Kickoff 2020
Hi. We made it.
Thanks for being here at the start of this and reading, I appreciate it. Bear with me as I get in a groove with the format and cadence of these newsletters - it’ll definitely be in a work in progress, but please, let me know what works and doesn’t work for you! I’m pretty sure there’s no danger of replying-all accidentally. (probably)
My goal is to try and keep things focused on a particular topic so I can do more of these regularly and hopefully keep it quick, valuable, and entertaining for you. We’ll talk movies, music, games, tech, pop culture, basically all the things you know I’m into and hopefully it’s stuff that can enrich your life.
I’m going to try and recommend a new song every week, too. It’s going to be varied, so don’t worry if you don’t happen to like it on a particular week. Hopefully something you dig will come up sometime soon!
We’re gonna start with chatting a little about the Grammy Awards show that happened this past Sunday. It’s gonna be a crazy culture whirlwind of that, the Super Bowl, and the Oscars in sequential weeks so let’s get going.
The Actual Grammy Awards
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Bad Guy
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
SONG OF THE YEAR
Bad Guy
BEST NEW ARTIST
Billie Eilish
Basically just call them the Billies, because she swept the Big Four category awards for the first time since Christopher Cross (btw how much of an easy-listening slap was “Sailing”??) did it in 1981. At 18 years old, she’s the youngest person to do this and it’s only the second time it’s been done ever at all. It’s an incredible story and I couldn’t be happier for her and her brother Finneas for writing and producing her debut record in their parents’ house. It’s legit one of the best records of the last year and to do it without any “support” or meddling from the larger music industry machine is quite an achievement, so good on the Recording Academy for getting that one right.
Tyler, the Creator had a great summation/criticism of what it was like for him to win his first Grammy award - a mix of gratitude with a backhanded compliment.
Speaking of the Recording Academy - wasn’t there some sort of bad controversy this year?
Yup.
I’m just going to give you the bullet point summary because the whole thing is a mess of old boys club patriarchy meets music industry bullshit meets vindictive office politics. I’ll include links if you’re interested in the gory details.
Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan dropped a bunch of incendiary allegations publicly after being ousted from her position (after just 5 months for “bullying” a female subordinate) including:
Former CEO Neil Portnow allegedly raped a foreign recording artist (which is why he had to step down last year) BUT she was told by other executives to give Portnow $750k a year for “consulting.”
Award nominations could be manipulated by secret committees that basically gave awards to artists they wanted to win, whether it was as a favor or because they wanted someone to perform at the telecast among other reasons.
The Academy (a non-profit) paid millions per year to Academy executive Joel Katz’s law firm for unspecified legal services. AND he made unwanted sexual advances towards her.
The whole thing has played out in a messy public back and forth, which is honestly too exhausting to fully follow unless you like dumpster-fire level drama. Basically, the Grammys have been corrupt for decades while also being a toxic, male-dominated work environment. It honestly feels like they need to burn the whole thing down and start from the beginning.
Sure makes watching the show feel great, huh?
Was there anything redeemable about the show?
Yeah - Alicia Keys was the calming, authentic voice everyone needed, especially after the news about Kobe’s death in the morning.
Tyler, the Creator had the most creative TV awards show performance I’ve seen. (Warning, this video is lo-fi because it was impossible to find a video still up. Also, it’s not the most… accessible music outside of the Boyz II Men rendition of the “Earfquake” hook. But damn, is it interesting.)
- Billie Eilish’s voice sounded great
- Rosalia is one of the best talents out there - singing, dancing, flamenco, she does it all. I couldn’t find her 2020 Grammy performance anywhere, so here’s her doing “Di Mi Nombre” on the MTV EMAs a couple months ago.
Other than that, the (seemingly) 15 hour telecast was a mess filled with exhaustion and confusion.
Our Favorite New Song: Jessie Reyez - Love In The Dark
Jessie is an incredible young singer / songwriter from Toronto. I love her because she exudes genuine, raw emotions in everything she does, especially in interviews and her music. I saw her live in 2017 and had goosebumps the whole time.
Her new single, “Love In The Dark” is a devastating ballad. I basically spent all of tonight listening to it on repeat while scrolling through Kobe stories.
In Conclusion
Just going to leave my note about Kobe from IG here. It’s been a hard couple of days.