2018 Grammy Awards: Reactions and Thoughts

Hey guys! So the 60^th Annual Grammy Awards took place last night. I thought that, as a music reviewer, it would only be right to talk about what I thought of the Grammys. For the sake of time, this will not be a full-on review where I go through each and every performance. Instead, I'll just give quick thoughts on certain things that happened during the show. I'll pretty much be thinking out loud and just voicing my thoughts. So my apologies if this post doesn't look very professional. I'm just doing this because I want to share my personal opinions.


Kendrick Lamar opened up the show and I don't think they could've picked a better artist. Kendrick really knows how to kick things off and I thought his performance was really cool. There was a lot going on, but it was really good. It was energetic and it really grabbed people's attention. Of course, the only disadvantage to having someone like Kendrick go first is that it'll be really hard to surpass the bar he set, because let's be honest here, he set it really damn high. For a good while during the show, I was pretty damn sure he had the best performance of the night. By the end of the show, that wasn't the case. But his performance was one of the best in my opinion and I wouldn't be surprised if others considered it the best. Kendrick is a very talented man and I'm glad he is as popular and loved as he is. He's the reason I don't hate all rap music. So I'm glad his performance went great as expected.


Soon after, we had performances from Lady Gaga with Mark Ronson, Sam Smith, and Little Big Town. Gaga started out with her new single, Joanne, which I really like. Then she moved into her big ballad hit, Million Reasons. Although I would've loved to have heard Joanne in full, she did amazing with Million Reasons. Anyone that thinks this woman is not talented needs to re-look at their definition of talent. Lady Gaga is one of the best singers I've ever heard and she really shows off her voice here. I thought her performance was very moving and special. Sam Smith brought to the stage his song Pray from his latest album. I don't have much to say here, but I did really like the performance and the song. He has a great voice, which you all probably know by now. He's really good at conveying emotion with his music. The performance wasn't amazing by any means. But I really liked it and I'm enjoying the song. Little Big Town's performance was enjoyable as well, though nothing that stood out. I've heard Better Man a lot at this point and it's been out for a while now. I was kind of hoping for a new song. But the performance was still enjoyable and Little Big Town are one of the reasons I like country music. Groups like them and Lady Antebellum are just a couple of my favorites within that genre. They have really good music and they're very talented. So I'm glad they were given the opportunity to perform at the Grammys and I know they were also nominated along with Lady Antebellum for Best Country Album, but lost to Chris Stapleton. They did, however, win Best Country Duo/Group Performance for Better Man, which I'm pleased with. They deserve it. I'm glad that they're popular in the world of country music.


After all that, we had a tribute to Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. I didn't care too much for that performance. Then afterwards, we got to see Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee perform Despacito. As you know, I still love this song and I was very entertained by this performance. Both artists sounded great and if I'm being honest, just about everything with Daddy Yankee is great in my opinion. He is very talented. As I've said before, I'm glad this song was successful. Not very many Latin songs like this normally crossover into mainstream. It was pretty much just artists like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, two artists that I really enjoy. But I'm glad this one was able to make it into the world of mainstream music. It's a very catchy song and we should really have more Latin-pop songs making it big like this one. As I've said before, I'm Latino, so I have a thing for this kind of music. But I do genuinely believe that songs like these deserve success. More people should hear this kind of music. So I thought this was a very enjoyable performance overall.


Childish Gambino soon followed with a performance of Terrified. I thought this was one of the highlights of the night. Childish Gambino really showed me that he's more talented than I thought. I like the song. It has a weird creepy vibe that I find appealing. He actually has a great voice from listening to that performance. Overall, I thought it was really enjoyable and a stand-out of the night. It was different, but cool. I now understand why people really like this guy. He has quite the talent. P!nk then brought us another song from Beautiful Trauma. This time around, she performed Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. I really like this song just like most of her latest album. It's definitely slower, but that's what makes it stand-out. I'm glad she chose this song as opposed to another performance of What About Us or Beautiful Trauma. It's not that I don't love those songs. But we've seen them performed live before. I'm glad some of the other songs from her latest album are getting acknowledged. The performance starts off slow and calm. But towards the end is when P!nk really belts it all out, further proving that she is a fantastic singer. I love the lyrics and everything about this song. I'm so glad this performance went well. I love P!nk. This was another stand-out performance in my opinion. It was fantastic.


The big performance of the night soon followed and it came from Bruno Mars and Cardi B as they performed Finesse. Despite my initial distaste for this song, I've come around to it and I really enjoyed this performance. I didn't love Cardi B here. I thought she was kind of annoying and with how new she is, I don't think she should be performing at the Grammys yet. But other than that, I found the performance entertaining. Bruno Mars sounded good and he is a really good dancer. I would love to be able to dance like him. While I didn't love this as much as others did, I enjoyed it and I think that's enough for someone that hasn't been huge on Bruno Mars lately. I'm starting to appreciate him more and his music is growing on me. Just give me more time and it's very likely I'll become a fan once again. I'll admit, his award acceptance speeches showed that he's a good person and that he truly cares about the music. But overall, I liked the performance.


