Grammys Make a Case for Thoughtful, Entertaining Award Shows

From the beginning genial host Trevor Noah who avoided any jokes that might trigger bad behavior admitted that the event delayed from January due to COVID precautions was not really an awards show at all quotThis is a concert where we39re giving people awardsquot he said early on quotWe39re going to be singing dancing and keeping people39s names out of our mouthsquotThat was the only reference to the ugly Will Smith outburst of violence against a mild Chris Rock joke at the Oscars that consumed most of the week Noah not given time for much of a monologue only joked about Olivia Rodrigo being too young for the quotDrivers Licensequot she sang about or Lil Nas X actually being taller than the OG rapper Nas both of whom eventually performedThe high quality of the acts may have been further enhanced by the fact most of the singers in primetime these days comes from amateurs on reality competitions Professionals generally get shunted to late night if they39re seen at allBut there was also a hopefulness too to the night39s biggest songs Multitalented New Orleans artist Jon Batiste pictured at top bandleader for quotThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertquot came into the event with the most nominations 11 and walked away with five wins the most of the night including the coveted album of the year for quotWe Arequot His humble acceptance of it came shortly after a splashy stirring performance of his single quotFreedomquot also the soundtrack for a Gap adIt echoed the evening39s most unexpected event a direct message from Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky followed by a performance of John Legend39s own yearning quotFreequot surrounded by a Ukrainian musician singer and poetquotOur musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedosquot Zelensky said in the message recorded in a bunker two days earlier an urgent and compelling moment compared to the Oscars where the war went unmentioned for its first few hoursThere was room for lots of winners in the show Silk Sonic39s quotLeave the Door Openquot practically a parody of 3970s soul from Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak won record and song of the year quotIn the industry we call it a clean sweepquot said Paak staying in character in his Beatle wig and showbizzy stanceThe former Disney channel star Rodrigo 19 won best new artist and best solo pop album for her quotSourquot She thanked her mom Doja Cat ran from the restroom to grab her win for best pop duo with SZA who hobbled up to the stage in crutches She had fallen out of bed that morning she said Lady Gaga one of those whom she beat in the category helped navigate her dress as SZA ascended the podiumIt was definitely the pop that had the ear of the youthtargeted show with much made of the first Grammy performance from Kpop stars BTS a striking presentation from reggaeton star J Balvin and a strong performance from onetime Grammy darling Billie Eilish Eilish who went home emptyhanded wore a Tshirt picturing Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins who died on tour March 25A slot where the Foo Fighters were to have performed was replaced by a salute to Hawkins followed by a stirring In Memoriam segment capped with a salute to Stephen Sondheim sung by Ben Platt Cynthia Erivo Leslie Odom Jr and Rachel ZeglerThere didn39t seem room for performances from heritage artists any older than Nas 48 who performed four of his anthems or Lenny Kravitz 57 who backed HER and presented the final award Joni Mitchell 78 appeared to help introduce Brandi Carlile with Bonnie Raitt 72 Tony Bennett 95 who retired from singing last summer appeared via tape only to briefly introduce Lady Gaga to sing some of the standards they had recorded for their quotLove for Salequot duet album which ended up winning best traditional pop vocal album one of more than 75 awards given before the telecast began in Las VegasWhile there was some focus on country in the telecast with songs from Chris Stapleton who swept the category with three Grammys and late show performances from Carrie Underwood and the Brothers Osborne who picked up their first Grammy there was no real attempt to try to showcase other fields of music being honored from jazz to classicalAnd when they did present performances from music as varied as bluegrass gospel and tropical fusion Billy Strings Maverick City Music and Aymamp233e Suamp225rez were seen playing for a few moments in and out of long commercial breaks from atop the roof at the MGM Garden Arena It seemed as though they were literally kept out of the buildingBut having some of the featured acts introduced by some of the background industry professionals from road managers to costume supervisors lent a shot of authenticity and some nervous speakers to the proceedingsClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Grammys Make a Case for Thoughtful, Entertaining Award Shows

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Roger Catlin

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