Grammy 2016: The stage does not emphasize awards

This year's awards ceremony seemed to focus solely on performances from young artists singing their own music or paying tribute to and honoring the golden generation of music that came before.

The 2016 Grammy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 15 (local time) at the Staples Center (Los Angeles, USA), was a contrast between two elements: award presentation and performance. During the more than 3 hours of the event, only 7 categories were presented on stage. Meanwhile, 75 other awards were introduced in advance on the internet.

Taylor Swift and the crew behind the album 1989 received the Album of the Year award at the 2016 Grammys.

It is worth mentioning that all 7 categories were quite boring and forgettable. The public felt that there was a lack of surprise. Besides, the awards ceremony seemed to focus mainly on the performances, with great voices of contemporary music.

Ed Sheeran won Song of the Year for his sweet ballad Thinking Out Loud. Meghan Trainor was named Best New Artist. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars took home Record of the Year for their hit Uptown Funk. But these moments of glory weren't the highlights of the show that they deserved.

Perhaps, the audience will remember Taylor Swift's speech when she unexpectedly won Album of the Year for her album 1989. Her speech was quickly "distorted" by the community as a reference to Kanye West - the rapper who just released the song Famous with obscene lyrics directed at Swift. This time, not "I made that bitch famous" as West sang, but Swift's statement will become a trending search on the internet.

Audiences have stopped showing emotion at Meghan Trainor’s tears as she accepted the Best New Artist award. Because the Grammys are being staged in a more superficial way, focusing on performing and honoring, then repeating, honoring and performing.

Adele's performance of All I Ask immediately created an effect on Twitter. The point here is not the bad sound department but the fact that she appeared only to "attract the audience". Maybe the 2017 Grammy is the real stage for the British nightingale instead of just attending this year for the sake of attendance.

Many young singers, both nominated and unnominated, performed passionately on stage. From Carie Underwood, John Legend, Lady Gaga to “juniors” such as Sam Hunt, Ellie Goulding, Demi Lovato, James Bay… all had quite interesting performances. The 2016 Grammy also touched the hearts of the public with performances in memory of deceased artists - the golden generation of music.

The brilliant careers of names like BB King, David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister… appeared on stage one after another. Lady Gaga’s performance in memory of British vocal legend David Bowie might even be the most attractive point of the program.

Lady Gaga gave an impressive performance in memory of music legend David Bowie at the 2016 Grammys.

Avoiding the same mistake as the Oscars, which only honored white artists, the 2016 Grammys paid due attention to artists of color. Ken Ehrlich, the producer of the awards ceremony, said: "The music we listen to today is not just hip-hop, R&B, but every genre of music has been shaped and greatly influenced by African-American culture."

Therefore, artists of color were also honored in turn in the program. From the performance of the famous contemporary singer for Lionel Richie - MusicCares Person of the Year to legends like BBKing, Natalie Cole... all were mentioned. However, the Grammy forgot a rather basic thing - artists of color who deserved to receive awards seemed to be "ignored".

Musician Pham Toan Thang once shared with the writer: "Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly is really good, captivating; it says a lot about race and the fight against discrimination." This is also the album that was voted the best music album of the past year by prestigious magazines.

Rap talent Kendrick Lamar once again received a bad review from the Grammy judges.

However, the Grammys made a similar mistake by awarding the most important award to Taylor Swift. This reminded the public of the 2013 Grammys event, which "rejected" Lamar's name for the Best Rap Album award, and instead went to the white rapper duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Sharing about this year's awards, musician Nguyen Hai Phong commented: "Grammy is getting younger and younger in both music and artist age. Grammy is becoming less strict and more open, but of course still maintains its own inherent quality criteria."

This is a sharp observation because this music award is increasingly approaching the public's taste. This is also the point that makes the Grammy more and more similar to other music awards such as the American Music Awards (US), BRIT Awards (UK) or even the MTV VMAs... when balancing between art and public, focusing on stage performances.

That's why recent award ceremonies are more like a stage show than a matter of awarding deserving names.

According to Zing.vn