The good, the bad, and the ugly of the 61st Grammy Awards

This Sunday, February 10, the Grammy Awards were presented. We bring you a summary with everything that happened

On Sunday, February 10, the award ceremony of the 2019 Grammy Awards took place. In its 61st  version, these awards were presented at the Staples Center in the city of Los Ángele, California. The Grammys are awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States, which puts them at the height of other awards also granted by the Academy of other disciplines such as the Oscars or Tony. Although for some this is still the most important night of music, for others, while other prizes are becoming more diverse and expanding its audience and audience, the Grammys are still thought only in the American music industry and its public. In any case, here is a recount of the good, the bad and the ugly of this year's ceremony.

Leer en español: Lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo de la entrega 61 de los Grammy

The good

There was a lot of female power at this year's Grammy. Many female artists were nominated and had a presence on stage. An example of this was the category of Best New Artist. The majority of the eight nominees in this category are female artists. The winner, British singer Dua Lupa, made a special mention of how much the women had stood out this year in her acceptance speech.

The rapper Cardi B, on the other side, was the first woman to win the award for Best Rap Album of the Year for Invasion of Privacy. Although there have always been strong female voices in rap, this genre has been a male ground. Now it begins to have not only more voices but more recognition of the female voices and their contributions in the genre. Cardi B also wore one of the most talked about dresses of the evening: he used for the red carpet a design by the Frenchman Thierry Mugler that refers to the Venus of "The Birth of Venus" by the artist Botticelli.

Alicia Keys was the host of this edition of the awards, and she did it with elegance and grace. She shined for her different outfits and for the presentations she made in which she sang songs by Lauryn Hill, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Drake and Juice WRLD. She opened the awards accompanied by four other important women for the female representation in the music industry and on the screen in general: Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michelle Obama, and Jennifer Lopez.

Several tributes and tributes were made, especially to female figures within the music industry. Several artists met in a country tribute to Dolly Parton, who participated in his tribute along with his goddaughter Miley Cyrus. A tribute was also paid to the career of Diana Ross, who sang alone and who also celebrated her birthday six weeks in advance. Perhaps the most touching was the tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died last year. Yolanda Adams, Fantasia and Andra Day gathered their voices to sing some of the songs of the deceased.

Read also: What did Aretha Franklin leave us?

Finally, there was also a Latin presence in this Grammy award. Those responsible for opening the ceremony were the Colombian J Balvin, the Puerto Rican Ricky Martin and the American with Cuban ancestry Camila Cabello. The reggaeton made his entrance reading a newspaper on a bench on the stage that said: "Build bridges, not walls ."

The bad

Among the downside of this version of the Grammy is the absence of some of the most important artists of music who were nominated and who even won prizes. Ariana Grande, who won Best Pop Vocal Album, did not attend the ceremony due to differences with the Grammy producers. However, she showed from her Instagram account the dress she had worn and thanked her for her first Grammy. The rapper Kendrick Lamar, who had seven nominations also shone by his absence on this night of awards. Finally, the rapper Donald Glover, or Childish Gambino, did not attend the ceremony, even though he won one of the most important awards: Song of the Year. This would be the first time a rap wins in this category.

The producers of the ceremony also wanted to celebrate and pay homage to Motown Records, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. This label has been instrumental in the production and dissemination of American popular music, especially music made by black artists. Motown was interested since its inception in the visibility of black music in the United States and is already an institution in that sense within the industry. On this occasion, the tribute was made by Jennifer Lopez, which has been criticized because a black artist was not chosen for this tribute.

Read also: These are the songs nominated for the 2019 Academy Awards

The ugly

The Grammys had two ugly details. The first is not the fault of the prizes, but they became the stage for it. On the red carpet, it was official and confirmed that rapper Cardi B has returned with her ex-partner, the father of her daughter, Offset. The rapper, who had given many speeches of female empowerment after their separation caused by multiple infidelities of her partner, has now returned with the man who interrupted one of his concerts last year.

Finally, the singer Post Malone had to face technical difficulties in his presentation in collaboration with the band Red Hot Chilli Peppers, in which they wanted to unite the genres of rap and rock.

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Rodríguez Pabón

Translated from "Lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo de la entrega 61 de los Grammy"