Award Season Rundown: The Grammys

The Hollywood awards season isn’t fast approaching, it’s here. The 67th Golden Globes kicked us off in January, beginning what will be Avatar’s grand winning streak; however, the latest in fashion and statuesque drama occurred at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards. While the red carpet is always—and I do mean always—my favorite part of the awards season, this year’s Grammy show was by far stranger, weirder, and annoyingly more lack-luster than any of the designer garbs worn that night.

Take for example Lady Gaga: her Armani haute couture red carpet gown was inspired. Both beautiful and shockingly unique, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s red carpet wear paled in comparison. However, Gaga’s opening performance with Sir Elton John, a performance heralded to be something even bigger than the Michael Jackson tribute, fell slightly flat. Maybe it was the monstrous teal, hunchback outfit, or the soot everywhere, or the fact that most of the performance was her ballad, “Speechless,” but something about the pop star’s montage left me speechless. 

 Gaga’s opening number began what felt like a never-ending series of performances constantly trying to top the last. In fact, an award was given once every two performances or more, equaling to only thirty minutes of the whole awards show. Less, considering all the accepting performer’s speeches were cut short by the customary “wrap-it-up” music and over half the winners weren’t allowed to give speeches.

 Everyone and their idol performed at this year’s Grammys. Gaga and Elton John, Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks, Bon Jovi (performing a horrific version of Livin’ On a Prayer), a team of stars led by Celine Dion with a Michael Jackson track and 3D scenes playing behind them: while all the performances were entertaining, many seemed forced and conceptually lazy. Pink, however, needed neither an idol to accompany her nor a legion of soldiers. Her high-flying acrobatics during “Glitter in the Air” was stunning, interesting, and achieved a level of creativity no other performance that night achieved.

And as for people who actually won Grammys that evening, well, most performers had won before the Grammys even started. In what has become a Grammy tradition, Song of the Year was an upset with Kings of Leon snagging the award away from Swift, Beyoncé, Gaga, and The Black Eyed Peas. By the end of the show, it felt like everyone slated to win a Grammy won one (all but the Black Eyed Peas who should have), everyone who won a Grammy performed, and Taylor Swift dropped her statuesque “fairytales” on the floor backstage.

 Grammys, take a page out of the Golden Globes: get a smaller venue, serve champagne, and have fewer performances with more awards. It is an awards show after all; we’re in it for the bad speeches, the annoyed losers, and awkward monologues from hosts and presenters. If not, call it the Grammy concert and let us enjoy the show as one.