebellum when they said thankyou again for all their wins last year. And then Bon Iver who I'd never seen before. He was absolutely adorable in his stammering acceptance speech.

Here's Bon Iver's beautiful song "Woods"


He redid the song for Kanye West's "Lost in the World", one of my favorite songs from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (which won Best Rap album)

...which on the album is finished off with Gil Scot-Heron, who died in 2011.

    

All of the lights?

Kanye is one of the few mainstream musicians who still treat their works as passionate art forms, producing beautiful and inspiring couture music and offering audible filet mignons as an alternative to the pop-tunes’ Big Macs.  (Chris Leal)

Last year I was inappropriately offended that Kanye West's album was shut out from the Grammies--inappropriate because the album falls under 2012 not 2011.

But I can now refresh my piss-a-tude because while he's received a lot of nominations, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy wasn't nominated for record or album of the year. While Adèle deserves all the nominations she got (record, album, song etc.) , the Bruno Mars nomination irks me. I bought his album, it's good, it's fun, he's talented... but for the love! Twisted Fantasy is epic, it's cutting edge, it's lush, and the lyrics are clever and deeply personal.

Here are some lyrics from Bruno Mars' "Grenade" (nom for record and song of the year) 

Mad woman, bad woman
That's just what you are
Yeah, you smile in my face
Then rip the brakes out my car

Did he go to the Weird Al School of Love Song Writing?

Oh, why did you disconnect the brakes in my car?
That kind of thing is hard to ignore
Got a funny feeling you don't love me anymore  (Weird Al, You Don't Love Me Anymore)

There's a cut off age for seriously writing those kind of lyrics.

Here's one of my fave Dark Twisted songs, "Power" which seems to be most reflective upon all the shit he got himself into, culminating in Taylorgate.

Lost in translation with a whole fuckin' nation
They say I was the abomination of Obama's nation


He's behaving himself and saying he thinks he wasn't nominated for record and album because he released two albums in the same year (the second being with Jay Z, and was also nominated for best rap album.) But I'm not the only one who sees a snubitude. Most critics think it's due, not to his antics, but a lingering lack of appreciation for hiphop among the committee peeps. Bruno Mars' inclusion in best record and album does make this seem likely, since it's très Motown. I can imagine an older committee member saying: "Now this is what those young folks should be singing! Not that gol dang rap garbage. Why in my day..."

Did Kanye West Get Snubbed for Album of the Year?
5 Snubs and Surprises
Grammy's Snub Kanye West

Here's the gorgeous song he was nominated for, including Rihanna, Fergie, woah woahs by Alicia Keyes, and several others including Elton John. "All of the Lights" which I suspect is also about his journey through music industry land ("Tell her she take me back, I'll be more supportive.")

Fast cars, shooting stars
All of the lights, all of the lights
Until it's Vegas everywhere we are



In other news... I hope Nicki Minaj wins for Best New Artist.

She was universally acknowledged to have shredded her fellow big boys on the song "Monster" (when you can get everyone in youtubeland to agree on something, that's a small miracle), won best hip hop album at the AMAs, and has been heralded as the next big thing in rap by the likes of Kanye and Rick Ross.  But she won't win.  :-(

And if I'm fake I ain't notice cause my money ain't
   
   
PS - Radiohead got nominated in the Alternative section. Has Alternative just become a genre, rather than a recognition of off-the-beaten-track artists?