
We're a couple of days past The 66th Grammys: The Nostalgic and the New.
There has been a lot of weighing in online. The Great. The Good.. The Cringeworthy. The Objectionable. The Intolerable. Opinions flare like horse nostrils, as we gun to the finish line: the summing up.
Many would disdain the entire idea of Awards as "subjective" and no worthy judge of musical excellence.
I don't watch "Live, " preferring my Smart TV to fast forward the commercials.
But I gotta say I love the idea of everyone watching in real time, just as we watch sports.
This rainy morning, in my armchair, will you let me voice a few ideas and realisations?
Here goes:
We really really need to connect, as a culture. It's my feeling that most of us would love to throw politics and discourse to the wind every now and then, and just feel like everyone is on the same side. The Tracey Chapman- Luke Combs performance of "Fast Car" was and will remain profound proof of how beautiful it is when a song blooms and seems to erase differences. What an empathy bridge: to witness Luke's full-on admiration for Tracey , as he mouthed the words she sang with so much elegance and poise. Ironically, in the music and the performance there was a silence, a calm we've needed.
When we have a series of reference points to an Artist and her music, a stirring resonance makes our hearts vibrate. My mother introduced me to Joni Mitchell when I was a kid. Joni and Judy and Joan. My mother gave me folk music, singer-songwriters, and my dad gave me The Beatles, The Stones and Sly and the Family Stone. When back in Edinburgh, a journalist friend enabled me to meet Joni Mitchell at her exhibition in the city centre. Later in life, I worked with Richard Perry who filled me with Joni stories, and hung out with Henry Diltz who told me Joni Laurel Canyon stories. Of course, in playing pubs in Scotland, "Big Yellow Taxi" and A Case of You" and "Free Man in Paris" had to be performed! "Nostalgia" is defined as " wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." Music connects our life stories. It's our personal score. And a show that allows viewers to experience that existential poignancy matters.
We're all looking for "THE NEW"- maybe the young, maybe the up-and-coming. This might be an opportunity for us to become the Critics. After all, the New have not been test-driven yet, and though perhaps financially successful this year, the New provoke some skepticism. We admire Taylor Swift for her incredibly prodigious catalogue of songs, her ambitious and successful ERAS Tour, her ability to mobilize, transport and mesmerize audiences. She is incredible, whether you rate, admire, enjoy what she does. We're witnessing a phenomenon. Will her songs endure? Will she have the stature of Joni MItchell in the coming decades? We do not know. Likewise, we don't know how Billie and Finneas will be reviewed, in the future. It's tempting to brush the New off. "Not as good as the classic songwriters of the 60s and 70s?" Still, we need the New. And the New is going to outlive us all, GenXers and Boomers. It frankly does not care about you.
We're cynical and expect fuckups, even relish joining together to bitch about them. This is indeed the easiest way to come together . The task of producing a three and a half hour show has got to involve a hella lot of people. Stuff is going to not land right. Trevor Noah has to keep everyone together for that time. Did some of his banter annoy you? Was it cringeworthy? Did Billy Joel look uncomfortable? Did you understand what Jay Z was saying when he accepted his award? How many sections of the show were a bit "off" to you? Stevie Wonder? Annie Lennox? The lack of performances by young nominees, during the actual show? Why not Boygenius? Why not Laufey? And why not more guys? And what happened to that Travis Scott performance? Liking almost always means not liking , too.
The Grammys is not created for Grannies. Nor is it created specifically for Z or The Millennials. What is tricky is bringing everyone together. Obviously, successful or not, this was the intention of this year's show. It's daunting.
Summing up?
We're still in a COVID time. We're still feeling huge divisions and challenges. We're still isolated in many ways. And yes we have huge challenges ahead. So my feeling is that anything artistic that brings us all together, if only for five minutes, is something to be celebrated.
What we can witness collectively. What we can add to our cultural memory bank. Something sweet.
Thanks Grammy people, for giving us a few of these moments. Decades on, we'll revisit and recall with a sweet taste in our mouths. And maybe even get nostalgic over what was once new.
Thank you, Feef. Insightful and thought- provoking as always, just like your great songs. I love that the performances that sparked conversations were intimate and musical and inspiring and didn't involve pyrotechnics, as fun as those might be.