Open Thread: The 2012 Grammy Awards

I was just saying to someone on tumblr that somehow, I feel more uncomfortable with the glorification of groups like Lady Antebellum and The Civil Wars than I ever have at any Civil or Revolutionary War reenactment I’ve ever participated in. I know very little about the personalities in either group, but am bothered by the idea that these names are taken and given at face value to what (I’m assuming is) a mostly white audience. This idea of the safe south/confederacy is becoming more and more prevalent in popular media. (Enough so that  people seem to conveniently forget Ron Paul’s confederate flag speech in their support of his candidacy…) It’s eked its way out of just being a feature of Westerns (the Jesse James myth and American obsession with him is my absolute favorite example) and into several  aspects of music and television.

As for Nicki… I love that she went out and had her moment. Already anticipating the backlash, and wondering how it’ll compare to the backlash Gaga or Perry would have received. (Speaking of Katy Perry, can we talk about how she was caught on camera applauding the man who abused her supposed best friend? Reasons I Left The Entertainment Industry Pt. I)

My 14 year old daughter refused to watch the Grammy Awards because of Chris Brown’s appearance. You are right:  there is no domestic violence PR movement, just individuals in silent protest.  This must change.

well, i don’t think “the civil wars” is as bad as “lady antebellum”, especially because it’s a much vaguer term.

In regards to the Whitney tribute, I applaud Jennifer Hudson
but I wish there had been more. Although, I do realize that there was only a
24-hour period for the Grammy’s to put something together. To address the Chris
Brown situation, I really think its time that people move on from continuing to
punish him. He did not get away with it and he has done everything possible to
get people to see he is trying to make a change. Why is it that he cannot be
redeemed when so many other people in this industry have committed just as many
sins? He will always have this halo of domestic violence around him and he will
always struggle to overcome it. From a PR standpoint I think Chris should
address those twitter comments if even to say that he appreciates the support
but wants to point out he does not condone any of the statements.  Domestic violence is a serious issue but
is there no room for a second chance considering he can and has contributed so
much to this industry as an artist?

To me you can only get a second change if you a) resolve your issues (hello window! meet chair!) and b) express your sincere regret of your past actions and that YOU and only YOU were responsible for them. Neither is the case AT ALL with Chris Brown. To be honest victims receive so much scorn… (Oksana? Whitney?) I am not ready to forgive. For me the point is not to forgive someone who hasn’t even changed, but more that I don’t want all those White abuser men to get room on stage either! So I’d like to see more protests targeting White men as well.

It was good to hear Rhianna perform in spite of Brown being there, but I would’ve liked it more if she wasn’t the sexualized object of it.  If she wants to do the sexual thing, I would like to see her be dominant rather than dominated. 

 Nicki Minaj is just doing media ambulance chasing. I do not see her as part of any movement or with any politics like Lady Gaga has. I really wanted to see Janelle Monáe be taking the place of Perry, Rihanna and NM by now. Agree with you about the RCC all the way!

 Chris Brown has continued to have problems and act arrogant. Would have liked to see some extensive volunteer work and the creation of a foundation instead of more drama and immaturity. I do not consider him an artist.

 There was a lot of blowback for Gaga and Madonna’s stuff too. The Pope got the video for “Like A Prayer” banned in Italy and prevented Madonna from performing there. Pepsi dropped her from their ads. If anything, the blowback Minaj is facing is much, much less–probably in part because people are used to this kind of nothing-is-holy provocation.

@Kendra – are you saying that it’s really just the name of the band that you’re uncomfortable with, without knowing anything about the content of the music? FWIW, they’re a folk duo who do sort of angst-ridden tight harmony. Really good stuff, actually. I didn’t know they’d gotten to the Grammies already – I’ve only heard them on some NPR shows so far…

Well since he was court ordered to do two of the things I said, I beg to differ on your statement of him doing neither.  He has expressed regret.  Do you think that he is happy that he will continually have to have this hanging over his career and future successes?  There are many other artists, athletes, celebrities who have comitted sins just as bad and yet they are not as villified.  Rihanna has even forgiven him and said she wishes him nothing but success.  It seems to me people are hell bent on holding a grudge that is not their own to bear and will not give a young person who made a mistake a chance at redemption. 

if i’d just seen nicki minaj’s performance without knowing people found it problematic, i would have read it as a song about a boy possessed by a demon, the demon being nicki minaj.  it seems like a pretty straightforward narrative, and i’m not sure why someone would think it was about mental illness except that demonic possession, were it real, would be mistaken for mental illness, and we’d try to medicate it away.  i realize in real life, this works the other way around (people with mental illnesses are treated by religion as possessed), but since it seemed pretty horror movie trope and not reality based, i wouldn’t have read the performance that way. 

i actually really liked it, but i am particularly fond of and fascinated by catholic gothic horror tropes.  

So glad I DIDN’T see all this drama.  My homework kept me busy

Didn’t you just say above that the steps he’s taken were court ordered? That doesn’t exactly demonstrate anything other than a willingness to plea bargain. And I suspect he regrets the damage he did to his career (minimal though it appears to have been) more than the damage he did to her face.

You should have (if you have one of these) PVR’d it for later. I did, and I’m probably going to see it soon, just to see what all the fuss is about (I usually avoid the Grammy like the plague, but I made an exception this time.)

One other thing: what do people here think about these Buzz Feed Twitter incidents involving Paul McCartney and  Bon Iver?  Myself, I think that the responses to the kids whose Tweets were quoted in the articles were quite ageist and racist. What does anybody else think?

One of different things I was disturbed by was the woman’s crotch in the face of the praying altar boys during Nikki Minaj’s performance.  It made me think of the adults who were sexually abused by Catholic Priests during childhood.

 ”…people with mental illnesses are treated by religion as possessed…”

Sadly, I have found this to be very true for the most part. I think I would’ve liked the performance a lot better had Nicki tackled that subject in her performance instead of the overly-theatrical exorcism (but I might be giving her way too much credit in the art-as-political-statement department).

i thought of that as a statement on the sexual repression expected of catholics.  since women can’t be priests. it made me think about the altar boys i knew in highschool, who had trouble expressing and confusion around sexuality because it was a sin, but they were normal hormonal teenagers who wanted to be sexual so much.