Wednesday, February 3, 2010

OPINIONS AND REVIEWS

2010 GRAMMY AWARDS FILLED WITH HIGH FLYING MOMENTS AND SOME WRONG NOTES.
By Tynan Sinks

This year’s Grammy Awards showed that while performers are pulling out all the stops to 'wow' their prime time audience, the most talented artists are not always rewarded. The show opened with the most talked about artist of the year, Lady Gaga, who played dueling pianos with special guest Elton John making it not only the best performance of the evening, but one that made Grammy history.

Beyonce was soon to follow with a powerful yet anticlimactic rendition of her ballad “If I Were A Boy” and an unexpectedly sampling the 90's girl anthem “You Oughtta Know” from Alanis Morrisette. By the end of the night, she took home six awards including Best Female Pop Vocal, Best Contemporary R&B album, and Song of the Year. Other notable winners of the night included Green Day with Best Rock Album, The Black Eyed Peas with Best Pop Vocal Album, and the Zac Brown Band with Best New Artist.

Later in the show, Pink stunned the crowd with her aerial act that showed that the days of lip-syncing are long gone, no matter how physically challenging a performance is. Michael Jackson was honored with a tribute which was broadcast in an eye popping 3-D and included superstars like Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and Smokey Robinson.

The obvious low point in the show was when the perpetually off key performer Taylor Swift took the stage for a medley of her hits, with a little help from Stevie Nicks who acted as nothing more than her back up girl. Not long after, Swift was awarded Album of the Year for her record “Fearless”, beating out stiff competition from The Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce.

While Taylor Swift is the biggest selling artist of the year, the awards are not supposed to be handed out based on number of units sold alone, and with her obviously bland and out of tune performance not minutes earlier, many were left wondering if such a prestigious award had been justified. She beat out Beyonce, who is, in addition to being a reliable hit maker, one of the strongest performers in the industry, and has solidified her place as nothing short of an icon.

Swift beat out Lady Gaga as well, whose raw talent has captured the eyes of America and kept their attention – not with not her body but her mind - using her shock art shows and infectious pop music to become a household name. Some say that CBS would never hand out such a big award to Gaga, who is such a liberally provocative artist, who smashed bottles of whiskey on a grand piano on national television and has come out as such a strong advocate of gay rights, when Swift would be such a safe alternative.

Whatever your opinion of Record of the Year, thanks to memorable performances, the 2010 Grammy Awards topped many of the past year's shows.

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