Clappy Commentates

[Clappy]

So I've been thinking of making a thread like this for awhile.  Decided to finally fulfill it after last night.

 

What this thread basically is is me giving my two cents on awards shows.  A lot of the critics I follow on YouTube, Channel Awesome, etc. do it so I figured why not give it a try myself.  Let me know what you guys think and ideas on how to improve this concept below.  So allow me to commentate on our most recent award fare:

 

 

 

 

Yeah...this was a tough one to sit through this year....

 

I'm not going to lie, MTV is really starting to reek of desperation.  Besides their awards shows, they really don't matter anymore in my universe.  The network really hasn't done anything so unforgivably stupid like create the next Jersey Shore or anything so what else is there to be mad at?  Not renewing Victoria Justice's shitty show?  I mean I guess they have Scream going for them since everyone is telling me to give that show a shot, but nothing I've seen screams watch me from what I saw.  But yeah, MTV only has their awards shows which are keeping them a float.  I wonder if it's a sense of irony in the Viacom network-verse?

 

Anyway, look no further than the VMAs.  The VMAs thrive on shock value to keep them relevant in the mainstream anymore since that's what the awards show is known for.  Only problem lately is that we, as a society, are harder to shock these days.  And I really think that has applied heavily at the VMAs over the last few years as they are trying to shock us, but what they are trying to shock us with really isn't all that shocking.  I mean what sort of shocking events have transpired over the last few years at this awards show to note?

 

-Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift.

-Jay-Z getting joined on stage by Lil Mama

-Miley Cyrus grinding on Robin Thicke

 

I guess you could count stories like Beyonce's baby bump and Lady Gaga's dress....but they weren't that shocking to me.  No matter how much the media tried to hype those two stories up.  I think it's obvious that the media wants the VMAs to matter so even if they find the smallest of stories to exploit.  2014 suffered because of it because I can't even think of one damn intriguing thing that happened at the awards that year except what happened to Miley's homeless friend afterwards.  The show was such a massive bore last year.  And it showed with the negative reception.  That's why MTV wanted Miley to host this year because Miley made the 2013 awards matter with

 

 

yeah that.  I bet this is not the only time it was brought up in the past 24 hours.  Yeah, MTV made sure of it at the awards this year.  And that was my major annoyance with the VMAs this year.  Self-awareness.  They made sure to constantly remind us of past incidents in order to show us why they are still relevant.  It's sad actually how many times they brought up the twerktastrophe, Kanye interrupting Taylor, Britney's make out with Madonna.  It's one thing to casually bring them up, but all these past stories just shone heavily in utter reek of desperation.  When honestly, they could have done without bringing this shit up because 2015's awards show was actually interesting enough without the need for self-awareness.

 

So let me get this out of the way now:

 

 

Kanye's speech will go down in VMA history.  Not just for the presidential bid.  But just in general it was Kanye being Kanye...and Taylor's incredibly forced intro, hug with Kanye, and her crying.  Yeah you can tell that with age, he's actually matured a bit.  I think having a daughter has helped him a bit to realize he needs to be a good role model.  Then he started talking after soaking in three-four minutes of cheers and...look I'll be honest.  If you weren't a fan of Kanye before, you sure as hell aren't going to be changed after his speech.  Me?  I found it amusing.  Listening to him talk about how far he has come and then listening to him own up to his faults.  I mean he's a human.  A human with a large ego yes, but at least he knows he has made his fair share of mistakes.  Of course, him admitting to getting high before coming on stages comes to no surprise on my behalf because this is the same guy who has gotten drunk at awards shows too.  Spoiler alert, but he's not the only celebrity who does this.  I just found a lot of the insight Kanye was giving out hilarious.  I wouldn't call this speech a trainwreck by any means since this is coming from a guy who has watched far worse speeches, but it definitely ended with a memorable note.  I don't think Kanye is going to be elected president at all nor am I sure how serious that last bit was.  But if Donald freaking Trump can run for president and actually get considerable votes in the primaries, I don't see why not Kanye.  Yeah I think this will be an interesting speech to look back on five years from now and see how monumental a moment that was or how big a farce.

