61st GRAMMY Awards: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The 2019 Grammys came and went in a blink of an eye. As time goes by, we start to see a narrative that winning a Grammy really means nothing, and I probably agree, but it’s still fun to watch and partake in live tweeting.

Click here to read my original predictions post.

The good: 

• I had to come back and edit this post because I truly forgot about the duet between Miley Cyrus & Shawn Mendes way at the beginning of the show and wanted to give it some love. Really great harmonies – their voices mesh well together. This awards show was nearly four hours long: this performance feels like eons ago.
• Kacey Musgraves’ performance and later accepting county album of the year – thanking her husband while James Blake and Jameela Jamil are seated next to him broke my heart in the best way possible (It’s widely assumed that Blake wrote Assume Form all about her. Swoon).
• I’ve listened to H.E.R. casually, but her live performance really made me a bigger fan. I’m excited to check out her work a bit more in-depth.
• The Dolly Parton tribute w/ Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris warmed my cold heart so much.
• As the awards were coming in during the pre-show, I realized that Childish Gambino was winning more awards than I expected – which made me hopeful that he would win song of the year for “This Is America” – and he ended up winning it & Record Of The Year. It’s not that I wouldn’t want him to win (I did) but I just thought the Grammy voters are too conservative for that song & video. But I’m happy about it!
• St. Vincent is such a BADASS & I was really unsure of this collab with Dua Lipa but I really enjoyed it!! S/O to St. Vincent & Jack Antonoff for their Best Rock Song win for “Masseduction.”
• I figured that Dua Lipa was going to win Best New Artist and I’m happy she did! The requirements for this category have always seemed off – i.e. Alessia Cara winning in 2018 when her breakout was in the end of 2015, etc. But if you understand that they have specific time frames for this category it makes more sense.
• Cardi B accepting her award onstage and talking about how hard it was to finish her album while finding out she was pregnant was REAL and I love & adore her so much.

The Bad:

• It’s bizarre to me that Lady Gaga won ANYTHING for Joanne, especially in a category with competition from Camila Cabello, Ariana Grande, Beck and Post Malone (okay, I get that she would win over Post though…) – not a fan of this album and it didn’t do well in any realm – commercially or critically. So this is just odd to me.
• Childish Gambino’s wins made history this year and it’s really unfortunate that we didn’t get to see him accept the awards. After his first win of the evening, his manager tweeted the “shrug” emoji. Shade.
• Lady Gaga is so talented & and I would pay a decent amount to see her live, but her award show speeches are just…too much. Didn’t love her “Shallow” performance either.
• I should have known deep down that Ariana would beat Taylor for Best Pop Vocal Album. My biases definitely stood in the way. I did not like this album, but it is what it is. I just hope this lights a fire under Taylor’s booty and we get the best music from her yet with her next album (it is no secret that reputation is one of my least favorite releases from her).
• Janelle Monáe’s performance solidifies the fact that she deserved to win AOTY for Dirty Computer and it sucks that she didn’t.

The Ugly:

• Post Malone & The Red Hot Chili Peppers? No thanks. **Mutes TV**
• Cardi B so obviously lip synced and it really makes me sad…I know how incredibly busy she’s been and how hard she has been working so I understand but wow, I was let down with this one.
• J.Lo doing a motown tribute? And lip syncing? Really?
• Listen, I love Golden Hour. It was one of my favorite albums of 2018. I knew AOTY would go to Kacey all along. It’s a great album and simultaneously a safe choice for voters to make…I still wish Dirty Computer got the recognition it deserved in some form, and it’s unfortunate that Janelle Monáe is walking away with no awards for it. She’s a black queer woman. It’s obvious why she didn’t win.

Below are the list of winners of the major categories as well as my predictions.

The winners are in blue.

