Questions, Complaints and Performances: A Look at the 2010 Grammys

The 52nd Grammy Awards, for me, was a true disappointment… The title of the show is an “award show,” so, where the hell was all the awards at?! Maybe they broadcast major categories, I don’t really know, but there so many performances, I didn’t know where to look!

I expected to see more trophies than mics being handed out to artists to perform. I can’t really rant on about a show, but more about a collection of performances that didn’t need to be.

How does Pink mock Beyoncé and get applauded for it in her Grammy performance? Better yet, how does she get a Grammy performance?!

Granted, what Kanye did to Taylor Swift was terrible, but for it to look as if a Kanye West never existed in music was terrible. And Kings of Leon took a jab at his chin, to no reprimanding! Gahhhh, I have to defend Kanye because it’s just not fair! And wtf was Lady Gaga wearing?!

Truth be told, Taylor Swift may have deserved these awards in a general sense, but Mr. West has put this girl in movies! I may be stretching it by saying this, but the situation reminds me of when a black man was hung in the old days for looking at a white woman. Everyone has their arms around that girl like she’s the savior of the world! …But congrats to her anyway.

The one bright spot of the whole show, may have been the Michael Jackson tribute, which, right now, feels like it happened when Thriller dropped. I appreciate the return of Celine Dion, who seems to perform rarely nowadays, and Usher, but I felt it could’ve been bigger than it was. That could’ve been the last performance of the night. It should’ve been, in my opinion!

Drake, Em, and Wayne brought Hip-Hop too late, but I’m not sure how seriously urban culture will be accepted by the powers that be. They were the only Hip-Hop performance of the night, and they had bleeps throughout the whole performance, so entire snippets of the performance was cut out…when they were already performing what appeared to be a very clean version!!! Jaime Foxx and T-Pain also performed bringing out Doug E. Fresh and Slash, but even Jaime is Hollywood!

All we needed was a little more awards and fewer performances. I used to believe winning a Grammy meant excellence, since it included everyone in one pool of music, but it still doesn’t feel quite equal yet!

As far as who actually took home awards, most of which coming behind the scenes, Beyoncé took home 6, including Song of the year for “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).” Six Grammys is a new female record. Taylor Swift took home 4, including Album of the Year. The Black Eyed Peas snagged 3 awards (Best Pop Vocal Album), while Lady Gaga (Best Dance Album) and Eminem (including Best Rap Album) each grabbed two.
Jay-Z won three awards including Best Rap Performance for “D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)”
Maxwell won for Best R & B album and Best Male R & B Vocal Performance for “Pretty Wings”
Jaime Foxx and T-Pain won for Best R & B Performance by A Duo
Drake took home no Awards losing to Jay-Z in both categories he was nominated in.