The Grammys

For the last few years I have been out of touch with current music. I wasn't listening to the radio. I felt disconnected. I wasn't watching music award shows much - Billboard, American Music, or the Grammys. And when I did watch, I just didn't like most of what I was hearing. I don't want to name names. I simply decided to stick with the music I already liked, mostly from the 80's and 90's, and gave up on most of what was new and popular.

With award shows, if I don't watch when they air, I will drag my feet on watching them. I'm not sure I finished the Grammys telecast from last year, or the American Music Awards.

But last Sunday I watched the Grammys, and really enjoyed the show. I remember watching the Grammys in years past and thoroughly enjoying some of the performances. This year, I took it a step further. I visited Spotify, and put albums in my library from Jon Batiste, Silk Sonic, Chris Stapleton, Duo Lipa, and Olivia Rodrigo - all winners at the show on Sunday. 

I have always been more of a fan of singles as opposed to albums. When I like an artist, I tend to listen to their singles more than an entire album. For example, I was absolutely obsessed for a time with the Ed Sheeran song "Shape of You". I listened to it constantly. But I never listened to his album. Just the single.

So it was an exceedingly rare event that I listed to THREE FULL ALBUMS yesterday - "We Are" by Jon Batiste, "Starting Over," by Chris Stapleton, and "An Evening with Silk Sonic." And I liked all three! I was most surprised that I liked Chris Stapleton, because I'm not usually a fan of country music. But that album is more blues / rock / country, which I do like.

I was ahead of the game with one artist that performed at the Grammys - I listened to Lil Nas X's album Montero when it first dropped. I don't listen to much rap, but I like his voice, and applaud his trailblazing spirit and the representation he brings to the music industry as a gay, black artist. Also, I haven't listened to Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's collaborations, but I absolutely love and adore Gaga - as a singer, actress, humanitarian, human being. I'm dating myself to say this outdated phrase, but "she could sing the phone book, and I would enjoy it."

librarianintx