 

Also, Miley definitely lived up to her title as host.  The fact that this year's awards were memorable also helped due to Miley's hosting.  However, I don't think she was nearly as shocking as she thought she was.  Yeah, Miley's whole nude vegan shtick really is not all that shocking anymore.  Like those outfits really were not as provocative as she wanted us to think they were.  Which completely did not surprise me when she suffered a nip slip.  As shocked as the media wants us to be, I'm just sitting here shrugging my shoulders.  Miley's tits are not shocking anymore.  What is shocking though is how bad of an actress she was.  Like I don't know how many sketches I saw her where I just sat there and begged for it to be over.  Whether it be the Instagram comedy with Andy Samberg and Ike Barinholtz (two people that are legit funny), that sleepover with Tyga, Mike Will Made It, and Juicy J, that sketch with Snopp....I think it's obvious why Miley left acting.  She can't act worth a damn and it's making me realize that Hannah Montana only worked because of the gimmick.  It definitely wasn't because of Miley's lousy acting.  But the acting wasn't the only shocking element.  There was also that surprising album drop.  If that new song that closed out the awards show is any indication as to what we'll be expecting from her new album, I don't have any interest in giving it a listen.  The Flaming Lips deserve better.  Otherwise, the other thing to note is that she and Nicki Minaj have beef.  I honestly don't care about this latest round of celebrity feuds but if it leads to great diss tracks (Back to Back) and not shit (Bad Blood) then that will be something to keep a note on.  Regardless, don't fuck with Nicki Minaj Miley.

 

However, the one thing that I do want to go more in depth on in this review is that the VMAs have improved far more on the live performances which are becoming increasingly underrated.  So I'll go in depth about each one, but I'm not doing the pre-show since I can't find either performance nor do I really give a shit about pre-show shenanigans in the first place:

 

-Speaking of celebrity feuds, the opening performance was all about burying the knife on a feud last month between Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift.  Both did alright despite me not being a fan of either The Night Is Still Young or Bad Blood, but it's a shame I couldn't make out Trini Dem Girls that well.  I don't know since I had a minor audio glitch when the awards were first starting, but Nicki has always been a better artist when she gets away from the pop crap and Trini Dem Girls sounded like a legit banger.

 

-I really am glad to see Macklemore back and while Downtown is not nearly as perfect as I initially proclaimed, it's still a damn good song.  I appreciated the near shot for shot remake live performance but what the hell was with Macklemore and the giant.  That part was confusing.  But haters be prepared.  Downtown will be one of the songs of Fall 2015.

 

-The Weeknd was alright.  Despite my constant complaints about his voice, he sang alright live.  I also love the homage to the music video with the fire surrounding him towards the end.  Only thing I'll give more a note too is watching Taylor and her posse and Kanye dancing in the audience.  Hilarious.

 

-Easily the most disappointing moment of the night was Demi's performance.  I really really really like Cool For The Summer, but that performance sucked.  Her live performance was incredibly subpar like she was pitchy all over the place, but she cleaned herself up towards the end with the singing on the raft.  That was awesome.  What wasn't awesome was the remix spot by Iggy Azalea.  2014 was were Robin Thicke fell dramatically from where he was the year before and I think it's safe to say that 2015 is doing the same thing to Iggy as she has had a terrible year with far more backlash about her accent and everything she has released after Black Widow flopping.  Who knows if she'll turn it around, but I honestly couldn't care less.

 

-What legitimately surprised me was Justin Bieber's performance.  2015 has been a comeback year for him and just like I mentioned with Downtown, What Do You Mean could be one of the songs of Fall 2015.  It's first week is incredibly impressive all across the board and I can honestly say this will be a lock for the Top 10 it's first week, hell the Top 3.  Kudos also to getting emotional after finishing the performance.  That's what I love to see in an artist.  Getting an emotional connection to his art.

