By {Molly}
Unless you're living under a rock you know that Kanye West once again rushed the Grammy's stage. This time because Beck won album of the year over Beyonce. The internet has come to Beck's defense and I can't help but love that. Before we get too much further, I feel like you should know, I'm not a Beyonce fan. I love what she does for feminism but I'm not a fan of her music and I never will be, and that's ok.
I actually think Kanye rushing the stage yet again brings up a good point, even though to me it's muted in the fact that Kanye West thinks Beyonce should have won over Beck. Beck writes all of his own songs and plays {TWELVE} instruments, twelve people. How many of you can play one? He's a musical genius, constantly changing himself and the music he creates. Yes, creates. Beyonce on the other hand has a team of about 20 people that write 1 song for her. One song that probably has only about 10 different words in it. Now, in her own right clearly Beyonce is a genius. I mean you don't become Queen Bey by being an idiot. I totally 100% get that she is a musical genius in her own right, it's just VERY different then Beck's musical genius.
My biggest argument about the Grammy's actually has nothing to do with Kanye's behavior {although appalling}. Think about the Oscar's for a second. When the films are announced that are up for Oscar's 9/10 of the nominees are unknown to the majority of the population. The Oscar's actually dig up the {BEST} movies of the year to recognize. Some obscure, some well known, but all are actually critically acclaimed movies. They don't award the most popular movie, or the movie that brought in the most income, which are usually totally mindless, cinematic trash. They don't care that a movie was popular or not, they choose the movies that deserve to be awarded. They bring something to the table that wasn't there before, whether that be cinematic breakthroughs, pressing an issue that we weren't talking about before.
The Grammy's seem to pick the songs and albums that are the most popular. I love the Sam Smith song as much as the next person {ok maybe not...}, but do I think it's a groundbreaking, really well made song? No, I don't, and I don't think it should be nominated for a Grammy.
So, why do the Grammy's seem to pick songs that are "basic" and top 40? The Grammy's nominees are chosen by their "peers". As long as you've had 6 retail tracks released via traditional distribution or 12 digitally released tracks, and pay $100 you can vote in your area of expertise and also for the 4 major categories {Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist}. So it's sort of unfortunate and alarming that they don't vote for something a little more interesting.
It's a small step in the right direction that Hozier, Haim, and Beck were nominated. But when do we get away from the music that is total worthless drivel? Sam Smith may actually have a really creative great song on his album that he didn't release. Why can't that song be the one that wins Song of the Year? Why can't we celebrate someone that's even lesser known then Haim and Hozier in the Indie genre. While I love both of these artists, they are actually fairly well known at this point. They are creative geniuses, however they should also be up there along side a relatively unknown artist.
Before I finish, I will tell you that, yes, I do remember in 2011 when Arcade Fire won Album of the Year, which I applauded. I also remember when the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? won in 2002, also a great win. I'm not saying that real talent never wins, I'm just saying it would be nice to have even more diverse nominees every year. All I'm asking for is a little diversity.
There is no end to this post. There is no enlightened answer. I just don't understand why the Grammy's don't celebrate lesser known music, as the Oscar's celebrate movies that no one has ever heard of, but our worthy to be in the spotlight. I don't care if it's country, R&B, or rap. There are so many people creating music out there and it's not the music you're listening to on your radio. I wish that they would take a queue from the Oscar's and start rewarding the real artists in their industry. Yes, Beck is a win in the right direction. You may have guessed by now but I love Beck and I always have, but no one person can argue, whether you like him or not, that he isn't one of the purest forms of artist in the music industry.
I hope his win is a small step toward music professionals changing the way their awards shows are done. Maybe the buzz surrounding this years show will help them understand that we do want to see people like Beck win {except Kanye that is}. I agree with Kanye that they need to celebrate true artistry, but clearly our views differ on what true artistry actually is.
Until the next time Kanye makes the Grammy's something people actually give a shit about...
xoxo,
Molly
