For the first time being held in New York City in fifteen years, the Grammys made a grand point by having U2 perform their latest single, "Get Out of Your Own Way" outside in the frigid temperature in front of the Statue of Liberty, giving the moment a dramatic effect. And to celebrate sixty years of honoring the best in music, the 2018 Grammys surprisingly didn't do much of anything. With the exception of Recording Academy President, Neil Portnow briefly mentioning the milestone in his annual speech on the program (before unintentionally offending many female performers by telling them to "step up"), there was not a single moment throughout the evening of looking back at highlights of the Grammy Awards' rich yet admittedly flawed history.
James Cordon returned as host of the show and continues to be an enthusiastic ringmaster and cheerleader. One of his highlights was a funny bit involving bringing his popular "Carpool Karaoke" to the New York City subway along with Sting and Shaggy (where did they find him ?) for the ride but the passengers were hilariously not having it. But the biggest laugh of the night was about how non-musicians can win a Grammy and imagines a variety of different people reading an audio book of the recent "Fire and Fury", which examines the current White House administration, including a former female Presidential candidate.
Bruno Mars was the unexpected but deserving big winner of the night with his modern take of retro-soul, "24K" taking three of the top awards, Song of The Year, Record of The Year and Album of The Year, and winning a total of six Grammys. Kendrick Lamar didn't do so bad himself winning a total of five for his highly acclaimed, "DAMN." including Best Rap Album. Lamar even kicked off the show with an explosive performance that featured appearances by U2 and Dave Chappelle. Jay-Z did not fare as well, having not performed on the program and went home empty handed. But at least he did have his beautiful family by his side for support.
The evening was clearly not only about awards but about celebrating all genres of music. Some of my favorite performances included SZA making an impression with her brand of alt-soul with "Broken Clocks", a rare tribute to the musical theater on the show with dramatic performances from Ben Platt of "Dear Evan Hansen" and the legendary Patti LuPone, DJ Khaled and Rihanna doing a extravagant production of one of my favorite tunes of 2017, "Wild Thoughts" and Bruno Mars brought Cardi B on stage with him to do my current favorite song of this year, "Finesse" . A tribute to the Las Vegas shooting victims that featured country artists, Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris and Eric Church didn't have the impact they were hoping for and their choice of song (Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven") wasn't exactly right and while the pairing of Miley Cyrus (who looked absolutely beautiful) with Elton John on his classic, "Tiny Dancer" may have been to promote an upcoming Grammy tribute special for the singer, it only came across as a lackluster stunt.
Politics, unsurprisingly, found it's way on to the Grammy stage and that was reflected in some of the evening's highlights. Logic had Best New Artist nominee, Khalid and the eventual winner of that award, Alessia Cara join him to perform a moving version of "1-800-273-8255", his nominated song that brings awareness about suicide prevention. At the conclusion, he spoke out against hatred, bigotry, sexual harassment and even the President's anti-immigrant stance.
Janelle Monáe made a passionate speech that honored the working women in all areas of the music industry and reiterated that "time's up" for the abuse of power against women before she introduced Kesha. Supported by the powerful voices of Cyndi Lauper, Camilla Cabello, Julia Michaels, Andra Day and Bebe Rexha, the singer delivered a fiery version of "Praying" which deals with her experiences with sexual and emotional abuse. After the performance, Cabello, a Cuban immigrant, offered words of support to "the Dreamers" and their complicated struggle to stay in the only country that many of them have ever known.
While this year's awards stressed the support of women, with many people wearing white roses in a show of solidarity, the Grammys doesn't seem to be exactly following through on this message. First, Lorde was the only female nominated for Album of The Year yet she was not given a solo set on the show (unlike most of the other male nominees) and was only offered to be a part of a tribute to the the late Tom Petty to be performed with other artists which she respectfully declined. And Alessia Cara was the only female to take an award during the entire televised ceremony.
Back in 2011 when the Grammys decided to end segregating the categories by gender, I was concerned that men would dominate the nominations and ultimately, the winners. That didn't happen immediately but as we have come to 2018 with only nine percent of the total Grammy Awards going to women over the last six years. it seems my fears have sadly become reality. But as I have seen a conscious shift in gender politics over the previous year, I am optimistic that change is possible and most certainly will come.
Here is a partial list of winners of the 2018 Grammy Awards:
Album of the Year: "24K Magic" - Bruno Mars
Record of the Year: "24K Magic" - Bruno Mars
Song of the Year: "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars - Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip (songwriters)
Best New Artist: Alessia Cara
Pop Vocal Album: "÷" - Ed Sheeran
Best Pop Solo Performance: "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Feel It Still," Portugal. The Man
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: "Tony Bennett Celebrates 90" - Tony Bennett and various artists
Best Rap Album: "DAMN." - Kendrick Lamar
Best Rap Song: "HUMBLE." - Kendrick Lamar
Best Rap Performance: "HUMBLE." - Kendrick Lamar
Best Rap/Sung Performance: "Loyalty" - Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna
Best R&B Album: "24K Magic" - Bruno Mars
Best R&B song: "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars
Best R&B Performance: "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars
Best Traditional R&B Performance: "Redbone" - Childish Gambino
Best Urban Contemporary Album: "Starboy" - The Weeknd
Best Country Song: "Broken Halos" Chris Stapleton
Best Country Solo Performance: "Either Way" - Chris Stapleton
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: "Better Man" Little Big Town
Best Dance/Electronic Album: "3-D The Catalogue" - Kraftwerk
Best Dance Recording: "Tonite" - LCD Soundsystem
Best Rock Album: "A Deeper Understanding" - The War on Drugs
Best Rock Song: "Run" - Foo Fighters
Best Rock Performance: "You Want It Darker" - Leonard Cohen
Best Metal Performance: "Sultan's Curse" - Mastodon
Best Alternative Music Album: "Sleep Well Beast" - The National
Best American Roots Song: "If We Were Vampires" - Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
Best American Roots Performance: "Killer Diller Blues" - Alabama Shakes
Best Contemporary Christian Album: "Chain Breaker" - Zach Williams
Best Gospel album: "Let Them Fall in Love" - CeCe Winans
Best Jazz Instrumental Album: "Rebirth" - Billy Childs
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: "Prototype" - Jeff Lorber Fusion
Best Latin Pop Album: "El Dorado" - Shakira
Best New Age Album: "Dancing on Water" - Peter Kater
Best Comedy Album: "The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas" - Dave Chappelle
Best Spoken Word Album: "The Princess Diarist" - Carrie Fisher
Best Music Video: "HUMBLE." - Kendrick Lamar
Best Song Written for Visual Media: "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana" - Lin-Manuel Miranda (songwriter)
Best Score/Soundtrack for Visual Media: "La La Land"
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: "La La Land"
Best Musical Theater Album: "Dear Evan Hansen"
Best Music Film: "The Defiant Ones" - Various artists
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