The GRAMMYs are discussed with criticism and praise every year but this year both sides were valid for several reasons. I also have been working on being s p o n t a n e o u s n e s s this year and while I don’t want to call it a “resolution” it is a shift in my mental because I pride myself on scheduling.
visual philes.
Like many people who identify as music lovers, I watched the GRAMMYs last weekend. Naturally, I am very happy to have seen Beyonce set the record for most wins and the irony of her still losing the one award I was very confident she’d win will… I was glad to see Harry’s House win for Best Pop album as I enjoyed most of it and had it in rotation for quite a while. The tribute/celebration for 50 years of hip-hop was probably the biggest highlight for me and I was glad to see how many people/eras they got in even though we all know they missed a few. As LL Cool J said, this was intended to be a taste of the full version of something Questlove has been working on. I also enjoyed Steve Lacy’s performance of “Bad Habit” and was pleasantly surprised to see Thundercat join him and he got a bass solo too! My Mom was all on Sam Smith when “Stay With Me” was everywhere so it’s safe to say her emotionless reaction to their performance of “Unholy” said more than words ever could.
As a part of the spontaneousness I mentioned earlier, I watched a movie that wasn’t from one of my lists, wasn’t something I had heard about in some corner of the internet or anything. I saw the title, plot and knew I liked the lead actor in it so I just hit play! The movie is called Arctic and stars Mads Mikkelsen as a pilot whose plane has crashed and he must care for the co-pilot whose helicopter crashes while trying to rescue him. The dialogue is sparse but the atmosphere in both a literal and cinematic sense are what kept me locked in for sure. While not a shocking ending it was certainly ambiguous and I appreciated that.
audio philes.
As part of my 100 albums in 12 months challenge, I’ve decided to dedicate February to black historical figures in music. I’ve heard of all of the artists I’ve chosen but haven’t heard the specific albums I’ve chosen. Naturally, some of them have a huge single on them so I’m looking forward to seeing them in the context of the albums they’re on.
closing philes.
I did a collaborative piece with some writers I know for one of the platforms I write for. We shared our predictions for Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance! Check it out here and of course come back after it happens to see if any of us were right!