So last night was the Grammy Awards. After they sent out that memo about no revealing clothing, I think most people had an idea of what to expect. It was a classy, but sometimes stodgy and stuffy affair, but it was jam packed with pretty great performances on the whole. There are a couple of performances that I think have been unfairly maligned. The performances by Justin Timberlake, making his triumphant return to the Grammy stage, and Frank Ocean, who made his debut.
JT performed first. He started off with a B&W take on his new single "Suit and Tie." Jigga joined him midway through to perform his rap. Then, he segued into his new single, "Pusher Lover Girl." I was watching the Grammy's live, but also checking out reactions on Facebook and Twitter and the criticism that I seemed to see the most was that JT was aping Bruno Mars' Grammy performance and that he was stealing from Robin Thicke. Those two criticisms are ridiculous. First off, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people accuse an artist of stealing from another artist. The bottom line is, no one in music is doing anything original. Every artist is stealing from artists that came before, including Bruno Mars. Don't get me wrong, I love Bruno, but he is just furthering the neo-soul, classic sounding R&B revival that started a number of years ago. A revival that JT was at the forefront of. So, if JT was doing his thing before Bruno, how is he stealing from him? By using a live orchestra? Sorry, but no. JT was doing that first. He has always taken his dancier hits and re-imagined them with a live band, horn section and all. Don't believe me? Check out his Grammy 2004 performance of "Señorita." As for Robin Thicke, I am not going to even dignify that. Robin Thicke is such a non-entity. He and JT are not similar. They both sing falsetto. Come on, people. The bottom line is, JT is a superstar. His new album will most likely be one of the biggest of 2013 and people love to hate. If you missed his performance and want to see it again, check it out:
Then there was Frank Ocean. I have noticed that Frank Ocean is a very polarizing live performer. I'm not sure what people expect. Frank is very low key. His songs aren't party anthem, bass thumpers. They are intellectual songs about drug addiction and love, just to name a couple of the many topics that he touches on in channel ORANGE. I applaud Frank for making the decision to perform "Forrest Gump", a song about the gay relationship he had. The lyrics are poignant and I think that is part of the reason why he chose to sing that particular song. It boggles my mind that people will heap praise on a performer who gyrates while lip synching poorly *ahem Chris Brown*, but when an artist has actual talent, gets on, arguably, the biggest stage in the world, and poetically and beautifully pours out his truth, he is lambasted for not catering to a mainstream audience. If you are one of the people, who didn't get Frank's performance last night, or his equally brilliant SNL, VMA, and Jimmy Fallon performances, that is probably for the best. Frank is not the artist for you. Go back to listening to Mumford & Sons. Here is Frank's performance:
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