 

-However, I think the best performance of the night was Tori Kelly.  Here's an artist that has been heavily underrated this year.  I've loved every song I've heard from her this year and she nailed it here at the VMA's.  Should've Been Us is a great song and her stripped down performance of it was just so good that it stopped the show.  I hope she makes it big on the Hot 100 with huge gains because this song is just way too good to not get the recognition it deserves.  I guess getting booted from Season 9 of American Idol helped her career out A LOT.

 

-Not sure if this was the worst performance of the night or Cool For The Summer was, but Pharrell's Freedom is just a mess of a song.  I really don't like anything about it and it carried over here too.  The live performance did not help my negative feelings towards this and maybe Pharrell might have better singles coming from his new album whenever if ever it drops, but this is just not good man.

 

-I liked the collaboration medley between ASAP Rocky and Twenty One Pilots, but I couldn't help but feel that Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar did this so much better last year at the Grammys and this was a poor man's attempt at replicating that.  I did like the M$ and LSD remixes more so than anything remixed from 21 Pilots discography because I think Blurryface is an overrated album....sorry.

 

-Miley's.....ugh, I'm not going to lie.  Personally I am not a fan of her music.  She hasn't released a single song I like.  Not even remotely close.  This wasn't that good either, but it was interesting.  There is something about her live performances that are kinda rockstar.  Not going to lie, but she at least knows how to keep an audience glued in despite not being a good singer.  That's the only reason I can say this was not the worst performance of the night.

 

So yeah that was the 2015 VMAs in a nutshell.  I definitely think it was an improvement over the 2014 VMAs, but more so because at least I can talk about it without finding myself too bored by it.  When MTV wasn't trying to find controversy or remind us of past infamous events, they had a pretty solid formula going.  Let's hope for more of that in 2016.

 

 

 

[illiniguy34]

Cool.

[Clappy]

After discussing it on Skype, I'm reviving this thread to talk about the Grammys.  But I won't be alone.  @Halibut will be joining in to commentate as well.  Should be fun.

[Clappy]

No worries everybody.  My Best Movies of 2015 list is coming.  Probably won’t be ready until next week or so but it will be posted before the Oscars just like last year.  Mark my words on that.  And just like I’m doing now, fully expect me to do a commentary on that too.  But let’s talk about last night’s Grammys, shall we?

It was ok by Grammy standards.  Keep in mind that the Grammys are probably the second worst awards show right next to the Golden Globes.  Where the Globes just try to make out there decisions just for the sake of being the anti-Oscars, my problem with the Grammys go in the form of that they are utterly pointless.  Let’s put this in comparisons sake to the other big awards show that’s coming up: the Oscars.  At least the Oscars matter.  Winning an Oscar means something, despite being such an utter bore of a show.  The Grammys don’t matter.  They haven’t mattered in quite some time.  They don’t even try to treat winning a Grammy as something special.  Hell even the awards show treats the actual awards presentations like they are insignificant in every aspect.  Do you guys want to know how many Grammys were handed out in the first hour?  Only two.  Do you want to know how many performances were in the first hour this year?  At least five.  I’m all for an awards show celebrating music with performances, but at least treat the awards like they actually mean something dammit.  Don’t push them back in favor of getting as many performances out there as possible.  There was once upon a time the Grammys use to know that there should be a 50/50 split between the two, but that’s long gone.

So for starters, why do they keep bringing back LL Cool J to host?  He’s been terrible for years now when it comes to hosting duties and once upon a time the name LL Cool J use to actually mean something in terms of musical relevance.  Now?

Still incredibly stupid three years later.  The moment CBS has the balls to replace him as the host for the Grammys, I'll be pleasantly surprised.  It will definitely help freshen things up for the show to me.

I guess I should go over the winners first or at least some of them because hell if the Grammys didn't want to present that many of their own awards on their show, why should I bother to go over every single one of them?

