The Grammy telecast (live blog here) was surprisingly strong this year. Sure, the stage was only 3 feet deep most of the time and soaked in water because of Fun., the sound mixing made it so you could only hear big belters like Kelly Clarkson and Mavis Staples, and the set dressing was terrible. The ceremony only ran over by about 45 minutes and the producers of the telecast at least tried to show a variety of categories. That meant pop, rock, and country represented in addition to the big four--Album, Record, Song, and New Artist--but at least it was something. Here are 5 Big Grammy Stories You Didn't See on the 2013 Telecast.
1: Skrillex Still Reigns Supreme
Skrillex, the dubstep DJ with the out of nowhere Best New Artist nomination last year, is proving his staying power at the Grammys. For the second year in a row, he swept all the dance music categories. His album Bangarang won Best Dance/Electronica Album. "Bangarang" won Best Dance Recording. Skrillex also picked up Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for "Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix)" with Joseph Ray and Daniel Stephens. His "Promises" remix is very strong and I'm glad to see it win.
Skrillex is doing a lot to bring modern dance music into the mainstream again. There's always someone on the outskirts pushing pop in new directions. Skrillex is part of a field of talented musicians who use the turntables to brave new paths in contemporary music. Deadmau5, David Guetta, and Calvin Harris, among others, are having a very clear impact on Top 40/CHR radio. It's a good thing.
2: Gotye Quietly Sweeps His Categories
Sure, Gotye was only nominated for two Grammys. I don't know anyone who was predicting he'd win. Yet, here we are, the morning after, and I can happily report that Gotye nabbed both trophies. He beat out category mainstays Bjork and Fiona Apple for Best Alternative album (Jack White, Frank Ocean, The Black Keys, and Fun. were all shuffled off to other categories somehow even if Alternative was the better fit for all of them) and he picked up Record of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know."
I haven't been the biggest Gotye supporter, but I can't deny how polished his sound is. He still might go down as a one hit wonder in America. It's too early to tell. What I can say is that it's rare for someone to win Best Alternative Album and not repeat in the category with their next album. Gotye may have lucked into some serious staying power on the strength of an inescapable hit single.
3: Americana Is Big
You saw Mumford & Sons take Album of the Year for Babel. You also saw The Lumineers and Alabama Shakes' frontwoman Brittany Howard take the stage for some great performances. What you didn't see was the love for traditional American music that permeated many of the categories.
Alabama Shakes, the Lumineers, and Mumford & Sons racked up a collected 10 nominations for doing throwback folk and rock music. They won none of the dedicated categories for their respective albums but picked up huge nominations in Best New Artist and Album of the Year. Taylor Swift also picked up Best Song Written for Visual Media for the folk song "Safe & Sound."
This was the year where this kind of music lost its footing at the Grammys. They eliminated a dozen regional American categories to make the awards more streamlined. Instead of killing off these genres too insignificant to actually stand on their own, the Grammmys bolstered a new appreciation for throwback Americana sounds.
4: Classical Music Still Exists
I know this is shocking considering the telecast last night. They took the time to name drop Dan Auerbach for winning Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (even specifying it was "Non-Classical") and then acted like that was just a random descriptor.
There are 10 dedicated Classical Music categories, more than any other genre, and none of them were represented onstage last night. It's a gross oversight from an organization that gave Esperanza Spalding, a classically trained bassist, the Best New Artist prize a few years ago and helped launch the careers of artists like Andrea Bocelli with big nominations. Classical musicians are still musicians and actively participate in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Here are the winners of all of the Classical Music categories.
- Best Engineered Album, Classical: Life & Breath - Choral Works By René Clausen, engineered by Tom Caulfield & John Newton
- Producer of the Year, Classical: Blanton Alspaugh (he produced Life & Breath - Choral Works by René Clausen, among many others)
- Best Orchestral Performance: Adams: Harmonielehre & Short Ride In A Fast Machine, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas
- Best Opera Recording: Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen, performed by Hans-Peter König, Jay Hunter Morris, Bryn Terfel & Deborah Voigt, conducted by James Levine & Fabio Luisi, produced by Jay David Saks
- Best Choral Performance: Life & Breath - Choral Works By René Clausen, conductor Charles Bruffy
- Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: Meanwhile, performed by Eighth Blackbird
- Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Kurtág & Ligeti: Music For Viola, performed by Kim Kashkashian
- Best Classical Vocal Solo: Poèmes, performed by Renée Fleming
- Best Classical Compendium: Penderecki: Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; Partita; The Awakening Of Jacob; Anaklasis, conductor Antoni Wit, producers Aleksandra Nagórko & Andrzej Sasin
- Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Hartke, Stephen: Meanwhile - Incidental Music To Imaginary Puppet Plays, composer Stephen Hartke
5: The Grammys Love the Chris Brown/Rihanna Drama
You kind of saw this last night on the telecast. The seating chart put Chris Brown in front of Rihanna. She was one seat to his left so the camera could always catch both of them looking at each other. It also meant that from some angles you could see that heinous tattoo of Rihanna's beaten face on Chris Brown's neck next to Rihanna's actual face.
UPDATE: It's worse than I thought. They moved next to each other at some point after the opening monologue.
Ugh.
I'd have passed this up entirely of the Grammys didn't award Rihanna Best Short Form Music Video for "We Found Love." In case you weren't aware, this is the video where Rihanna acts out scenes of domestic abuse with a Chris Brown look-alike. The ultimate message of the song and the video is that it's okay if he beats you if you really love him. It's a disgusting message that tells young people domestic abuse is acceptable and the Grammys are rewarding it.
I wish people would actually take a stand against this nonsense. At any point, this disgusting music video could have been stopped. When the video went forward, people could have taken a stand against the implied forgiveness of Chris Brown and let Rihanna know what's up. When that didn't happen, the Grammy voters could have actually watched the video and realized voting for it could send out the wrong message. They didn't and now a video inspired by and excusig a real life domestic abuse situation that almost left Rihanna dead is considered the "Best" of something.
I think that's just sad. If the video wasn't so disgusting, I would flippantly comment on how it's not even a very well made video. The quality is beside the point. There comes a time when the context absolutely overwhelms the content and any good that might have possibly existed from the creative endeavor is forever marred. This is one of those times. Shame on the Grammy voters for encouraging this attitude with this award.
So what were your big Grammy stories? Sound off below.