Record Of The Year

• I LIKE IT / Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
• THE JOKE / Brandi Carlile
• THIS IS AMERICA / Childish Gambino
• GOD’S PLAN / Drake
• SHALLOW / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• ALL THE STARS / Kendrick Lamar & SZA
• ROCKSTAR / Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage
• THE MIDDLE / Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey

My Prediction: “The Middle” or “The Joke”

Album Of The Year

• INVASION OF PRIVACY / Cardi B
• BY THE WAY, I FORGIVE YOU / Brandi Carlile
• SCORPION / Drake
• H.E.R. / H.E.R.
• BEERBONGS & BENTLEYS / Post Malone
• DIRTY COMPUTER / Janelle Monáe
• GOLDEN HOUR / Kacey Musgraves
• BLACK PANTHER: THE ALBUM, MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY / (Various Artists)

My Prediction: Golden Hour or By The Way, I Forgive You 

Song Of The Year

• ALL THE STARS / Kendrick Duckworth, Solána Rowe, Al Shuckburgh, Mark Spears & Anthony Tiffith, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar & SZA)
• BOO’D UP / Larrance Dopson, Joelle James, Ella Mai & Dijon McFarlane, songwriters (Ella Mai)
• GOD’S PLAN / Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Brock Korsan, Ron LaTour, Matthew Samuels & Noah Shebib, songwriters (Drake)
• IN MY BLOOD / Teddy Geiger, Scott Harris, Shawn Mendes & Geoffrey Warburton, songwriters (Shawn Mendes)
• THE JOKE / Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)
• THE MIDDLE / Sarah Aarons, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Marcus Lomax, Kyle Trewartha, Michael Trewartha & Anton Zaslavski, songwriters (Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey)
• SHALLOW / Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper)
• THIS IS AMERICA / Donald Glover, Ludwig Goransson & Jeffery Lamar Williams, songwriters (Childish Gambino)

My Prediction: The Middle

Best New Artist

• CHLOE X HALLE
• LUKE COMBS
• GRETA VAN FLEET
• H.E.R.
• DUA LIPA
• MARGO PRICE
• BEBE REXHA
• JORJA SMITH

My prediction: Dua Lipa

Best Pop Solo Performance

• COLORS / Beck
• HAVANA (LIVE) / Camila Cabello
• GOD IS A WOMAN / Ariana Grande
• JOANNE (WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOIN’?) / Lady Gaga
• BETTER NOW / Post Malone

My Prediction: “Havana”

Best Pop Duo Performance

• FALL IN LINE / Christina Aguilera Featuring Demi Lovato
• DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART / Backstreet Boys
• ‘S WONDERFUL / Tony Bennett & Diana Krall
• SHALLOW /  Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• GIRLS LIKE YOU / Maroon 5 Featuring Cardi B
• SAY SOMETHING / Justin Timberlake Featuring Chris Stapleton
• THE MIDDLE / Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey

My prediction: “Shallow” or “The Middle”

Best Pop Vocal Album

• CAMILA / Camila Cabello
• MEANING OF LIFE / Kelly Clarkson
• SWEETENER / Ariana Grande
• SHAWN MENDES / Shawn Mendes
• BEAUTIFUL TRAUMA / P!nk
• REPUTATION / Taylor Swift

My prediction: reputation 

Best Dance Recording

• NORTHERN SOUL / Above & Beyond Featuring Richard Bedford
• ULTIMATUM / Disclosure (Featuring Fatoumata Diawara)
• LOSING IT / Fisher
• ELECTRICITY / Silk City & Dua Lipa Featuring Diplo & Mark Ronson
• GHOST VOICES / Virtual Self

My prediction: Electricity, Silk City, Dua Lipa, Diplo & Mark Ronson

Best Dance/Electronic Album

• SINGULARITY / Jon Hopkins
• WOMAN WORLDWIDE / Justice
• TREEHOUSE / Sofi Tukker
• OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES / SOPHIE
• LUNE ROUGE / TOKiMONSTA

My Prediction: Woman Worldwide, Justice

Best Rock Performance

• FOUR OUT OF FIVE / Arctic Monkeys
• WHEN BAD DOES GOOD / Chris Cornell
• MADE AN AMERICA / THE FEVER 333
• HIGHWAY TUNE / Greta Van Fleet
• UNCOMFORTABE / Halestorm

My Prediction: Four Out of Five, Arctic Monkeys

Best Rock Song

• BLACK SMOKE RISING / Jacob Thomas Kiszka, Joshua Michael Kiszka, Samuel Francis Kiszka & Daniel Robert Wagner, songwriters (Greta Van Fleet)
• JUMPSUIT / Tyler Joseph, songwriter (Twenty One Pilots)
• MANTRA / Jordan Fish, Matthew Kean, Lee Malia, Matthew Nicholls & Oliver Sykes, songwriters (Bring Me The Horizon)
• MASSEDUCTION / Jack Antonoff & Annie Clark, songwriters (St. Vincent)
• RATS / Tom Dalgety & A Ghoul Writer, songwriters (Ghost)

