“Music is what we cry to, what we march to… when you want to say something you say it with music. Music helps us share ourselves… it helps us to share ourselves, to the world.”
The 61st annual Grammy’s has been surrounded with a lot of drama with artists and hosts dropping left and right. James Corden was originally set to host the awards but after a tweet people sought another host. The 28-time Grammy award winner Alicia Keys was then the replacement and, in my opinion she did a great job focusing the award on the power of music. Keys put it eloquently, “Music is what we cry to, what we march to… when you want to say something you say it with music. Music helps us share ourselves… it helps us to share ourselves, to the world.”
The opener of the night was supposed to be Ariana Grande singing some of her songs from the Grammy Award winning album Sweetener, according to producers. Grande was going to sing some of the singles such as: “Thank you, next”, “Imagine”, and, “7 rings”. She then took to twitter saying “i offered 3 different songs. it’s about collaboration. it’s about feeling supported. it’s about art and honesty. not politics. not doing favors or playing games. it’s just a game y’all.. and i’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me.”
The show got kicked off instead with Camila Cabello, former singer of the girl group Fifth Harmony, singing her smash hit “Havana” followed with Ricky Martin singing “The Cup of Life” and J Baldwin singing his smash hit “Mi Gente”. What an amazing way to celebrate Latin music, hats off to Camila.
The former first lady Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, and, Jennifer Lopez, and, Alicia Keys all shared what music meant to them, spreading a well received message in this time where the world tends to be breaking apart more than coming together.
Among the many incredible performances the Grammy’s had to offer, the truly show-stopping performances to me were from Alicia Keys and Cardi B. In between two pianos, host Alicia Keys performed a variety of mini-covers from the past (Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable”) right up to modern day (Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” and Drake’s “In My Feelings”). Through lines Keys found through pop history hitting on both Juice WRLD and Kings of Leon it was a great performance.
And of course, Only Cardi B could make a statement like “Welcome to the Grammy’s!” nearly ninety minutes into the show and have it not sound crazy. Even on an evening of extremely talented performers from ascendant pop stars, her energy remains singular, writhing and kicking on top of a grand piano while rapping about getting checks. As mainstream as her stardom gets, Cardi B is always Cardi B.
The Grammy’s was truly memorable this year seen from fantastic tributes to the icons Dolly Parton and Diana Ross. Who knows what next year will bring…
