2019 Grammy Awards

Times are tough. Weird at best. Our music reflects that.
We want to dance. We want to have fun. The music delivers.
Pop music has become as dense as ever. Rap is dominating. We like the beats. We like the hooks.
Let’s give awards to the music that moves us. That makes us feel.

 

Should Win

Will Win

 

Record of the Year:

• I Like It, Cardi B
• The Joke, Brandi Carlile
• This is America, Childish Gambino
• God’s Plan, Drake
• Shallow, Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• All the Stars, Kendrick Lamar & SZA
• The Middle, Zedd

Album of the Year:

• Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B
• By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile
• Scorpion, Drake
• H.E.R., H.E.R.
• Beerbongs & Bentleys, Post Malone
• Dirty Computer, Janelle Monae
• Golden House, Kasey Musgraves
• Black Panther Soundtrack, Kendrick Lamar

This entire category is winners.

Song of the Year:

• All the Stars, K-Dot & SZA
• Boo’d Up, Ella Mai
• God’s Plan, Drake
• In My Blood, Shawn Mendes
• The Middle, Zedd & Maren Morris and Grey
• Shallow, Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• This is America, Childish Gambino

Cutie patootie Shawn Mendes could get it.

Best New Artist:

•  Chloe X Hal
• Luke Combs
• Greta Van Fleet
• H.E.R.
• Dua Lipa
• Margo Price
• Bebe Rexha
• Jorja Smith

Best Pop Album:

• Camila, Camila Cabello
• Meaning of Life, Kelly Clarkson
• Sweetener, Ariana Grande
• Shawn Mendes, Shawn Mendes
• Beautiful Trauma, P!nk
• Reputation, Taylor Swift

What’s the Meaning of Life, Kelly Clarkson? All other albums are monumental.

Presented by: Pete Davidson

 

Best Rock Performance:

•  Four Out of Five, Arctic Monkeys
• When Bad Does Good, Chris Cornell
• Made an America, The Fever 333
• Highway Tune, Greta Van Fleet
• Uncomfortable, Halestorm

Posthumous releases are Automatic Wins. It seems like there are more and more each year.

 

Best Rock Album:

• Rainier Fog, Alice in Chains
• M A N I A, Fall Out Boy
• Prequelle, Ghost
• From the Fire, Greta Van Fleet
• Pacific Daydream, Weezer

Rock is dead. If Ghost wins and summons Satan, then it can be saved.

 

Best Alternative Album:

• Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, Arctic Monkeys
• Colors, Beck
• Utopia, Bjork
• American Utopia, David Byrne
• Masseducation, St. Vincent

What’s an Arctic Monkeys?

Give it to Bjork. She hasn’t won one yet.

 

 

Best R&B Album:

• Sex & Cigarettes, Toni Braxton
• Good Thing, Leon Bridges
• Honestly, Lalah Hathaway
• H.E.R., H.E.R.
• Gumbo UNPLUGGED (Live), PJ Morton

 

Honorable mentions in the genre:

Best Urban Contemporary:

• Chris Dave and the Drumhedz > The Carters

 

Best R&B Performance

• Best Part, H.E.R. & Daniel Caesar

(Shoutout to Keyboardist F Choc Smoov from New Jersey, who idolizes Daniel Caesar)

 

Best Rap Performance:

• Be Careful, Cardi B
• Nice For What, Drake
• King’s Dead, Kendrick Lamar & Jay Rock & Future & James Blake!
• Bubblin, Anderson .Paak
• Sicko Mode, Travis Scott & Drake & Big Sean & Swae Lee

AMAZING CATEGORY

 

Best Rap Album:

• Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B
• Swimming, Mac Miller
• Victory Lap, Nipsey Hussle
• Daytona, Pusha T
• Astroworld, Travis Scott

See: Best Rock Performance commentary re: posthumous releases

(Shoutout to My Neighbor, Jay, who painted a life-size portrait of Nipsey Hussle)

 

Best Country Solo Performance:

• Wouldn’t it be Great?, Loretta Lynn
• Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Maren Morris
• Butterflies, Kasey Musgraves
• Millionaire, Chris Stapleton
• Parallel Line, Keith Urban

idc

 

Best Song Written for Visual Media:

• All the Stars, Kendrick Lamar & SZA: Black Panther
• Mystery of Love, Sufjan Stevens: Call Me By Your Name
• Remember Me, Miguel & Natalia Lafourcade: Coco
• Shallow, Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper: A Star is Born
• This is Me, Keala Settle: The Greatest Showman

I would take “Shallow” winning Record of the Year, to allow for other recognition in the film categories… but that would be fair and what do I know?

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM POST-CONCERT UPDATE

I have had an entire week and Christmas holiday to come back to Earth after seeing LCD Soundsystem at the Brooklyn Steel. It was magical. Truly transcendent. I have also needed that amount of time for the ringing in my ear to stop.

As expected, it was Party of the Year. The Musical Event of My Twenties. Looking back, it felt like such an intimate performance. This is mostly because I went with my girlfriend, who purchased the tickets. We were in the front row, lined up against the security barrier.

As are most adventures in love, the concert seemed like a private serendade during our fairytale December evening in New York City. Alyssa and I rode trains from New Jersey, and successfully navigated the subway. The late-night return train also applied a comfortable pressure.

 

When Alyssa shared that she got me the tickets spontaneously, I could not believe it. I have looked into seeing LCD Soundsystem. The performances have typically been festival headlines and New York residencies lasting several weeks. The shows sell out instantly. They are infamous for fast sale. James Murphy has addressed this. No doubt, these are popular shows, an exciting opportunity from LCD being recently reunited. The demand is not the only source of popularity. Online ticketsellers and scalpers immediately snatch tickets in bulk and sell them for at least double the retail price.

 

A year ago, during their initial reunion, tickets were well in the range of $300 on StubHub. Murphy has taken measures to eradicate this, on top of his crude remarks directed toward online scalpers. LCD shows and the shows of their record label are sold exclusively on AXS. They are sold in limited burst releases. All ticket information is released only hours prior to the concert.

While waiting for the performance to begin at the Brooklyn Steel, concertgoers said they were on the phone with their ticketsellers hours before the show. Some were unaware of the delayed release. Some had genuine errors.

A mother who brought her son from Staten Island received their ticket confirmation while on the ferry.

 

While getting excited looking at set lists and concert advice on Reddit, I was surprised to see many users posting about needing tickets. Alyssa said she didn’t have a problem buying them one week prior. This coincided with other Reddit users posting James Murphy’s warnings against buying fake tickets from StubHub, Craig’s List and eBay. Are concertgoers supposed to be worried about buying fake tickets? What is a fake ticket anyway?

They accepted Alyssa’s money. That wasn’t fake. She won’t tell me how much she spent. I saw listings around $120 each. Compare this to the face value of tickets at $60. We both agree that it was worth it. Alyssa’s money well-spent. It was a priceless adventure for us to have. One of our last for a while.

In the New Year, I will be moving to Los Angeles. This places even more meaning when our host for the evening, James Murphy, sang “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down.”