GRAMMYS 2023

Before the Grammys began on Sunday night, I was a bit negative in my thinking about the show because it always seems to be about the attendees trying to one up each other, or just get noticed. And there are tons of people I’ve never heard of.

But I must say, this was the best Grammys I’ve ever seen! I wound-up being a fan of several situations that bothered me a bit at first.

So I think I’ll save my thoughts on the arrivals for a bit later on in the week, and just get to the actual show, first with my overall impressions and then I’ll go in order of the telecast.

By the way, I did tweet about some of it, (my one about Chris Martin made Mr. X almost do a spit take!,) so if you missed those bon mots of mine, you can always go to @MajorCelebrity on Twitter and see them now.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

This Grammys presentation was so good that there really wasn’t much to make fun of. How disappointing.

This was the absolute best Trevor Noah ever was! Just about everything he said worked. It was all very clever. (And, of course, he’s adorbs.)

Even though I’m a fan of his, I honestly don’t remember his previous hostings of this show being that great. But he really stepped-up this time.

I actually thought this innovation was nice: As different artists were about to perform, the person or people who introduced them were ones with whom they had a personal relationship.  I really liked that.

At first, I thought it was sort-of weird that the most famous audience members were seated at tables, in front of the main section of the audience. And they even were served cheese platters and drinks!  But, after I got used to the a-list being seated like that, I liked it. I had thought it a bit rude to everyone else at first, but then I realized that the producers were hooking-up the deserving people, such as nominees, performers, and other stars, so I got into it. (And that place is cavernous, so tons of music executives and other personnel are let in, along with a plethora of fans who are seated way in the back. So the people everyone wants to see should have that special treatment and not be mixed-in with the hoi polloi all night. Just sayin’.)

Plus, that configuration made it interesting to the viewers, who got to see all the celeb interactions all night, because the stars were able to easily get up and mingle in commercial breaks. If they had been seated in the main audience rows, they would have to get up, go through their row, and out into the lobby to see each other. And none of that would be caught on camera. So this way was a win for everyone, (excepted the aforementioned cheap seat denizens.)

Even though the winners are supposed to be kept secret by the accounting firm, or whomever, until they’re announced, I have a feeling the producers knew that Beyonce was going to win her record-breaking award. Here’s my clue: James Cordon was the presenter for that one. Yes, he has been sort-of the darling of CBS, the network he has in common with the Grammys. But now that he’s leaving his show this year, the execs over there are not that high on him anymore. But…I noticed that one of his besties, Ben Winston, who also produces his late night talk show, produced this Grammys. So I deduced that Ben wanted to give his bud the honor of announcing that historic award. (Nice detective work on my part, eh?)

My last general thought on this year’s Grammys is that I was actually glad the telecast featured a few stupid bits of having a group of “fans” sit around tables and discuss the *nominees, because it gave Mr. X and me the opportunity to get caught-up! (We were always a bit behind because of my tweeting, so, because we skipped these parts, we were able to end the show on time! That was a miracle!) *[Note: I really have no idea what they discussed because I didn’t watch even one second of it!]

Now on to the proceedings in the order they occurred, beginning with the opening number:

THE SHOW IN ORDER

Hey, Bad Bunny, thanks for getting dressed-up for the occasion!

That fun opening reminded me of that old Spanish TV skit on SNL, where everyone jumps up and dances to wild music at the drop of a hat!

Trevor Noah introducing Adele to The Rock, whom she was dying to meet, actually choked me up a bit.

JLo always is exactly what a star should be. Great outfit, jewelry, hair, and…everything!

Now that he won a few awards, maybe Harry Styles can afford a bottle of shampoo!

What was up with Viola Davis’ weird face??? She looked awful. Her left eye was almost shut from being caked with make-up, and her nose looked like it had soot on it! But at least, for once, her nose wasn’t running.

I was very happy for ninety-year-old Willie Nelson to win an award, beating-out a bunch of young ‘uns.

During that wonderful, happy Motown tribute, everyone was smiling and bopping. I was doing the same, but then I found myself sobbing because it’s such a dying breed. [Note: The big pic at the top of this page is Flavor Flav, going crazy over the wonderful performances in this all-star jam session. He’s expressing what we all felt watching it, and his exuberance also expresses how I feel about this entire Grammys presentation!]

I love something Bad Bunny said when accepting his award. He said, “When you do things with love and passion, everything is easier; life is easier.” I hear ya, bro!

I hate to rag on Harry Styles again, but someone’s got to say it already—he looks like an idiot!!! He’s the worst dresser, but people are too scared to admit they don’t get it. That pretending is literally The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Even though he’s a bit hard to understand, Kendrick Lamar gave a good speech. And do you know that five years ago, he actually won the Pulitzer Prize for Music? Wow. Good for him. (Now you can go on Jeopardy with that info.)

Madonna is just embarrassing. She actually begged for applause. And she looks like a hunched-over little old woman now. Sad, sad clown.

Nelly was the only true hip-hop artist in that whole “tribute to hip-hop” section. The rest were actually rap stars. Maybe the producers just didn’t want to label it “rap” because it sounds tougher than “hip-hop.”

And they should have at least put the names of everyone who participated on the screen for the viewers. The audience may have known who the performers were, but we at home needed names. Even Mr. X, a krump dancer, and I, who used to be a hip-hop club promoter, (meaning I had nights at different clubs, and chose the DJs and guest list,) didn’t know who half of them were.

My one real negative of the entire show is that they named a big award after women-abuser, Dr. Dre, and presented him with the inaugural one. I’m not going to get into here, but please look up the topic to see just how many women, including a journalist he didn’t agree with, he’s beaten-up through the years. (I’m actually scared just writing this!)

Why did The Rock have to mention that he and his wife were thrilled to be there? Other than that, he was kind of charming.

Having Jill Biden present an award, and a classy one at that, was a big deal for both the Grammys and for her. I’m glad she got a standing ovation. (But, for some reason it was the worst she ever looked. I think perhaps the stage lighting wasn’t flattering for the older peeps. Except for JLo, of course.)

I love the combo of two revered septuagenarians on stage together—Bonnie Raitt accepting her surprise, and major, Song of the Year award from Jill Biden.

Bonnie gave a perfect speech, which is extra-admirable since she really wasn’t expecting to win.

The best moment of the night for me was how happy Adele was for Lizzo when the latter won Record of the Year!  It literally choked me up to see that genuine reaction. About Damn Time is my favorite song of the year, and I had just read an article on Lizzo in Vanity Fair that afternoon, so that whole segment brought a big smile to my face.

I was not a fan of Olivia Rodrigo before, but her presentation was the best of everyone all night. There was not even one phony word, no errors, and I truly believe that she was genuinely happy to crown her successor as Best New Artist. Good for her.

And the winner of that award, jazz songstress Samara Joy, seemed to be the most grateful person of the evening. I love that someone who sings like an oldster won it.

I also loved this last bit on the stage: one of the “round table fans” they featured throughout the night was a little old lady who adores Harry Styles. Not only did Trevor Noah invite them all up to the stage to be there for the presentation of the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, but when the “envelope” turned-out to say Harry inside, he let the old lady announce it! And then present the trophy to a very grateful Harry, who hugged her profusely! How lovely that whole segment was. (But it added to my theory that the producers knew some, if not all, of the winners beforehand.)

It’s great that the Grammys ended on the long and gratitude-filled song, God Did. But it cracked me up that during all of that drama, (they performed it outside, with a Last Supper kind-of table,) a green freeway sign was visible. Perfect ending to an almost-perfect Grammys!