at this moment, I am sitting in my room, contemplating my upcoming slumber that is unfortunately shorter than it should be due to the unforseen circumstances surrounding tonight's broadcast of the 52nd annual grammy awards. now, i consider myself to be somewhat of an awards show junkie (hell, I went home to watch the people's choice awards) because for some reason or another, I enjoy seeing people win things, especially if they are people who I think should win.
however, I have never really been one to watch the grammy awards, primarily due to the fact that the fashion is simply too out there for me to get excited about and the awards generally go to undoubtedly talented but rather obscure acts that I have invested little to no time in. However, this year I was pleasantly surprised to see that I recognized many names in the nominee list and thus began the process of seriously considering watching the show this year.
One of these names happened to be the incomparable lady gaga, who in addition to being simple freaking awesome, has done more to add to the dimensionality of music in the digital age than anyone else. but, don't take my word for it: the wall street journal AND the new york times have both recognized that lady gaga is basically what people in the biz call "it" (this being one of the only things that these two publications will likely agree on, obama should give gaga a call). Furthermore, her album "the fame" is amazing as is the "expansion pack" the fame monster. I am happy to be one of her little monsters.
Anywho, the events that transpired tonight are saddening in this light. BOTH lady gaga and taylor swift performed tonight (gaga opened the show and taylor was somewhere in the middle). Gaga performed a bit of her classic poker face before she was thrown into a "rejection" chute that went into flames, only to emerge sitting on one side of a siamese twin piano, accompanied by none other than Elton John on the other end. After singin a medley of "speechless" (gaga) and "your song" (elton), my grin was fighting to secure the most room on the limited surface area of my face. Gaga never disappoints.
Then, time passed, beyonce sang some alanis, Pink had a really cool performace, and then came taylor. Once again, her live singing was sub par, it sounded a bit more like rhythmic talking, but slowed down instead of sped up as in hip hop. She was even upstaged on her own songs by stevie nicks! This is not something new for taylor, as her SNL performances were similarly cringe-worthy.
Anywho, at around 11:30pm, the moment had arrived and to be honest, I was waiting for them to call Beyonce's name. But no, my gaga was not snubbed by the flyest diva in the down or even the coolest white boys around (DMB) but by a 20-year old singing about her high school crush, and I am using the word singing very liberally here. WTF.
What are the grammy's trying to achieve? Lady gaga has raised the bar in musical performance and production to levels that global warming cannot even reach. Sure, she won pre-broadcast awards for dance and electronic album, but COME ON. In one year she had 5 no. 1 singes and 4 of them were from the SAME ALBUM. Can anyone else say that they did that, no. Why do the grammys insist on marginalizing gaga? She wasn't even nominated for best new artist because of a silly rule (Just Dance was released as a single in 2008, got nominated for a dance grammy in 2009, so no best new artist even though the album technically came out in the right timeframe). The president/ceo of the grammy's then has the gall to come out and get angry at us for downloading music illegally, and how we should compensate people in the right way. Well, then why don't you recognize people who have actually contributed to the success of your industry (see the WSJ article). Lady Gaga made 1/2 a million dollars in one day for haiti relief. one day.
I really have no problem with taylor swift, but I'm sure there is a man named kanye west sitting somewhere thinking to himseld "if I had only kept my mouth shut at the VMAs". Taylor, I think you forgot to thank the person most responsible for your award.
blerg.
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