Record of the Year: Uptown Funk

Can't really argue against it.  It's too perfect for words and I had it as my #1 of 2015.

Album of the Year: 1989

You know, I'll admit that while I would have preferred To Pimp a Butterfly because that album is just amazing top to bottom and Kendrick's storytelling is just phenomenal, I don't have too big a problem with 1989.  It's a great pop album.  What I have a problem with is the Grammy's alleged cut off date for what is qualified to be nominated and what's not.  1989 came out in 2014.  It should have been nominated last year and I still think it's a stupid rule every year I watch.  Otherwise, don't be surprised to see Adele win every single Grammy for 25 next year.  Because fuck cut off dates, right?  I hope something else comes along and proves me wrong.

Oh and of course, we can't talk about Taylor winning without the recent revival of her bad blood with Kanye after Kanye's comments about making "that bitch" famous.  I'm indifferent about this feud continuing.  If you look up above at my VMA commentary, those two making up felt incredibly forced to begin with.  This definitely feels more natural with Kanye's ego getting in the way again and of course, we all know by now how Taylor handles people backstabbing and or breaking up with her.  But I don't know if that jab back at Kanye was really all that necessary.  You know Taylor, the best way to handle stupid comments like that is to Shake It Off.  Right?

Song of the Year: Thinking Out Loud

Yeah that's a big fuck you to me because everyone should know by now that I hate this song.  But hey what winner could offend my sense of taste even further?

Best New Artist: Meghan Trainor

Can someone....anyone....please explain what the appeal is here?  I seriously have zero respect for her music.  As many have pointed out to me, the Grammys have a pretty rough history with the award and maybe the curse will apply here?  Because man, no winner deserves to no longer be relevant like this one does.

And honestly, since those are the only four the Grammys always highligh and matter, I'll just go ahead and skim through the rest with a brief comment here or there:

Best Rap Album

Kendrick Lamar – “To Pimp a Butterfly”

Zero surprises from this critic.

Best Rap Performance

Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”

Best Country Album

Chris Stapleton – “Traveller”

I actually like this guy.  Not just because JT helped launch this guy into a bigger star, but Chris Stapleton makes traditional country music in comparison to the crap that tends to get popular from the genre these days.  I know not many of you are into country music, but if you are, check this guy out.  His music is really good.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Taylor Swift – “1989″

Best Pop Solo Performance

Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap – “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern”

Best Rock Performance

Alabama Shakes – “Don’t Wanna Fight”

Wish Florence and the Machine one personally, but these guys are pretty good.  If you're into blues-rock, this is the perfect song to introduce you all to when it comes to this band.  If you haven't been convinced by Wumbo's approval a few months back, maybe mine will do the trick.

Best Dance Album

Skrillex and Diplo – “Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U”

No surprise since not only was this the most popular EDM album of 2015, but these two felt like they were on nearly every hit dance song this year.

Best Dance Recording

Skrillex and Diplo With Justin Bieber – “Where Are U Now”

Best Rock Album

Muse – “Drones”

Muse had a new album this year?  Man where have I been?

Best Rock Song

Alabama Shakes – “Don’t Wanna Fight”

Best Metal Performance

Ghost – “Cirice”

Best Alternative Album

Alabama Shakes – “Sound and Color”

Best R&B Album

D’Angelo and the Vanguard – “Black Messiah”

Ok seriously?  I didn't know who the hell these guys were until I actually saw them nominated and I really don't see what to be impressed by when it comes to them.  This is the kind of stuff the Grammys fodder over.

Best R&B Performance

The Weeknd – “Earned It”

Still makes my skin crawl.  The Weeknd may have grown on me more as 2015 rolled to a close, but this song still sucks.

Best R&B Song

D’Angelo and the Vanguard – “Really Love”

Best Urban Contemporary Album

The Weeknd – “Beauty Behind the Madness”

Best Musical Theater Album

“Hamilton”

It's all about the Hamilton's baby.

