The 60th Grammy Awards took place on January 2018 at the Madison Square Garden in New York after an overhauled 15 years of break.
While some are calling the ceremony, a flat one, other’s are considering to be fully woke both politically and socially. The film and movie industry in America was hit by the #MeToo movement last year, and after some of the most powerful performances and speeches, one can definitely say that the movement is not just limited to one single industry. Even the music industry of America is under a scrutiny of undying sexism, against which Ms. Monáe spoke for the women and called for a unified response averse to sexism and sexual harassment. She said, “We come in peace but we mean business.”
Following this powerful speech, the Ke$ha came on the stage and performed her single, ‘Praying’, her ballad of anger and redemption, surrounded by women all in white, including the singers Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels and Andra Day and the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women who sing protest songs.
However, it was Hillary Clinton in a sketch that got people talking the most, all while she was surrounded by some of the most influential and biggest stars in the world. Clinton appeared at the end of the pre-taped sketch in which various artists were auditioning for the audiobook which was most likely to take home the Best Spoken Words Album at the next year’s Grammy. The stars had to read few excerpts from the Michael Wollf’s bestseller ‘Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House’. In the end of the sketch, Hillary Clinton appeared and was immediately chosen the winner.
Check out the video here:
The Late Late Show with James Corden on Twitter
On the hunt for a GRAMMY Award of his own, James Corden auditions celebrities for the spoken word version of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.” https://t.co/SjTobAbv2N
Apart from Clinton, there were many other stars featured in the video, like Cher, Cardi B, Snoop Dogg and John Legend. Apart from reading the lines, many even made their own commentary on what they were doing, “Why am I reading this shit?” Cardi B asks in the video. Given President Donald Trump’s past behaviour, he indeed would have a comment on the video which might be posted soon on his Twitter. Until then, Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and Donald Trump Jr. have already tweeted their remark on the video.
Nikki Haley on Twitter
I have always loved the Grammys but to have artists read the Fire and Fury book killed it. Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it.
Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter
Getting to read a #fakenews book excerpt at the Grammys seems like a great consolation prize for losing the presidency. #GrammyAwards
Apart from the sketch, there are many other exciting things that happened at this year’s Grammy Awards.
The big winners of the night were Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar. While Bruno swept all the six awards that he was nominated for, including Album, Record, and song of the year, Kendrick took home five awards included a sweep of the rap categories.
Amongst all of this, Jay-Z was the most nominated artist of the night, with eight nominations, but failed to cash-in even one of those.
Another performance that brought the entire stadium together was that of Kendrick Lamar which was a conceptual performance and even included Bono and the Edge of U2. Dave Chappelle also made a small appearance in the midst of the performance and said, “The only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America.”
Mbaliyezwe Ndlela on Twitter
Kendrick’s powerful performance #GRAMMYs https://t.co/fKJ1vjlgVA
There’s a lot that happened at the three-and-a-half-hour long ceremony and each and everything contributed to a kick-ass Grammy Awards that was socially and politically woke.
Jyotsna Amla