This year’s Grammys was highly anticipated. It was the first time, in a while, there had been such a diverse group of nominees. Also, with the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements continuing to shake Hollywood, all eyes were destined to be on this wonderful night in music. Only, it wasn’t that wonderful. In fact, the 2018 Grammys was probably one of the most boring and dreadful nights the award show has had in years. This is reflected in the decrease of viewers from the 2017 Grammys, which was watched by 26.1 million people, to 19.8 million this year, giving the ceremony the lowest ratings and viewers it has had in several years. The evening definitely had some highs, lows, and what the heck moments. Here are the great and no-so-great highlights:
The Highs
The night was all about Bruno Mars. He took home six Grammys for the amazing work he did on his third studio album 24K Magic. Not only did Bruno sweep his competition, he gave a fun, incredible, and lively performance of his hit single “Finesse” with Cardi B. The Grammys should have been called The Bruno Mars Show. Their ratings would have been better.
Photo cred: IndieWire
Kesha gave an emotional and powerful performance of her single “Praying” from her album Rainbow. She was joined on stage by Bebe Rexha, Cindi Lauper, Julia Michaels, Andra Day, and Camila Cabello, who sang along with her. What made the performance one of the biggest moments of the night was Kesha’s strength and vulnerability. She poured her heart out on the stage, which allowed the audience and viewers at home to feel her pain. Her performance will go down as one of the best moments in Grammy history.
Photo cred: Seventeen
The Brothers Osborne, Eric Church, and Maren Morris charmed the stage with their performance of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.” Their collaboration paid respects to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting last October during the Harvest Music Festival where the three artists were performers. Also, they acknowledged the victims of the Manchester bombing last May after an Ariana Grande concert. It was another moving performance of the evening that showed the power has and how it can heal broken hearts.
During the show, the camera cut to Beyoncé and Jay-Z with their daughter, Blue Ivy, sitting in-between them. Beyoncé and Jay-Z started clapping for Camila Cabello, who was giving a speech on stage, and Blue Ivy told them to simmer down. The cute moment was one of the, if not best, parts of the ceremony. It immediately went viral on social media. If we didn’t know who runs the Knowles-Carter household before, we do now.
Photo cred: E! Online
The Lows
With the exception of Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, the performances this year were dull. They did not entertain or wow the audience or viewers at home. Bruno Mars pointed out during one of his acceptance speeches that it was too many ballads. And it was. The ballads made the Grammys excruciating to watch and brought the mood down. 2017 brought us a substantial amount of I-want-to-get-up-and-dance music. There should have been more representation of those songs to give the show the edge it needed.
Alessia Cara was the only woman who won an award during the ceremony. The men dominated every category, although women were the majority of the nominees. With eyes heavily on the film and music industry about the lack of representation of women and equal pay, the Grammys only acknowledging and celebrating one woman is disheartening. In a way, it comes off to the audience and viewers at home that women are not as good as men. What made things worse was the Recording Academy President Neil Portnow saying in a post-show interview with Variety that women need to “step up” in response to the hashtag #GrammysSoMale that was created social media after the ceremony. 2017 was a great year in music for female artists as it was for male artists. The Recording Academy needs to “step up” and recognize the work women are producing.
What the Heck Moments
Alessia Cara won the Grammy for Best New Artist. While this is a great accolade for the 21-year-old Brampton, Ontario native, she is technically not a new artist. Social media reacted to her win by denouncing her win. Many people felt that she shouldn’t have been considered for the award because she became a mainstream artist in 2015. Her eligibility for the category would have made sense at the 2016 Grammys. Alessia Cara is an exceptional artist. She’s proven it with her features on Zedd’s hit single “Stay” and Logic’s suicide prevention awareness song “1-800-273-8255.” But Alessia Cara did not shine in 2017 like the other nominees in the category (Julia Michaels, Khalid, and SZA) did.
Photo cred: Billboard
Jay-Z and SZA were snubbed of Grammys this year. It was very surprising since Jay-Z lead the pack with the most nominations. SZA, who had a remarkable year and was a breakout star of 2017, did not receive an award either although she was the most nominated female artist of the evening. Another snub was “Despacito” losing Song of the Year. Despite the hit single being one of the most streamed records of 2017, it lost to “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars. The artists and songs that beat out Jay-Z, SZA, and “Despacito” were all equally extraordinary. It’s hard to choose just one artist. But the two artists and song should have won at least one Grammy.
The Grammys has to step it up next year if they want to regain viewers and receive higher ratings. There needs to be more female artists recognized for their work and better performances. Whoever at the Recording Academy is in charge of how the evening should run needs to go back to the drawing board and find a new and more exciting way to have the ceremony. The Grammys is supposed to be one of the highest honors for artists. The events, hosts, performances, and themes should reflect.