Strangely, no one is complaining about the fact that Native American recording artists were AGAIN shut out at the Grammy Awards this year.
The Grammys in New York took a weird turn this morning as the nominations were a shocker: Ed Sheeran’s best selling “Divide” did not get an Album of the Year nod, neither did albums by Lady Gaga or Kesha. Instead, the Grammys went mostly for R&B and rap: Jay Z, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, who is really the actor Donald Glover. CBS must be plotzing. (I’m thrilled because I love the Childish Gambino album.)
Indeed, all the acts they want on the show– the white pop acts– have been relegated to the Pop Vocal category. That’s Gaga, Sheeran, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Kesha.
How the Grammys became the R&B/Hip Hop Awards will be the subject of much discussion at Black Rock today. Their traditional country nominee is absent, which for CBS is a disaster. The only pop singer who scored an Album of the Year nod was Lorde, the 20 year New Zealand singer whose “Melodrama” album not much of a hit compared to her previous outing.
Kendrick Lamar, Glover, Bruno Mars and Jay Z also took up most of the Record and Song of the Year categories even though almost none of that music is not what is typically thought of for those categories. I’ll bet a lot of pop, rock and R&B stars are in shock right now. Ed Sheeran and his team must be having Xanax omelettes.
Again, for older skewing CBS and producer Ken Erlich, this will be a challenge. This is not the show they want. Having no country nominees in the main categories is heart-attack inducing.
I don’t see what the problem is. If the television advertisers are to be believed, white people like nothing better than advertisements featuring black people. Especially if those black people are implied to be having sex with white people.
One love! So brave. Thank you for this.