The 2018 Grammys might not have been the most controversial in the awards ceremony’s 60-year history, but there was still plenty of note getting Twitter and the internet at large in several hot debates. These are the biggest talking points of the 2018 Grammys.
The Grammys got its Time’s Up moment
As Janelle Monae pointed out in her powerful speech, abuse of power, harassment, and gender inequality isn’t exclusive to Hollywood. While the music industry might not have experienced such a monumental outpouring of allegations as the film industry, but its still necessary for the women of music – and beyond – to stand up and say: “Time’s up.” Stars wore white roses to the ceremony to signify that, and Monae’s aforementioned speech was a clarion call to not accept these issues anymore. Kesha’s performance of ‘Praying’ was one of the most important of the night, and Lady Gaga gave the initiative a quick heads up in her performance too.
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Cardi B was the best thing about this year’s event
She might not have won an award tonight, but Cardi B was easily one of the stars of the show. On the red carpet, she explained to interviewers she was nervous and felt it “in my stomach and vagina”, delivered an attitude-filled “What’s really, really good? Washpoppin’?” to her haters, shared her excitement about getting a note from Bono, and was the best thing about her and Bruno Mars‘ performance of ‘Finesse’. Later, in a pre-recorded sketch where musicians auditioned to record the audiobook version of Fire And Fury by Michael Wolff, her disbelief at Trump’s habit of going to bed at 6:30pm with a cheeseburger was hysterical.
Alessia Cara – still new?
In one of few shock wins this year, Alessia Cara beat the much-hyped SZA and Khalid to the Best New Artist award. She might have given a great speech about giving everyone recognition for their work, but many were puzzled by her win. Her debut album ‘Know-It-All’ was released in 2015, after all, so of the five nominees, she didn’t feel like the freshest, most exciting pick.
Jay-Z missed out on everything
Hova was the most nominated act this year, with a possible eight awards up for grabs by him and him alone. The smart money would suggest that he would win at least one of them, but as the night progressed his chances got slimmer and slimmer, until the final award of the night had been revealed, and he went home empty-handed. Surely that’s no way to treat a legend?
Kendrick swept the awards – except for two shocks
Going into tonight, Kendrick Lamar was the second-most nominated artist this year, with seven nods. At one point, it looked like he would claim all of them, with five out of five ahead of the final two announcements. And then his clean sweep was spoiled. ‘Humble’ seemed like a shoe-in for Record Of The Year, but 2018’s other dominant Bruno Mars swooped in and claimed the award for himself with his ’24K Magic’. But surely ‘Damn’ wouldn’t lose out on Album Of The Year too? Unfortunately so. K. Dot’s downfall was again brought down by Mars, who took that trophy too. Damn, indeed.