My Prediction: Black Smoke Rising, Greta Van Fleet

Best Alternative Music Album

• TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO / Arctic Monkeys
• COLORS / Beck 
• UTOPIA / Björk
• AMERICAN UTOPIA / David Byrne
• MASSEDUCTION / St. Vincent

My Prediction: Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, Arctic Monkeys

Best Urban Contemporary Album

• EVERYTHING IS LOVE / The Carters
• THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT / Chloe x Halle
• CHRIS DAVE AND THE DRUMHEDZ / Chris Dave And The Drumhedz
• WAR & LEISURE / Miguel
• VENTRILOQUISM / Meshell Ndegeocello

My Prediction: Everything Is Love / The Carters

Best Rap Performance

• BE CAREFUL / Cardi B
• NICE FOR WHAT / Drake
• KING’S DEAD / Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future & James Blake (TIE)
• BUBBLIN / Anderson .Paak (TIE)
• SICKO MODE / Travis Scott, Drake, Big Hawk & Swae Lee

My Prediction: Nice For What, Drake

Best Rap Sung Performance

• LIKE I DO / Christina Aguilera Featuring Goldlink
• PRETTY LITTLE FEARS / 6lack Featuring J. Cole
• THIS IS AMERICA / Childish Gambino
• ALL THE STARS / Kendrick Lamar & SZA
• ROCKSTAR / Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage

My Prediction: This Is America, Childish Gambino

Best Rap Song

• GOD’S PLAN / Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Brock Korsan, Ron LaTour, Matthew Samuels & Noah Shebib, songwriters (Drake)
• KING’S DEAD / Kendrick Duckworth, Samuel Gloade, James Litherland, Johnny McKinzie, Axel Morgan, Mark Spears, Travis Walton, Nayvadius Wilburn & Michael Williams II, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future & James Blake)
• LUCKY YOU / R. Fraser, G. Lucas, M. Mathers, M. Samuels & J. Sweet, songwriters (Eminem Featuring Joyner Lucas)
• SICKO MODE / Khalif Brown, Rogét Chahayed, BryTavious Chambers, Mike Dean, Mirsad Dervic, Kevin Gomringer, Tim Gomringer, Aubrey Graham, John Edward Hawkins, Chauncey Hollis, Jacques Webster, Ozan Yildirim & Cydel Young, songwriters (Travis Scott, Drake, Big Hawk & Swae Lee)
• WIN / K. Duckworth, A. Hernandez, J. McKinzie, M. Samuels & C. Thompson, songwriters (Jay Rock)

My Prediction: God’s Plan, Drake

Best Rap Album

• INVASION OF PRIVACY / Cardi B
• SWIMMING / Mac Miller
• VICTORY LAP / Nipsey Hussle
• DAYTONA / Pusha T
• ASTROWORLD / Travis Scott

My Prediction: Invasion Of Privacy, Cardi B

Best Song Written For Visual Media

• ALL THE STARS / Kendrick Duckworth, Solána Rowe, Alexander William Shuckburgh, Mark Anthony Spears & Anthony Tiffith, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar & SZA) Track from: Black Panther
• MYSTERY OF LOVE / Sufjan Stevens, songwriter (Sufjan Stevens) Track from: Call Me By Your Name
• REMEMBER ME / Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, songwriters (Miguel Featuring Natalia Lafourcade) Track from: Coco
• SHALLOW / Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper) Track from: A Star Is Born
• THIS IS ME / Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, songwriters (Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble) Track from: The Greatest Showman

My Prediction: Shallow, Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

Best Music Video

• APES*** / The Carters. Ricky Saiz, video director; Mélodie Buchris, Natan Schottenfels & Erinn Williams, video producers
• THIS IS AMERICA / Childish Gambino, Hiro Murai, video director; Ibra Ake, Jason Cole & Fam Rothstein, video producers
• I’M NOT RACIST / Joyner Lucas & Ben Proulx, video directors; Joyner Lucas, video producer
• PYNK / Janelle Monáe, Emma Westenberg, video director; Justin Benoliel & Whitney Jackson, video producers
• MUMBO JUMBO / Tierra Whack, Marco Prestini, video director; Sara Nassim, video producer

My Prediction: Ape****, The Carters

Overall, I ended up predicting 10/20 right – which isn’t the worst…but I definitely could have done better. 50% isn’t bad!

Thanks for reading.

• Kristin