Grammys Stream of Consciousness Thoughts

So this is not the Kpop crash course I promised. I talked about 10 of the 25 songs I had selected for part 1 of the Kpop crash course, but I just didn't have the motivation to finish it. This past week was finals week, so I was pretty burnt out from finals and didn't feel like writing at all. I wanted to still post something smaller because I still want to keep up with posting every Saturday unless I have a really good reason to do so. I thought about looking at the Grammy nominees and predicting who I thought would win, until I realized that I really didn't listen to much of the nominees for this year. Instead, I think I'm just gonna talk about a few things related to the Grammys, sort of stream-of-consciousness style. The Grammys are the biggest night in music, and although I didn't watch them last year, I plan to watch them this year. I don't care about who wins, normally (except for that one time when "Praying" by Kesha got snubbed in favor of Ed Sheeran's mediocrity. I'm still salty.), I just like watching the award shows for the performances. It's like a giant concert where you can hear all your favorite songs from the past year and maybe discover some new favorites. I'm gonna talk about some of the performances I'm excited for.

Obviously, I'm really excited for Ariana Grande's performance. I don't know what song she's doing but it will be a great, vocally incredible performance for sure! Ariana is nominated for five awards, and I hope she wins at least one. I just wish "thank u, next" was nominated instead of "7 Rings" for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. I don't really care for "7 Rings" that much and I think "thank u, next" the song was far more deserving of a nomination.

I'm also excited for Demi Lovato to make her comeback! I like Demi, I think she is one of the great vocalists of this generation and I think she's one of the most inspirational celebrities for how open she is about her struggles. In the summer of 2018, she had a drug overdose, which I was very saddened to hear about. This will be her first performance since the incident, and I don't know what she's going to be performing, but I hope she gets a heartfelt, poignant power ballad moment. Something in the lane of "Skyscraper", a soaring vocal showcase that also has lyrics about overcoming what she's been through. I expect that Demi will do a powerful, vocally dynamic ballad, and that's exactly what I want from her.

I feel like the three biggest new artists of this year were Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Lil Nas X, and that's reflected in the nominations. Lizzo has eight nominations, while Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X have six. I really like all three of those artists for various reasons, and I'll be disappointed if they don't walk away with at least one award, and because they got so many nods, they'll get at least one trophy. All three of these artists, are performing, and they're some of the performances I'm looking forward to.

I love Lizzo's confidence and how unashamed she is to be herself. She does a great job making music to inspire you and make you feel better at yourself. I'm so happy that she's gotten so popular and acclaimed, because her fun, empowering brand of R&B is delightful. I know "Truth Hurts" is her biggest hit, and it is nominated for Record of the Year, so I would expect her to perform it, but I hope she performs "Good as Hell" instead. "Good as Hell" is one of my favorite songs in recent memory, so uplifting and catchy! Plus, there is a remix featuring Ariana Grande, so maybe Ariana can make a cameo for this performance.

Billie Eilish is only a few months older than me, and the fact that she's my age but has already done so much more than I will ever do is insane. I'm impressed by how Billie is so young but still makes mature, dark, unique music. I'm also impressed by how her music is literally just her and her brother Finneas making it in their bedroom, but it sounds so professional and good. My favorite song by her is "When the Party's Over", which is such a beautiful song. I love how delicate Billie's voice is on it. I hope she performs that. I think she'll probably perform "Bad Guy", though, because it's the one nominated for Record of the Year, but that'll be fun too.

Wikipedia says that Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, BTS, and Diplo are all performing together. I can assume this will be sort of a trainwreck combination of all the "Old Town Road" remixes, but it'll be fun. I think it's awesome how this random 19-year-old kid bought a beat off the Internet for $30 and made a country rap song that became the biggest song of all time. I can already tell that "Old Town Road" is probably the defining pop culture event of my lifetime, and that makes me happy. Lil Nas X just seems like a really cool guy, and he is absolutely hysterical on Twitter. Most famous people on Twitter are just like "Here's my new album! Buy my new single! Watch my new music video!" but Lil Nas X tweets stuff like, "finally watch the new avengers wow that purple man is mean".

I'm not sure who to predict for who will win, but for the Big Four general field categories, here are the people I hope will win:

RECORD OF THE YEAR: I think my favorite song nominated is probably "Sunflower" by Post Malone, but I think "Old Town Road" most deserves to win. That was truly the Song of the Year. It was the one that got talked about the most, was the most successful (it stayed on top of the Billboard charts for 19 weeks, making it the longest-running number one of all time), and was the song that best defines the year.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: I think either Ariana or Billie deserve it. For Ariana, thank u, next was her most cohesive and emotional record, one that she made during a really dark time in her life. It would be very rewarding to see her get the award for how much she put into the album. Billie Eilish also deserves it, because When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was both commercially successful (Billboard named it the top-selling album of the year and "Bad Guy" went #1), and critically acclaimed. I haven't heard every song on the album, but I like everything I've heard from it. Plus, it would just be awesome to see a girl my age win one of the biggest prizes in music.

SONG OF THE YEAR: While Record of the Year goes to the artists, producers, and engineers, while Song of the Year goes to the songwriters, so it goes to the best written song of the year. Out of the nominees, I would give it to "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo, personally. I just think this song is incredibly quotable and has a ton of memorable lyrics. There are so many lyrics I love in this song, from "Why are men great 'til they gotta be great?", "Yeah, I got boy problems, that's the human in me, bling bling, then I solve 'em, that's the goddess in me", and of course, the memed-to-death, "I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100% that bitch". 

BEST NEW ARTIST: This is obviously going to go to Billie Eilish or Lizzo, both of whom I like a lot. I don't know who I would prefer, as I think both of them are interesting and creative, and I like what they bring to the table. I don't know which of them will win, but I know it will be between them, and either one of them winning will be well-deserved.

So, this was kind of random and all over the place, but I just needed to post something quick and I figured some Grammys thoughts would do the trick. Next week will maybe the Kpop Crash Course, otherwise I have another fun post I want to do. I'll see you next Saturday either way.

Stellar