 

Now that I got those out of the way....was that so hard Grammys?  Let's talk about what the Grammys actually care about most, the performances....but first, I have to say this now since this is what this year's Grammys will be remembered for most.  The audio glitches.  I lost count with the amount of production problems the Grammy's had this year.  I think the two performances that displayed this the most where Adele's and Kendrick's.  I would have loved both of their performances a lot more if I could actually hear either of their's.  But both of them were troopers for still keeping things going, but I felt bad for them and more on that later because I'm going to go over every single performance one by one.  Let's get this started:

 

Taylor Swift - "Out of the Woods"

You know, this song has really grown on me over the past year and a half or so when I first heard it and thought the repetitive chorus was annoying af.  It's weird in such a wonderful way.  But this is definitely not my first choice of songs that should have been released as her next radio single.  This performance might be able to help with the disappointing sales performance it's had to not make this song crack the Top 40 yet.  But I think Taylor's better off releasing another single from 1989 instead of this one.  At least this performance was fine.  Some slight audio glitches that was the start of a long night of them, but at least the glitches weren't too noticeable.

Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt - "Heartbeat" and "Take Your Time"

Ugh.  First performance I legit hated of the night.  Those of you should know by now that I hate Sam Hunt.  He's a prime example as to what I can't stand about modern country music.  Take Your Time is still a shit song one year later and I still don't see how it was the biggest country song of 2015.  Nothing about it works and if a guy came up to the bar and said what he says to me in the song, I would laugh straight in his face.  

As for Carrie Underwood?  Boy oh boy...I don't think I've talked before how I feel about Carrie.  I often can't decide who's career has been more successful between her and Kelly Clarkson in regards to past American Idol winners, but I wasn't a fan the season she won.  I was rooting for Bo Bice all the way...points to anyone who actually remembers Bo Bice.

 But as an artist, I have a complicated relationship with one Carrie Underwood.  I feel when she was launched onto the country music scene, she was immediately deemed the next massive artist from the genre and I felt it was unfairly justified.  All of her songs from that trite first album were massively overrated.  I think you can point my exodus from country music to the fact that country music was massively shoving her down our throats in a pathetic attempt to gain mainstream relevancy because the genre has an American Idol winner bursting onto the scene.  Little did I know at the time that country music would make even more pathetic attempts in history to pick up mainstream relevancy, but at the time, I was getting absolutely sick of Carrie Underwood.  Then she released quite possibly my worst hit song of 2007.  I loathe Before He Cheats with every single ounce in my body.  It paints jealousy in a limelight even worse than Nick Jonas did last year.  It's all pure speculation whether the guy cheated or not and a crazy unstable woman doing insane amounts of unjustified property damage over a slight hint of her jealousy.  And what's worse is even if he did cheat on her, the song implies she's still not over him because of her wondering what he's doing right now.  Unbelievable...sorry I got off track.  My point is that while everything else Carrie Underwood has done since then range from harmless to stupid, Before He Cheats is one of those songs I'll never let her off the hook for.  Her latest single she did here with Sam Hunt was in the harmless range but I did not enjoy this.  At all.

The Weeknd - "Can't Feel My Face" and "In The Night"

Definitely enjoyed this.  Why In The Night hasn't cracked the Top 10 yet is beyond me, but I said back in September 2015 that it was one of, if not, the best track off of Beauty Behind The Madness and it does my heart good to know that everyone else has been loving this on here as much as I have.

Ellie Goulding and Andra Day - "Rise Up" and "Love Me Like You Do"

This was okay.  I have no prior knowledge of Andra Day except she was nominated in R&B categories.  I didn't think that these two worked all that well off each other.  And I really wish they chose to do Ellie's new radio single, Something In The Way You Move.  Quite possibly my favorite Ellie Goulding song to date that I hope becomes a big hit.

The Lionel Richie Tribute featuring John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, Tyrese Gibson, and Lionel Ritchie.