Following that, we had a performance from Sting and Shaggy. Didn't care too much for this one. It was okay. But it didn't really do it for me. The next big performance came from DJ Khaled with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller as they performed the smash hit, Wild Thoughts. As you know, I love this song. It was #9 on my Top 45 songs of 2017. So I was very happy when I found out that this song would be performed since I don't think I've ever seen it performed live. One of the reasons I love the song so much is because of the vibe and the Latin influences here. Obviously there's some Santana sampled here. But the guitar fits so nicely and sounds really cool. I think it was put to very good use. I applaud DJ Khaled for putting an amazing song like this together. But like I said, I love the vibe and the way the performance was setup. The backup dancers were all really good. Rihanna sounded really good. I'm glad Bryson Tiller was able to perform because his verse surprisingly adds a lot to the song. It's like the icing on the cake. DJ Khaled's unnecessary shouting throughout the song was a little annoying, but mostly amusing for some reason. The dance moves were all really good, especially at the end. Rihanna has some good moves. Overall, I loved this performance. This was definitely one of the best. This was the one performance I re-watched the most. Everything about it was amazing in my opinion. I'm glad we got to hear Wild Thoughts as opposed to something mediocre like I'm The One.


Soon after, we got a more emotional performance from Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, and Eric Church. Their performance was a tribute to the victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It's really sad that these shootings still happen to this day. So I was moved by their rendition of Tears In Heaven. I thought it was really good. I really don't have much else to say about this, but I did enjoy it. Next we had Kesha performing Praying. But instead of going solo, she brought along Bebe Rexha, Andra Day, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels, and Camila Cabello. I really love the song as you know. I thought the performance was fantastic and very moving. I'm so glad Kesha made it through everything she had been going through. She is a true fighter and I love her for that. I'm so glad she was able to perform on the Grammys because I think everyone should know her story and that you can overcome these kinds of situations. Her performance was very powerful. I thought she sounded great. I'm annoyed that Praying didn't win Best Pop Solo Performance, but I'll talk more about that later. But overall, I thought it was a fantastic performance. Definitely one of the best of the night.


Following Kesha, we had performances from U2, Elton John with Miley Cyrus, Ben Platt, Patti LuPone, SZA, and Chris Stapleton with Emmylou Harris. I thought they were all pretty good. But none of them really stood out necessarily. I like that U2 and Elton John are still performing. They're very talented. Ben Platt I recognized from Pitch Perfect and I never realized just how amazing his voice is. He really shows it off here and he sounds great. Patti LuPone's performance was good, but didn't really stick out, at least not to me. I like SZA and her performance was pretty good. I also like Chris Stapleton. He's obviously very popular in country music. He's very talented and I liked his performance. The final performance came from Logic with Alessia Cara and Khalid. They performed 1-800-273-8255. I love how right before their performance, they were acknowledging all of the artists we've lost recently including Tom Petty, Dolores O'Riordan, and Chris Cornell. They showed Chester Bennington last and immediately went into Logic's performance, which I like since Chester's death was from suicide. The performance was really no different from the performance at the MTV Video Music Awards several months ago. But I still find it very moving. I absolutely love the song and I can understand if some think it was poorly executed. But it's very moving to me and while I was never in a position where I considered suicide as an answer to my problems, I feel for those who have been there. I know this song has helped many people and I'm so glad Logic was allowed to perform it at the Grammys because it has such a powerful message that resonates with a lot of people. He, Alessia Cara, and Khalid all sounded great. I loved the speech from Logic at the end. It was so powerful. This was my favorite performance of the night and I thought it was a great way to close the show.


So the performances were pretty good for the most part, but the awards are a different story. I do not agree with a lot of the choices that were made. For example, Best Pop Solo Performance went to Ed Sheeran for Shape of You. I like that song, but it's nothing compared to Kesha's Praying, Lady Gaga's Million Reasons, and P!nk's What About Us. I would've loved to have seen Kesha win this award because she has been through so much and Praying is a fantastic song that touches people on an emotional level. Shape Of You doesn't do that. It's nothing more than a catchy song. It seemed like the obvious pick and I was hoping the Grammys would surprise us, but nope. Kesha got robbed.


