Grammys 2012: Hour 1

If I were to tweet/post on fb all my thoughts about the Grammys, it would be really annoying to my friends, so I thought I’d put it all in a blog post here (at least my commentary on what I got to see so far!):

• Kudos to Bruce Springsteen to be able to perform like that at 62. He could convincingly pull off 45. (And as we’ve learned, even making it out of your 40s alive in the entertainment industry is a feat. I’d say “these days”, but I think it’s always been that way.)
• Video of Whitney’s performance: to be able to sing that way live…WOW. That kind of talent is so rare. It’s not just sad that the world lost her, but sad that we lost her voice several years ago.
• I’m glad they sat Adele near the stairs, so she’ll have easy access as she goes up and down them to collect her awards all night.
• I love seeing who’s sitting next to whom at these awards shows. E.g. Lady Gaga next to Miranda Lambert, Nicki Minaj next to Taylor Swift. Too cute.
• LL’s speech about music: PREACH Brother Cool J!
• Bruno Mars’ vintage performances: nothing if not consistent. Possibly predictable, but always delightful.
• Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt: woah! What an unexpected pairing! And how funny that I actually performed songs by each of them within the same week this past year. (“Something to Talk About” at Topsfield and “Superwoman” at ArtWorks, for anyone who was wondering.)
• Best Pop Solo Performance: YEA ADELE!!!!!!!!!! (props to Lady Gaga and Pink for excellent songs in the category though)
• Chris Brown: how sad that I loved him when he came out and judging by this performance, I guess I’m officially too old for his music. Granted, I like the song “Beautiful People”, but the dancing did nothing for me. Maybe this is because they were just playing a recording of the song as he bopped around the stage and half-heartedly attempted to lip-synch. Back-flip was cool though, I’ll give him that much.
• Did Fergie get injections in her cheeks or something?!?! She’s starting to look like a cat-lady… (not this, THIS)
• Best Rap Performance: HAHAH Jay-Z and Kanye were both too cool to go to the Grammy’s. Classic.
• Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean: I love this song. So much. Perfect country/pop crossover. Kelly’s awesome for sticking to all the riffs on the original recording. (OMG Jason’s mic turned off!!! Oh no!!!)
• Jack Black. Indie cred. He is too much. I love it.
• Foo Fighters: whatever genre it is they fall in, I can’t differentiate songs in that genre. (It’s not that it’s bad. There was a chord progression in there I liked.) Ah well.
• Rihanna and Coldplay?! oh my, this is the year of the duet! (If you can consider what just happened a duet.) My favorite part of Rihanna’s performance was when she jumped up and started doing “bar mitzvah dancer” moves solo. But in all seriousness, the girl can dance.
• Coldplay: I really love the song “Paradise.” Like a lot. Just wanted to throw that out there.
• Best Rock Performance: I literally did not know any of these songs. But hey, kudos to the Foo Fighters and that chord progression at the end of the chorus of their song. I don’t know that all of the songs in that category qualified as “rock.” They were at least the group that most belonged in that category.

That's it for hour one (or so). I may post the rest of my brain droppings when I get to watch the rest of the show. (Not sure when I'll have a free 3 hours, but I guess we'll see!)