I'm not going to bother to try and say that I enjoyed any of this because I'm not a Lionel Ritchie fan.  This was an absolute mess.  Seriously not a single one of these performances entertained me...except I was surprised to see Tyrese Gibson there.  It's like someone pulled him aside and reminded him he once was an R&B singer.  Even then, he was clearly rusty.  Pass.

Little Big Town - "Girl Crush"

I don't find this song terrible.  It's okay to me at best just because it's a song about sorrow of a girl being jealous in the right sort of light.  That being said, this performance was still too overdramatic for me.  Orchestral accompaniment doesn't fix the problem I have with this song which is the production being ridiculously uninspiring.

The Maurice White Tribute featuring Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix

So this was what the Grammy's threw together to replace Rihanna's last minute cancellation.  It surprisingly worked.  It still feels weird to see Pentatonix, a clear cut YT accapella group being thrust into the mainstream like this, but it worked because tribute songs are Pentatonix's wheel house.  Then of course, Stevie Wonder is just great in general.  I liked this despite everything about it feeling thrown together.

Tribute to Glenn Frey featuring The Eagles, Bernie Leadon, Jackson Browne

It was ok even if it was just one song in Take It Easy.  But man, the song just feels more somber without Glenn Frey's lead vocals.  Made me nostalgic for the song that I listened to Take It Easy right afterwards, so I guess it worked in nostalgic retrospect.

Tori Kelly and James Bay - "Hollow" and "Let It Go" (no not THAT Let It Go...silly)

Most underrated performance of the night to me.  I've chimed in over and over again about how Tori Kelly should be a BIG star soon.  This only highlights that even more.  I've never heard of this James Bay guy before last night even though I knew he had a song on the charts right now, but I was blown away.  See Shawn Mendes?  That's how you display actual raw emotional power.  I noticed on iTunes this morning that Let It Go jumped into the Top 5 of iTunes sales, so it's clear that he's the one who got the biggest boost from the Grammys and I hope so too.  Was completely blown away.  These two worked very well off each other.

The Cast of Hamiltion

Oh...so that's Hamilton.  Well good luck with your Broadway performance.  You're going to need it.

Kendrick Lamar - "The Blacker, The Berry" and "Alright"

So this was the first performance where the audio glitches were absolutely noticeable.  Kendrick's mic constantly went out and I couldn't hear a thing whenever it did.  Which is a damn shame because both of these songs are highlights from TPAB.  He recovered wonderfully after the glitches were fixed and was strong enough to keep going forward like they would be fixed soon.  Would have been performance of the night for me if not for the noticeable glitches.  Not his fault though.

Tribute to Michael Jackson featuring Miguel and Greg Phillinganes

I love his music, but the Michael Jackson tributes are getting overdone.  Yes his death was an absolute shock to the music industry and yes I'm getting as sick of the media overexposing his death for profit.  But at the very least, Miguel deserves to be a much bigger star.  He's seriously one of the best R&B artists right now.

Adele - "All I Ask"

The second most noticeable audio glitch of the night.  And while Kendrick was able to recover nicely, I don't think Adele's was able to ever recover from that.  Which is a shame too.  All I Ask is honestly the best track I've heard off of 25 so far.   Where Hello retreads Someone Like You subparly and When We Were Young is only okay at best (Taylor Swift does this subject matter 10 times better on Style), All I Ask is the Adele song I've truly been waiting to fall head over heels for.  Something about the subject matter of knowing you're spending one last night with your lover is absolutely devastating.  And completely relateable.  I love this song and it's the first Adele song in a long time I truly want to become a massive hit.

Justin Bieber, Diplo, Skrillex - "Love Yourself" and "Where Are U Now"

Lol what the fuck was with Bieber's get up.  His hair dye was ridiculous and that pornostache though.  Holy shit I laughed so hard.  That being said, I'm working on a review to revive my Clappy vs Billboard Hot 100 thread where I'll go further in depth about how I feel about Love Yourself and you guys should know how I feel about the latter.  That being said, it could have been worse.  Seeing Skrillex play guitar was definitely different so that surprised me.  Overall, could have been a lot worse, but man that image of Bieber is what I'll easily remember most about this.

