Canada's indie darlings Arcade Fire shake the Grammy firmament with their surprise win
It was a night of legends, starting with a lengthy tribute to Aretha Franklin. Then we got a bouncy Mick Jagger strutting his still hot stuff, Bob Dylan and his infamous voice even more gravelly, and a stiff, serene Barbra Streisand in a voluminous black dress singing one of her many greatest hits, “Evergreen.”
Those, coupled with the much anticipated performances from Eminem and Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber gave the show its highest ratings in more than a decade, with over 26 million people tuning in.
But the showstoppers at the 53rd Grammy Awards came by way of Lady Antebellum, Arcade Fire and no, not Bieber, but best new artist Esperanza Spalding. Esperanza who? Well, now you know. A serious jazz singer and musician who will now receive the acclaim she deserves.
The surprise winners of the top awards had the Staples Center crowd in audible shock, and will reverberate in their record sales jumping up the charts. Were Grammy voters ahead of the curve with their picks, or behind the eight-ball, as they’ve historically been? (Just one example of untold numbers of sins of omission: no Grammy ever for Neil Young during his four decade-plus career.)
Let’s dissect Lady A’s ode to late-night longing, “Need You Now.” An extremely catchy pop/country crossover tune (with a cheesy music video) that will be played on easy-listening stations for years to come, it zoomed to the top of the charts after the country trio performed it at last year’s show. Were they worthy of their sweep of four out of five Grammys, including record and song of the year? For my listening pleasure, I’ll take the more thrilling relationship drama of “Love the Way You Lie.”
There were several thrilling moments that made watching the Grammys eminently worthwhile this year, even as the first award wasn’t presented until about 45 minutes into the show: Dr. Dre’s surprise appearance with Em, Cee Lo Green’s multi-colored muppet performance of, um, “Forget You” with a piano-climbing Gwynneth Paltrow (hey, I thought promotion for “Country Strong” was done and over) and Jamie Foxx’s rousing intro and Lady Gaga’s Madonna-inspired performance after emerging from her “egg vessel.” You gotta love the performance art aspect that somehow makes up for some of the lack of musical originality.
For a night supposedly all about the music, it was hard to figure how some of the presenters got their gigs. Eva Longoria? Seth Rogen? The fiancé of Miranda Lambert? Maybe he is a musician but it was really bush league to have him introduce her. “I really love her,” he insisted. And overall, we pretty much loved the Grammys this year, including that shocking takedown by Arcade Fire of album of the year, then rocking out the credits.
