Grammys Review

Billie Eilish wins big

Ah, the Grammys, the award show so nice that I stopped paying attention to it years ago. Not because of the state of music nowadays mind you, there were a lot of contenders that I was rooting for this year (weirdly enough), but more so because the bands that I listen to (anyone remember Skillet?) are so far from Grammy fame that putting them in the same category feels like giving pity marks to that one student who the prof doesn’t really want to have in their lecture again.

Poor and over-extended analogy aside, the contenders for this year’s music awards nonsense were pretty decent. Billie Eilish has been taking the world by storm and so, too, took her fair share of Grammys. Eilish not only won Best New Artist, but also took home Record of the Year, along with Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Eilish is the first artist to accomplish the four-sweep win since 1981, which is unbelievable in its own right.

My personal favourite award came from the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Award, where it was awarded to none other than the men, the myths, the legends, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus for “Old Town Road!” Yes, a song so catchy that I’m constantly humming the tune to myself as I write this article. Honestly though, I can’t think of better performers to take home the award. That song was literally everywhere.

Next, we take a look at superstar sensation Lizzo, who had the most nominations heading into the event. This was an artist that I was recently introduced to (remember, I still listen to 2000s hard rock) and, all in all, I can see the appeal. Well, when I say see the appeal, what I mean is that I listen to “Good as Hell” on repeat because it’s just a little too fire (do the youth still say that?). That aside, Lizzo managed to pick up the win for Best Solo Pop Performance.

Moving right along, we find ourselves in my category, rock n’ roll. To start things off, Best Rock Album went to Cage the Elephant for Social Cues, which was a bit of a disappointment because this is a category that featured the Rival Sons and Bring Me the Horizon, and somehow Cage the Elephant won . . . for Best Rock Album. Anyway. Gary Clark Jr. won for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance with “This Land,” which makes sense. It’s a hell of a tune. Then, finally, in the Best Metal Performance category, Tool won for their song, “7empest”. Normally I’d give more praise there, but this is a category that Tenacious D won at one point, so it’s all but dead to me.

So, without diving any deeper into the event, was this Grammy ceremony a wash? Well, that would require me to have had seen other ceremonies to compare it to. But taking a shot in the dark, it was good. There was some history made, some favourites won and some favourites lost. In short, at the end of the day, we can put this alongside all the other award shows out there because none of it matters anyway. An award is an award. It’s all about the impact you make along the way.