I’m writing this at almost midnight because I have come to the conclusion that if I go to bed on the promise that I’ll write my awards show recap in the morning, my awards show recap doesn’t get written. So please excuse any typos or grammar errors as I am tired.
So The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards just ended and once again there were some good, some bad, some surprises, and very little that was great about the show as a whole. It started off with a tribute to Aretha Franklin that featured Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch, Jennifer Hudson, Martina Mcbride and Yolanda Adams. It was an incredible line up of performers but unfortunately too much Diva to really pay tribute to a true Diva. The ladies really didn’t seem to mesh very well, and as much as I absolutely loved Florence Welch from Florence and the machine performing her part of the tribute – it just seemed like an odd mix of women to me. They also seemed like they were trying one-up each other. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t love it as a show opener. And Christina was the worst of all of them - and she fell at the end of the performance (video below)!
Next up was my most anticipated performance of the evening – Lady Gaga! Gaga had everyone talking on the red carpet when she arrived in an egg! Yes, Lady Gaga arrived in a ‘womb’ where she was ‘incubation’ according to her model doctor that she had walking alongside her. Um, ok. It works, only because it’s Lady Gaga! And of course she was in a womb, because she was ‘Born This Way’ – get it?! Anyway – I really loved her performance. It was upbeat, it was lively, it had great dance moves and it is shaping up to be the anthem of 2011. I would have loved to see it as the opening number!
But here’s the thing – after 40 minutes of a show – only one award was given out! I know this is an awards show for music and that it should be about the music – but it’s also an ’Awards’ show – so awards would be nice. Muse performs and all I get out of it is that they like to wear sparkly clothes (I immediately assume they must be British) and then realize that their frontman, Matthew Bellamy, is Kate Hudson’s baby daddy. He immediately becomes more intriguing to me.
Justin Bieber takes the stage to perform with Jaden Smith complete with dancing ninjas, which makes the mother in me Ooooh and Aaaaaah and want to pinch their cheeks. Then they show a clip of Will and Jada Smith in the audience and I can feel their pride so much! Honestly – sooo cute! Dude is so going to be the coolest kid in school tomorrow! Oh, and Usher needs a new song – stat.
At almost two hours into the show only four awards – count that – four awards had been given out! CRAZY!! Gaga wins an award and thanks Whitney Houston – at this point I’m thinking that she’s intentionally fucking with Madonna – but I kinda like it. David Letterman does a Top 10 list about the Grammy’s and makes fun of Lindsay Lohan. I predict Dina will have something to say about that very early Monday morning. Stay tuned to TMZ to hear all about it.
Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan killed their performance. OK really I just really like Mumford & Sons who I had never heard of before but loved their music and lead singer guy was HAWT. And THIS is why I like that the Grammy’s are heavy on performances because it allows us to see artists we might not otherwise be exposed to.
I also love Rihanna with Eminem and Dr. Dre, and I loved Rihanna with Drake – not a country fan so the Miranda Lamberts of the world were actually the worst part of the show for me, as was Barbra Streisand. I know she’s a legend and I know she suffers from terrible stage fright, but if you’re gonna sing, make it interesting. Gaga probably would have loaned you some horns.
Cee-Lo and Gwyneth were just ok for me – I mean I love the song but if I were a ‘real’ singer I think I might be pissed that Gwyneth is getting stage time at the Grammys. I mean isn’t it enough that she has an Oscar?! Katy Perry performed and I did really enjoy her singing – much better than the MTV Awards where she was terribly out of tune. And her breasts took over the show – my husband was mesmerized by them the entire time she was on stage! Lady Antebellum performed and proved to be the night’s big winners – shocking even themselves!
But my biggest shock must have been in the Best New Artist category. Now this really shouldn’t have shocked me because this is a category notorious for naming less commercially popular artists as winners in this category. Last year the Zac Brown Band (who I had never heard of and still haven’t heard of) won, and this year Esperanza Spalding beat out Justin Bieber, Drake, Mumford & Sons and Florence and the Machine. I honestly didn’t think that Justin would win – but thought that Drake would take it. And huge congrats to Arcade Fire – the indie band from Montreal who stole the show by winning Album of the Year – an award many thought would be given to Eminem. Who by the way needs to cheer up a bit. Seriously.
I said it on Twitter and I’ll say it here – The Grammys’ need a host. The show was boring not because the performances were boring but because there was no one there to tie it all together. There was no continuity; there was no one there to make us care about the show anymore. There was no one there to make fun of the people in the audience or even the presenters or performers.
All in all The Grammy’s were a lot like fat free popcorn. You’re excited because you can have it, but once you do you kinda think you might have been better off without it because it really wasn’t that good. Like you probably would have been better off to go to bed hungry. Where's Kanye West when you need him?
Here’s a list of the major winners – you can get a full list off the Grammy’s official website.
Winners:
Album of the Year: The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group: Hey, Soul Sister (Live) – Train
Best Female Country Performance: The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert
Best Rock Album: The Resistance – Muse
Best Pop Vocal Album: Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Best Country Album: Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Song of the Year: Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Best New Artist: Esperanza Spaldin
Best Rap Album: Recovery – Eminem
Record of the Year: Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Best Dance Recording: Only Girl in the World – Rihanna
Best Rap Song: Empire State of Mind
Best Male Country Performance: ‘Til Summer Comes Around – Keith Urban
Female R&B Vocal Performance: Fantasia
Male R&B Vocal Performance: There Goes My Baby – Usher
R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Soldier of Love – Sade
Contemporary R&B Album: Raymond V Raymond – Usher
Rap/Sung Collaboration: Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z & Alicia Keys,
Rap Solo Performance: Not Afraid – Eminem
Short Form Music Video: Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy
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