Tribute to David Bowie featuring Lady Gaga and Niles Rodgers

Best performance of the night hands down.  Perfect artist to do a tribute to an artist who truly pushed the limits of creativity.  I just loved every moment of watching this and seeing Lady Gaga do Bowie justice brought a tear to my eye.  Absolutely want to see a new Lady Gaga album this year btw.  I miss her like crazy.

Tribute to B.B. King featuring Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., and Bonnie Raitt

I was worried about this because I didn't know if Chris Stapleton especially would be able to do King justice but it surprisingly worked.  All three of these artists matched up pretty well off each other for a song as good as The Thrill is Gone.  Not going to be memorable enough to last up until the next Grammys let alone probably a few weeks from now, but I liked this.

Alabama Shakes - "Don't Wanna Fight"

Already made my comments known about this song and these artists so I'm not going to dive too deep into a commentary on this but they did a good job with their live performance.  I liked it.  Check them out and I hope they become big after this ceremony, but I have my doubts.

Tribute to Lemmy featuring The Hollywood Vampires

Hated this.  These guys just don't match up to Motorhead at all and this was a piss poor tribute at all.  They just don't have that raw natural grit that made Lemmy an iconic lead singer.

Pitbull (featuring Robin Thicke, Joe Perry, and Travis Barker - "El Taxi" and "Bad Man"

My first thoughts were seriously?  This is the performance you chose to close the Grammys?  Not knocking Pitbull at all.  I had him on my best list last year.  But this was just...I don't even know where to start.  What the fuck was with that Sofia Vergara cameo as a taxi?  Does Pitbull want to make love to the taxi?  I thought he wanted to make love in a taxi?  I don't get it, that song was a confusing mess.  But let's talk about the even bigger mess of a second song.  I guess Robin Thicke has accepted the fact that he's never going to have another hit again so when all else fails, show up on party anthems with the likes of Flo Rida and now Pitbull.  Joe Perry from Aerosmith and Travis Barker from blink-182 were the last two people I would expect to appear on a Pitbull song, but holy crap.  These two really deserve better because they make the song rock more than it should.  Pitbull is meanwhile Pitbull-ing all over the place, but god Robin Thicke just prevents me from liking this.  Hearing him say he's a bad man in a women's world is just fucking terrible.  You're the same idiot who is responsible for all the backlash against Blurred Lines for it's rape-y lyrics.  The last thing you should be doing is talking about how you're going to sleep with a good girl because you're a bad man.  You're not an actual bad man.  You're just a fucking idiot who didn't realize your biggest song is about rape.

 

So overall, I would say this year's ceremony was definitely better than last year's where it was four hours dedicated to endless amounts of love and adoration to Sam Smith.  Not saying that this ceremony was great.  It's still the same massive bore that the Grammy's always end up becoming.  But at least there was some intrigue and some memorable moments like the continuation of Taylor vs Kanye and some of the performances were good, a couple great to be honest, especially that Bowie tribute.  I just wish the Grammy's actually mean something especially the academy behind the Grammy's themselves.  But oh well, little steps I suppose.  And can someone please replace LL Cool J as host?  That would definitely help for Christ's sake.

[Katniss]

Hamilton is an insanely popular musical, I don't think they need any luck...it'll probably be sold out into the next decade  

Demi was my favorite part of the Lionel Richie tribute. She really does have a great voice. 

Yeah TSwift's speech was a jab at Kanye but I personally liked her message to young women, it seemed really inspiring. 

Tori Kelly is so much better than Meghan Trainor it's not even funny. You got this one wrong, Grammys.

Lady Gaga doing the David Bowie tribute felt so right.

The show was fine, I guess, nothing special. 

Edited February 17, 2016 by Katniss

[Cha]

I wouldn't doubt Gaga not doing a good tribute, her Frank Sinatra one at his 100th birthday special was fantastic.