Tuning in on music’s biggest night
In a heated race to the finish with Beyoncé, Adele literally broke last year’s Grammy Awards.
When the British pop powerhouse took the stage to accept album of the year for 25, she split her golden gramophone in half — an accident that many online interpreted as her “sharing” the honor with Queen Bey, whose Lemonade was the favorite to win. The stakes don’t feel quite as high going into this Sunday night’s show (CBS, 7:30 ET/4:30 PT), although we’ve learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to music’s biggest night. Here are a few of the questions we want answered:
1
How will Me Too come into play?
Members of the music industry haven’t been quite as vocal in the ongoing conversations around sexual misconduct and the gender wage gap as those in Hollywood. But that could change at this year’s Grammys, where — with the exceptions of Lorde, Alessia Cara and Julia Michaels — women were shut out of the top categories: album, record and song of the year, and best new artist. Socially charged speeches and red-carpet moments seem par for the course, particularly if sexual abuse survivors and women’s advocates such as Lady Gaga and Kesha collect awards (for best pop solo performance).
2 Who will put on the best performance?
Kendrick Lamar, Pink, U2 and Childish Gambino are just a few of the top-shelf talents lined up to perform. But we’d be lying if we didn’t say we’re most excited to see what Bruno Mars and Cardi B have in store when they bring their Finesse (Remix) to the Grammys stage. Mars’ slick showmanship and reliable charisma sound like the perfect complement to the outsize personality and brash exuberance of Cardi B, who’s continued her 2017 winning streak into the new year with a record-breaking run on the charts and two Grammy nominations, best rap song and performance, for Bodak Yellow.
3 Does Jay-Z need to watch the throne?
Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z are friends outside the studio, where they’ve shouted each other out on Twitter and been photographed sitting together courtside at NBA games. But they’ll go head to head at Sunday’s show, where the two rap titans stand the best odds to win album of the year with efforts that couldn’t be more different: Lamar’s Damn, a searing antiTrump statement reflective of his activist spirit as he settles into his role as hiphop’s foremost young voice; and Jay-Z’s
4:44, a deeply personal meditation on infidelity, family and what it means to be a black man in America.
4
Might Carrie Fisher win?
David Bowie was the biggest winner at last year’s Grammys, taking home five posthumous prizes for his haunting masterstroke Blackstar. This year, the Recording Academy has the chance to award other recently departed legends: Carrie Fisher, nominated for best spoken word for audiobook
The Princess Diarist; Leonard Cohen, for best American roots performance for Steer Your Way or best rock performance for You Want it Darker; and Chris Cornell, whose The Promise is up for best rock performance.