For Best New Artist, Alessia Cara took home the award. I'm okay with that because I like her. But she is not that new. I don't know why she keeps getting nominated for these best new artist awards. Her first release was in 2015. By now we've heard five singles from her (Here, Wild Things, Scars To Your Beautiful, Stay, and 1-800) and she already has an album that was released back in late 2015. I like her, so I'll let it pass. But I think Khalid or even SZA would've been a good choice. Frankly, I'm just happy it wasn't Julia Michaels or Lil Uzi Vert.


Best Pop Duo/Group Performance went to Portugal. The Man for Feel It Still. I'm happy with that. Portugal. The Man are like the underdogs here since Something Just Like This, Thunder, and Despacito all seemed like obvious choices. So I'm glad they got to receive a Grammy despite only crossing over into pop/mainstream recently. I have been growing out of the song recently. But it's still catchy and I'm glad they're getting recognized for their work.


Best Pop Vocal Album went to Ed Sheeran for ÷. I'm not surprised here considering the other nominees. I would've loved to have seen Rainbow or Joanne receive the award. But for some reason, I just knew Divide would win. I'm not really sure how the Kaleidoscope EP from Coldplay got nominated. And Evolve and Lust For Life were not that good overall. While I would've preferred Rainbow or Joanne, I'm fine with Divide. It's a pretty good album. I'll give it that.


All of the rap awards went to Kendrick Lamar, and rightfully so. He had a great year in 2017, so I'm glad he received these awards as opposed to Cardi B or Migos and Lil Uzi Vert. As far as the country awards go, Chris Stapleton was the big winner winning everything except Best Country Duo/Group Performance because he wasn't nominated since he's a solo act. Lady Antebellum were nominated a couple of times and I would've loved to have seen them win. I'm still a big fan of them. But it seemed obvious that the awards would go to either Chris Stapleton or Little Big Town. And I'm so glad Body Like A Back Road did not win for Best Country Song or Best Country Solo Performance. The Grammys did well there by not picking that song for either.


Now for the big awards. First up is Song of the Year, which went to Bruno Mars for That's What I Like. Me personally, I really wanted 1-800 to win that award just because it was so much more meaningful and moving. I'm assuming Song of the Year relates to the songwriting since all of the songwriters are recognized for each nomination. If that's the case, 1-800 should've won in my opinion. That's What I Like really isn't that special. I could even understand Issues winning this award because the lyrics had meaning to some people and I guess people found it relatable. I don't like the song at all. But I could understand why that song was nominated and why it could've won. I would say the same for 4:44. That's What I Like and Despacito really didn't seem that special as far as the songwriting went. But they were obviously the two most popular. So with all that being said, I don't think That's What I Like deserved this award. I would've preferred 1-800. But oh well.


Then we have Record of the Year, which I believe goes to the song that was best produced. The award went to Bruno Mars for 24K Magic. Here, I can understand him winning since it is a catchy song and people love the throwback vibe. But it seemed like the obvious choice and I was hoping Kendrick Lamar would've gotten the award for Humble. I really liked that song. But 24K Magic I can understand to some extent.


Finally, we have the biggest award for Album of the Year, which went to Bruno Mars (again....) for 24K Magic. I genuinely believe that either Kendrick Lamar or Lorde deserved this award. 24K Magic seemed like the obvious choice that would be ruled out first. I was hoping the Grammys would surprise us with Melodrama winning the award like they did with Beck's Morning Phase a few years ago. I was hoping Lorde would have her shining moment for something that was universally acclaimed by critics. But it had to go to fucking Bruno Mars for an album that consists of only nine songs. The Grammys overpraised him this year. I liked his acceptance speech, but damn. This award should've gone to someone else, ideally Lorde or Kendrick Lamar. I feel like more work was put into their albums. 24K Magic winning just makes it seem like the Grammys are a popularity contest and that kind of annoys me. This goes for Song of the Year and Record of the Year as well, both of which Bruno Mars won as well. I won't argue with anyone that says 24K Magic is a good album. But Album of the Year? Nope.



That's it guys! Those are my thoughts on the 2018 Grammy Awards. They could've been better as far as the awards went. But the performances were all pretty good. Keep in mind that I just typed up my thoughts with no fancy formatting or anything like that. I was just thinking out loud. I also typed this really fast so I apologize for any grammatical errors. I caught a few myself, but I could've missed some. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and I should have my Hits 1 Year-End countdown post sometime this week, hopefully.


My Top 10 Performances
1. Logic/Alessia Cara/Khalid – 1-800-273-8255
2. Kesha – Praying
3. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts
4. Kendrick Lamar – Medley
5. P!nk – Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
6. Lady Gaga/Mark Ronson – Joanne / Million Reasons
7. Childish Gambino – Terrified
8. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee – Despacito
9. Bruno Mars/Cardi B – Finesse
10. Sam Smith – Pray