I decided to skip yesterday’s televised Grammy Nominations concert last night. To me it seems like yet another way to drag out awards season. And the Los Angeles Times’ Ann Powers pretty much assures me that I didn’t miss anything except an amazing Maxwell performance of Michael Jackson’s “The Lady in My Life” (which I will be watching on YouTube as soon as it’s available) Anyway, the nominations were dominated by the same two women we’ve been watching on music award shows for the past few months, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift with 10 and 8 nods respectively (and a little Lady Gaga thrown in for good measure). There were no surprises here and probably won’t be during the telecast early next year. Me thinks the Grammy’s have jumped the shark.
There was a time when this was the award show. But now the Grammys seem woefully out of step with the times. I don’t know if it’s the eligibility rules or when it’s telecast but a lot of eligible songs like Jasmine Sullivan’s “Lions, Tigers & Bears” just seem old next to more current fare like Melanie Fiona’s “It Kills Me”. This plus the fact that the MTV and American Music Awards precede them make them seem like an also-ran. Now it’s sort of the music award show Granddaddy where tradition instead of innovation seems to win the day. And most of us struggle to get through the entire telecast.
This is less of a problem with the Academy Awards because movie companies tend to release the films they deem award-worthy toward the end of the year. These movies not only stay top-of-mind they also don’t seem so old. And the odd film or two that was released earlier in the year is an anomaly rather than the norm.
But back to the Grammys…It doesn’t help that Whitney Houston didn’t get a nod. She’s the comeback story of the year (although now she’s more heart than vocal range) and well a lot of us would tune in on g.p.. And chances are the awards that feature Ledisi, Lalah Hathaway and Anthony Hamilton will all be given out at the part of the show that isn’t televised (and we’ll be watching the same ol’ performances…sigh). And as much as I love Keri Hilson I doubt she’ll take home the prize—even though I’ve never heard of the other nominees. So while I am happy for Beyoncé it’s sad to see that this award show is on the border of becoming irrelevant (prestige and all).
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December 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I could not possibly co-sign enough on this post, Corynne! Maxwell, as usual, broke it down so that it can always and foreva be broke!! The others, meh…not so much! I didn’t watch most of it, but I was sure to tune in for Maxwell, because…(do I really need to explain?).
I still don’t understand the Taylor Swift hype, though I admit to not having listened to much of her music. Beyonce is incredible, and in my opinion, has earned all the accolades she receives, but there are so many others who aren’t being featured, or getting the chance to show just how much sweat they put into their art.