Monday Roundup Mix
featuring a Grammys recap!
Happy Monday! I stayed up last night to watch the Grammys to the bitter end. The awards, as always, did not go the way I assumed they would. I made some predictions back in November and got absolutely nothing right. I thought SZA and her album SOS would clean up during the major awards, but sadly I was wrong.1
In what came as a huge shock to me, and seems like maybe even to the artist, Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for Midnights.2 If you’ve been here for a while you’ll know I’m a big Taylor fan, but a Midnights hater. Minus a small handful of songs (several of which are on deluxe versions of the album, not even the version that won the Grammy), I think this album is mostly full of throwaways. I also think it’s just boring in the larger scope of her work. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised (it has been The Year of Taylor), but this win feels more like a recognition of The Year of Taylor than a recognition of the actual best album of the year.
Some other highlights of the evening:
Taylor also won Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights and during that acceptance speech announced a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is out in April. Sorry to Kacey Musgraves who mere moments before had soft-launched her new album as that certainly got lost in the shuffle!
All of the awards given out during the televised ceremony (minus Jay-Z’s honorific award) went to women!
Before the televised ceremony, Paramore became the first woman-fronted rock band to win Best Rock Album for This Is Why and won Best Alternative Music Performance for “This Is Why.” boygenius also snagged awards for Best Alternative Music Album for the record and Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for “Not Strong Enough” during the pre-show. Big wins for some albums I really did love last year!
Victoria Monét won Best New Artist which is well deserved!
Tracy Chapman made a rare public appearance to perform “Fast Car” with Luke Combs (Combs’ cover of the song was nominated for Best County Solo Performance). “Fast Car” is one of the most perfect songs of all time and certainly did not need a Luke Combs cover, but I’m glad Tracy got this moment and was treated to rapturous applause and a standing ovation.
Annie Lenox ended her performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U” during the in memoriam segment with a call for a ceasefire, a move I’m sure Sinéad O’Connor would approve of.
Joni Mitchell performed “Both Sides Now,” marking her very first time performing at the Grammys. Considering who all was in the room, I could not stop thinking about this iconic Joni quote.
That’s mostly it! I think the Grammys are the best awards show in terms of watchability, even if I don’t understand the Recording Academy’s awarding decisions. Awards certainly aren’t everything anyway!
This week’s roundup mix is a quick one featuring some Grammy-related tracks, new music from from TORRES, Del Water Gap, Katie McBride, new-to-me music from The Cardigans, Paramore covering Talking Heads for a tribute album (a cover that makes so much sense), and a little more!
Thanks for being here, for reading, and for listening! If you enjoy Made You a Mix, please share with a friend!
Though SZA did not win in any of the major categories, she did win for Best Progressive R&B Album, Best R&B Song, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Only cool thing about this win is that it makes Taylor Swift the only artist in history to win Album of the Year four times.