This year, televisions brought chart topping music to even bigger heights during the 2015 Grammy awards. This year was nothing short of a nail-biter as the best music of 2014 went head-to-head for the best titles in the music industry.
Nobody was surprised that Frozen took every award it was nominated for because we’ve basically been gagging on replays of “Do You Want To Build a Snowman” and Olaf merchandise since fall of 2013. Other than that however, most of the award nominee pools were not very predictable.
I did not expect Sam Smith to walk away with Best New Artist, Record of The Year, and Song of The Year, but I sure am glad he did. When you think of Sam Smith’s voice, it’s not uncommon to want to describe the chocolaty and velvety sensations it brings upon a listener. Not only are his vocals on point, but his songs are truly works of musical and poetic art that earned the nominations and awards.
Likewise, I was totally not expecting Beck to win “Album of the Year.” I don’t think anyone was. But that being said, for his album to win this award there’s no doubt it’s great, I mean, it beat out Beyoncé’s album! If the victory coming out of nowhere wasn’t enough, this sparked a ton of drama.
Good old Kanye West re-established his unadulterated love for Beyoncé’s music and pulled another stunt when she lost in the “Album of the Year” category. It was all too similar to the incident at the 2009 VMAs when Kanye protested publicly on television that Beyoncé should have won the award that Taylor Swift had beat her out of. When it was announced that Beck was the winner, Kanye rushed the stage just after Beck’s acceptance speech. Before he took the mic however he stopped in his tracks, shrugged, and returned to his seat. This seemed to make enough of a point, however, because the internet has been blowing up since his little uproar. Kanye later claimed that he thought Beyoncé should have won the award and was offended that Beck didn’t mention the other nominees in the category during his acceptance speech. In response, all Beck had to say was, “Can’t please everybody, man.”
Not only are the awards at the Grammys there to show the best in the business, the performances do the same thing. Ariana Grande seems to have performed at every award show in the last year, but I am certainly not complaining. Her performance on Sunday was spellbinding as she sang her very own heartbreaking ballad “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart.” The track is rumored to have been written by One Direction’s very own Harry Styles.
Madonna proved that she’s still desperately clinging on to her relevance as she put on a cringe-worthy and overly sexualised performance. I for one did not appreciate the demonic looking fauns that accompanied the 56-year-old on stage. They were creepy and their spandex/leather outfits made me want to hide my eyes. Madonna has always been known for going just one step too far but let’s be real, this performance was three steps too far. No part of me wants to see someone who’s old enough to be my grandmother put on a performance so sexual that it made me blush sitting in the same room as my friends.
Sia, weird as ever, sang beautifully, but the dance to her song by SNL’s Kristen Wiig and some little girl from Dance Moms was just out there. I think a 10 minute infomercial on some random product would’ve been more beneficial to my brain than watching Kristen and the girl dance as Sia just stood in the corner with her back to the audience. What’s the deal with Sia never showing her face? It has appeal but it also really makes someone question the importance of her music when instead they are focused on the fact that you cannot see her face .
Beyoncé and Pharrell both put on great performances, but they were connected in the fact that both had the now-well-known stance “Hands up Don’t Shoot,” incorporated in the choreography. This being a reference to the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last August. There’s no doubt that both artists, being colored, did this as a sort of statement towards the racism issues ensuing in America.
The Grammys this year were nothing short of surprising and every moment illustrated the mega industry music has become in our culture. The show is dedicated to the best of the business and I believe that even if we don’t like who walked away with awards or nothing, the nomination proves how good each and every nominee is.
