Last night can’t believe what I was hearing ( lyrics courtesy of Justin Timberlake) 

The Grammys awards show was on.  I unfortunately did not get to watch it since I had to be at work but because of the lovely twitter timeline I have and the videos that were immediately posted, I saw most of the show. 

Now the Grammys for me have not be truly interesting since the late 1990’s and I honestly thinks it has to do with what was going on musically. These days, social media has a huge tendency to inundate us with just those that score high metrically and so the music arena seems quite limited. This isn’t to say I don’t find my own music to listen to but as with the  new conditioning, we usually pay attention to what’s in our faces. 

Now since most of these award shows can’t comfortably sit at their almost 3 hour timeframes, some awards are given off camera. Some people have awards even before being seen on tv. 

As I caught up, I did notice that some of the performances were either extra or lackluster. No happy medium. Again, I am the baby of growing up in the 80’s and 90’s watching people like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and so many own the stage. From production, dance and vocal prowess, the shows back then were fun to watch. These days it seems we better make sure we invite those that will give us that ratings we want. They make sure that artist that are currently bubbling or making noise will perform. 

Enter Adele, Beyonce and Rihanna. ( alpha order is all).  These three women realistically are at the top of their lanes and running music through their own ways. Anti was an album that was not expected from Rihanna but it definitely shows how much she has grown and how far she can go when she decides to take chances. I enjoy Anti and I bought it meaning I have the hard cd plus stream it.  Adele will always bring you in with her voice and somehow will always find a way to speak  to your relationship struggles. Again I own this cd and stream it. Beyonce always finds a way to keep her music a secret until she is ready (typical Virgo trait of perfectionism) and then unleash a new level of pop culture. She did it with self titled and she did with Lemonade and I own the hard copy and stream it. 

All these women were up for multiple awards and realistically I think Rihanna’s Navy and Beyonce’s Beyhive were wonder  which awards their faves  were going to take home. 

Well the ballots were cast and Adele won her five including Album of the year , Beyonce won two (up for 9) and Rihanna won nothing (up for 8). Now watching the video of the show, Rihanna was there to enjoy herself. She didn’t seem to bothered not to be going up there for anything. Beyonce performed and gave her speech for best urban contemporary album as if she already knew she lost Album of the year. 

The strange upset though was when Adele won AOTY, she honestly was shocked. Her vote was for Beyonce and said that the artist of her life is Beyonce and that Lemonade album was monumental. Understand, Adele won and couldn’t fathom why she did when she was against Beyonce’s Album. 

Adele’s acceptance speech 
It’s actually weird to see an artist supporting another artist because we are so quick to pair them off against each other when in reality there is probably a huge respect most of us regular everyday people won’t see because we don’t travel in those circles. 

Once the dust kind of settled, everyone is giving the recording academy the huge side eye 👀👀. Lemonade was an album that was critically acclaimed throughout 2016 and won accolades over accolades. But remember kids, the recording academy is full of voters. Some who may not even know who Beyonce might be outside of Destiny’s Child. Hell there are probably people on there who are bitching and moaning about counting streams of music to be up for anything. I mean hell I do not know who Sturgill Simpson is but he was up for Album of the Year. 

There is recorded history of the last black person to win AOTY in 2008 and the last black woman to win in 1998.  I am going to say safely that prejudice may be factor as well maybe jealously. For all those accolades, there are probably plenty who want to see Beyonce lose and probably got great satisfaction from it.  

What they fail to realize is that Beyonce seems to have trained herself passed the point of award statuettes .  She said she wanted to make a full album on self titled. Give people music like they used to do. Full on production.This sentiment was only enhanced on Lemonade.  She has so much power in her brand that she shook up an industry tradition of releasing music on a Tuesday to whenever the moment suits you as the artist.  All of  that does not come without some level of backlash. It seems the establishment won last night but hopefully more artists will realize how much power they have and will work to determine their own lanes.  Sadly ,we all know how people are afraid of change. The thing is no matter how much things change the more they stay the same.