Reaction: 60th Annual Grammy Awards – Winners & Losers | Op Ed

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The 60th Annual Grammy Awards is in the books! Now, the time has come to react to the biggest winners and losers of the night.

Some of the winners and losers selected in this article are subjective. Others are backed up by the facts, rather, the awards given out.  Without further ado, Reaction: 60^th Annual Grammy Awards – Winners & Losers.

Winner: Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars won every Grammy he was nominated for, a first for the artist who is on his third studio album with 24K Magic.  The most surprising wins – rather those perceived ‘tighter’ – were in the biggest categories.  His biggest competition came by way of “Despacito” (Record and Song of the Year), Kendrick Lamar (Record and Album of the Year), and “1-800-273-8255” (Song of the Year).  Honestly, it wouldn’t have been shocking had Mars lost any of those three, particular album and song.

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Loser: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee, “Despacito” 

Despite multiple nominations, “Despacito” lost ever award it was nominated for.  While I personally preferred some of the performances nominated against it, I thought it would win at least one Grammy.  16 weeks at no. 1 certainly doesn’t equate a transcendental record, but “Despacito” was among the most socially relevant songs in 2017.

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Winner: Kendrick Lamar 

Kendrick Lamar had a successful night overall, cleaning up the rap category (4 awards, including Best Rap Album), and Music video (“Humble.”).  Sure, Lamar wanted and DESERVED more, but winning five Grammy awards in one night is superb. Furthermore, he had to beat another excellent album – 4:44 by Jay-Z – to come out on top.

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Loser: Jay-Z

Everybody saw it coming, but it’s got to be tough for Jay-Z to earn the most nominations yet lose EVERY award he’s nominated for.  The main problem for Jay-Z was Kendrick Lamar.  As great as 4:44 was, DAMN. was the story. Another problem was, Jay-Z felt like a long-shot in the biggest categories.  While “The Story of OJ” and “4:44” were among the best songs of 2017, they just didn’t seem like the type of songs the Recording Academy awards Grammys for, particularly in the Record/Song of the Year category.

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Winner: Ed Sheeran 

Despite being shut out of the big categories, Ed Sheeran won Pop Solo Performance and Pop Vocal Album.  In the Pop Solo Performance in particularly, he had some stiff competition – namely Kesha and Lady Gaga.

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Loser: Socially/Politically-Charged Nominees WINNING Grammys

Social and political messaging was victorious on the Grammy stage, including moving performances by Kesha (“Praying”) and Logic (“1-800-273-8255”).  There were also a number of uplifting speeches, courtesy of Camila Cabello, Janelle Monáe, and Logic.  Unfortunately, the Recording Academy missed golden opportunities to honor these nominees.  As great as the song “That’s What I Like” is, wouldn’t a victorious “1-800-273-8255” have sent a bigger message? While “Shape of You” is a great, catchy pop song, doesn’t the emotional “Praying” possess the more compelling story?

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Winner: Posthumous Nominees

A number of late artists were honored with wins. Carrie Fisher won posthumously for her spoken word album, The Princess Diarist.  Leonard Cohen won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance for “You Want it Darker.”  He was nominated against another late musician, Chris Cornell (“The Promise”).  Last year, a late David Bowie came out on top in this category.

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Loser: New R&B

Bruno Mars swept the R&B category, which isn’t a bad thing.  That said, he’s normally nominated in the pop category.  That made it more difficult for a bright crop of new R&B artists to be victorious.  SZA, Khalid, and Daniel Caesar are some of the best R&B has served up in years, yet none came out with more than being Grammy-nominated artists.  That’s an honor, mind you, but SZA and Khalid in particular had two high-profile R&B efforts – that’s a rarity. It should be noted that Childish Gambino was victorious in the Traditional R&B Performance category (“Redbone”), while The Weekend pulled off the slight upset of CG with Starboy beating “Awaken, My Love!” (Best Urban Contemporary Album).

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Winner: Chris Stapleton

Once again, the pride of Kentucky, Chris Stapleton, won every country Grammy he was nominated for.  Thankfully, he beat out the ridiculous “Body Like a Back Road” with his superb “Either Way” (Best Country Solo Performance).  “Broken Halos,” co-written with Mike Henderson halted Taylor Swift from winning Best Country Song for “Better Man” (Little Big Town).  Finally, From a Room: Volume 1 beat out Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, and Thomas Rhett, who earned a no. 1 album with Life Changes.

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Loser: Lorde

Melodrama was an excellent album.  It deserved Grammy nominations.  It only received one, Album of the Year, which put the project at a huge disadvantage from the start.  When I saw that Lorde was nominated for album of the year against nominees with multiple nominations, I knew she was likely in trouble.  As good as Melodrama is, it lacked the records to make it competitive at the Grammys.  Where the Grammy-winning “Royals” was a surefire hit, the same can’t be said of “Green Light.” Had “Green Light” been nominated in the pop category, it would’ve been eclipsed by all the other nominees – no disrespect of course.

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Winner: The relevance of R&B 

Regardless whether you think Bruno Mars is a pop or R&B artist, his victory in the three big categories is a win for the genre.  No, he’s not a soul artist, but making R&B cool again is definitely a win for the genre.

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Loser: Julia Michaels

Julie Michaels was nominated.  That’s a win.  But, like Lorde, she didn’t feel like a viable nominee. There’s no way “Issues” would beat out more relevant songs for Song of the Year.  Furthermore, her fellow Best New Artists nominees had more relevant runs.  Alessia Cara was on a song of the year nominee, and her stardom has been ‘years in the making.’  Khalid and SZA were both bright spots in a genre that needed their brilliants to revitalize it (R&B).  Lil Uzi Vert, arguably the least-deserving nominee of the bunch, was incredibly relevant in rap music, regardless of your opinion of him.

Photo Credits: Atlantic, Interscope, RCA, Republic

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