Thoughts On: The 57th Grammys

Welcome back to Zeke talking about things that no one cares about. This week I was going to talk about the new Joey Bada$$ album (which was one of whole reasons I started doing this) but the Grammys continue to irritate me to such a point that I am dedicating this week to shamelessly bash the event. The Grammys are a big deal to me, as they should be to anyone who loves music. Whether you are a top 40 lover or an indie fanatic you should be able to enjoy the show. When I was younger my mom and grandma would watch them and I would hear music and applause drifting into my room from the living room. When I started getting into music my own way I remember my mom being so surprised to see that I knew so much about all the artists who were performing and winning (this was the year Eminem won the Grammy for Recovery). It was a great time to be had.  Em was performing I need a doctor, Dre came out, and both my mom and I jammed out to the new song. However it quickly became apparent that the Grammys are just a farce meant to give awards to top sellers and whoever is the most popular.

Now many of you reading this know that this is not news and it is not. However in the last few years I have found more and more reasons to feel personally offended by how the Grammys are run and how awards are given out. Last night as I watched the Grammys there was weird mix of trying to appeal to a more niche audience whilst continuing to pan to the same 5 or 6 major celebrities just to remind you that Beyonce, Kanye, and Taylor Swift are all in the same place. People come from ALL OVER THE WORLD to see this huge show that is meant to bring different music lovers all together and you just focus on the same handful of people? Granted we all know why this is done but I will continue to criticize the Grammys for what they could and should be. I have no idea how much money is exchanged behind the scenes or why Kanye is allowed to do two performances but that is just ridiculous. As much as I enjoy Kanye's music I would much rather watch some of the performances that could ONLY be seen that night. Where else would I see Pharrell and Hans Zimmer pulling off one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed? This night should be an excuse for artists who may never get the chance to work together again (or not for a while at least) to combine their styles and make some unique shows. Ed Sheeran and Questlove, Hozier and Annie Lennox, etc. You have so much opportunity to just put on the greatest music show of the year but it never comes together as a whole experience for me. Now do not get me wrong I enjoyed most of the musical acts, but when there is a bunch of useless mainstream pandering in between it gets a bit annoying.

I want to watch the Grammys and get turned onto new music that I may not have heard of or had a reason to check out for myself yet. For example when Beck won Album of the year over Beyonce, much to his and the world's shock, I immediately looked into it and got it for myself  just because my interest was so high. There are not enough of these moments in the Grammys. We see all the same songs that we have heard play on the radio or in commercials thousands of times win multiple awards and then that same song is performed live. It becomes a bit of a farce when your music show has the same song playing 4 or 5 times, such a good way to diversify the show. Anyway I think it should be a rule that a single song can only win one award.There are times when I want a song to win multiple awards just because I think other songs in the category are not worthy, but let us share the love a bit huh? This is easily my most outlandish Grammy critique and will never catch on but I just thought it was worth mentioning. Sam Smith won 4 Grammys and I feel like we will not hear such widely popular and well received music from him ever again. Such is the pattern of a celebrity making it big off of one song and then disappearing. All about that Bass was nominated for Grammys as well and I doubt Meghan Trainor will be in the spotlight for a while. Hozier should have won something but again due to Sam Smith;s popularity he came away empty. These are all minor gripes I know but when things like this happen every year it just gets harder and harder to bear.

NOW we get to the real bread and butter of why the Grammys are not the buisness: The Rap awards. The Grammys has a history of not understanding what good rap is and awards are clearly given out on the votes of the old men who run the business casting ballads for someone that their white niece or nephew may have listened to. Again this is me being rude but the fact that Iggy Azelia was added to the RAP category for NO REASON cements my point. If she had won a Grammy this year the internet would have caught fire. Eminem ended up winning (which is better than Iggy) but he did not have the best album. Another problem with the way that awards are set up is that the Grammys are hilariously bad at staying current. Childish Gambino's album 'Because the Internet' came out in 2013 and was nominated for a 2015 Grammy. That makes literally no sense. All you have to do is push the Grammys further back into the year so that you can catch year end albums. I think their cut off date is somewhere in October which is awful the more you think about it. Have a music celebration that actually represents the music of the previous year? No of course not, lets stick to this antiqued process of making people angry. It is bad enough that Macklemore beat Kendick for best Rap Album (I dig the Heist but come on), but you put yourself in a situation where this is bound to keep happening. It is almost like you actually know nothing about rap music and care not for its fan base. Rap is now one of the most popular and influential music styles on the planet and the piss poor representation of it during the Grammys is laughable. Gambino or Q should have won the award and that is that. Kendrick rightfully won best rap song and performance for 'I' so that is a start (although I was rooting for Gambino for best performance). It just sets a bad precedent when you reward the wrong kind of talent. Eminem is legendary yes, but the man's work did not compare to two of the other albums up for the award. I could drone on and on but I think you understand my point of view. Let people who know a certain genre of music well pick the winners and you won't have this problem.

On the plus side I love the recognition of music giants at the Grammys, people who have paved the way for new festivals, musical scores, and ways of presenting and sharing music. I also enjoyed the slideshow of musicians who passed because it is important to remember where the music we love comes from. It just saddens me that you have some of the BEST musicians, artists, producers, and actors all together in one place for one night and you cannot easily blow me away. I want the Grammys to be a true testament of what it means to love music and appreciate good music. I want the right albums to be awarded so people understand more of what it means to be a good artist. I want appeal not to just be mainstream but universal, because music is universal. I want Kanye to NEVER be allowed to sit near the front again (like come on guy, I know it is a joke but please). I like the idea of the Grammys, I love seeing cool performances and finding new music to listen to, lets just tighten up the presentation and format of the show a bit so the celebration can actually be a celebration and not just some predictable unafraid to take too many risks music show.