Grammys 2020

Wookie and I had a date night on Sunday so we watched our recording of the Grammy’s last night. A few thoughts:

• I love Alicia Keys, and I’m glad she hosted again this year, but wow did she look and sound stoned!
• All the tributes to Kobe Bryant were incredible. And extremely sad.
• Who knew Lizzo was so talented?
• There were way too many pop and hip-hop performances and zero rock awards given. I need to see all the genres covered equally.
• Usher’s Prince tribute was the highlight of the show.
• When did Boys II Men make a comeback?
• I was so excited to see Aerosmith and Run-DMC together again but their performance was a disaster. Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands of all time (Sedona is named after one of their songs for crying out loud) but Steven Tyler and Joe Perry looked ancient and everyone was off-key.
• I don’t hate “Old Town Road.”
• For the second year in a row, H.E.R. gave me hope for new music. Her beautiful voice and ability to play piano and guitar so effortlessly was refreshing and much appreciated.
• Bonnie Raitt sounded great and so did Smokey Robinson.
• John Prine looked thrilled to be honored by Raitt for his Lifetime Achievement Award. I love that she sang a few bars of “Angel From Montgomery” for him.
• Loved seeing Gary Clark Jr. on the Grammy stage – especially after seeing him live at Vail’s Ford Amphitheater in September.
• The star-studded tribute to Ken Ehrlich’s 40-year run as Grammy Executive Producer was great – especially Joshua Bell, Cyndi Lauper, Misty Copeland, Common, and Gary Clark Jr. What an appropriately amazing sendoff.
• It was absolutely shocking to me that Billie Eilish swept the four major categories (album, song, and record of the year, along with best new artist). I don’t understand the appeal and I can’t believe that no one has swept those categories since 1981.

As per usual, the Grammy ceremony was way too long and I think it’s bizarre that, once again, so few awards were given on camera. I appreciate exciting performances but those were few and far between this year. Also, between the rape allegations surrounding former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow and the fact that the first 30 minutes and last 30 minutes were the only parts worth watching, the Grammys need a serious revamp.