I think it’s fine to criticize the Oscars or Grammys for being unfair or too white, etc. Such critiques usually seem on target to me. Because they’re not well-run affairs. They are big commercials for their respective industries. They are in effect designed to maximize the revenue of those industries, so they tend to be rather conservative, white-bread, and safe.
But what I don’t get is when people seem to get really worked up about them and take them seriously. They have no meaning, and it’s fine to tune them out completely.
I pretty much stopped watching the Grammies thirty plus years ago, just because they never (or almost never) honored any artists I liked. After a while, I just accepted that my kind of music was never going to win awards, and I stopped caring.
Neither Beyonce nor Adele is my cup of tea, but it doesn’t hurt my feelings if someone wants to give either of them an award.
If you don’t like the act that wins a Grammy (or Oscar or Tony or Emmy or…), well, create your own award and give it to whomever you like. Or blow it off- do you even remember who won the Grammy for Best Album in 1981?
Pssst: It was Christopher Cross- the Grammies have been going to lame acts forever! Why would you ever take them seriously?
I think it’s weird that Adele’s 25 came out in November of 2015, and there was a Grammy awards show in February of 2016 but she wasn’t nominated until the 2017 Grammys.
Sucks, cuz they could have both been huge winners in 2016 and 2017. Beyonce’s more-interesting, more Internet-breaking album could have won in 2017 and Adele’s more accessible and more timeless album could have won in 2016. But instead last year we got Taylor Swift and this year Beyonce got the shaft.
Zipper, I can give you the shallow version of why but not the deeper one. The eligibility period was from October 1, 2015 through September 30 of 2016. As for why they do it that way, I don’t have a clue.
It does seem like Adele’s “Hello” was all the rage ages and ages ago.
On other hand, Beyonce’s “Lemonade” was so critically acclaimed that Adele literally apologized on stage to Beyonce for winning Album of the Year. When the winner publicly acknowledges that she didn’t deserve the award it may be indeed be the case. In essence its similar to when Macklemore when Best Rap Artist over Kendrick Lamar and when Jethro Tull won best Metal Artist over Metallica (but Jethro Tull didn’t apologize, IIRC, in their acceptance speech).
Or Adele is one of those people who underestimates herself and likes to build up others. Which doesn’t mean she didn’t deserve to win, just that she didn’t expect to win.
(ETA: That sort of behavior - apologizing for being better, underestimating yourself, and underplaying yourself, is culturally so “white woman” it hurts.)
I’ve long felt that Beyonce is a mediocre talent as a singer and have said so on this board before. It’s nice to see that no less than Carlos Santana agrees.
In looking around the net it appears that Adele has been obsessed with Beyonce for quite some time. Here are a few comments from last May in Vanity Fair magazine:
:eek:
And from the same article is this Instagram photo of Adele slavering over a photo of Beyonce in her younger days.
I think it’s safe to say we should take Adele’s opinion on the so-called greatness of Lemonade with a considerable grain of salt.
Wow, apparently so! I didn’t know she was such a fanatic. That makes the whole thing extremely awkward for her, clearly.
Before I read that post, and also before I learned about this crazy streak since 2008, I actually assumed she was doing that because she knew that winning as a white artist over a black one could lead to the very shitstorm we’ve been seeing, and she wanted to insulate herself personally from it. And even still, I have seen that she has gotten a fair amount of flack for using the phrase “my black friends”.
As for critical opinion, it is absolutely factual that there has been a great deal of critical acclaim for Lemonade. But I really side-eye that, and I 100% question whether those critics are popping that album in to listen to for pleasure in unobserved moments at home. I strongly suspect it is a kind of inoculation to heap high praise on her and a few other diverse artists, so they can also talk up their real favorites like Sturgill Simpson without taking a lot of heat, potentially even threatening their ability to earn a livelihood, for mainly being into white dudes.
Indeed. Lemonade is just a nothing. I’m going to say the same shit over and over, but praise for it is praise for the concept of a thing and not the thing itself.
I will also say that I think Adele sucks. Not in the same way as Bey, mind you. Totally different. Adele is an imitation of a great singer without being great herself. She assumed the role without quite having the goods. So she belts and belts in that grande dame sort of way, but everyone kinda knows that it doesn’t quite work. Whereas, someone like a Liz Phair (on her good albums) or a Janelle Monáe (on her good albums) is just natural and doing her own thing and it’s real and good.
I thought Adele’s “Hello” was such a piece of shit.
The fact that U2 won the same amount of Grammys as Stevie Wonder (I had no idea) should tell everybody what this piece of shit is worth…(though in a fair world, Stevie would get two Grammys revoked for I Just Called… and Ebony And Ivory. But maybe he even won for one of those, I wouldn’t be surprised.)
Based on the subject matter of every single song I’ve ever heard from Adele, I think Beyoncé isnt the only person she obsesses over. Get over him already. Geez.
I think Beyoncé is talented and beautiful, but I think the slavering worship is creepy. I especially don’t understand why people lost their minds at the news of her pregnancies. I wish her well with that as I do anyone expecting a child, but other than that, it makes no difference to my life. I think it must just be a “thing” kind of like shouting out the latest catchphrase or playing Pokémon or whatever. People must bond over the Beyoncé worship, like she’s a football team or something.
I can’t comment much on Lemonade. I saw all the hoopla from HBO and tuned into it because as I said I do like some of Beyonce’s songs. It lost my interest a few minutes in, and I never went back to it.
I was far more disappointed with Jethro Tull robbing of the Grammy of “Nothing Shocking” from Jane’s Addiction than any of that second-rate-Black-Sabbath-wannabe-double-bass-detuned-vocal-growling speed metal nonsense Metallica executed.
Beyoncé has sung some catchy and memorable songs. So has Katy Perry. Adele’s Hello was probably the best song I have heard in several years. In every possible way she is a better singer than Beyoncé.
To be fair when Adele did her boot licking the camera panned over to Beyoncé, who looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. (Jay Z looked creeped out). I think even she thinks the adulation and worship are unwarranted.
I just started listening to Lemonade. I like it a lot. And I don’t mind her pretensions. She aspires to do something inspirational, and I can’t fault her for that. Especially since I’m not part of the group she’s trying to inspire.
But, yeah, the deification is getting really weird and annoying.