A million op-eds have been written about Kanye West’s stunt during the televised portion of the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. For a second time, he couldn’t seem to fight his urge to spoil another artist’s moment. Despite stopping himself from going as far as he did with Taylor Swift in 2009, West took his rant to the biggest mouths in entertainment news, E, backstage to explain why he left his seat during Beck’s acceptance speech for his “Album of The Year” award. It seems that West still has an issue with Grammy’s lack of recognition of Beyonce.
Op-eds are strictly personal opinions and I have multiple on this, starting with the fact that Beck deserved the award. He’s been in the music game since his teens in the 80s. He had his first major hit 20 years ago. He has released a full dozen albums over two decades. He doesn’t rely on fancy costumes or big production numbers to present his music. His music videos are dark and more artsy than edgy. He definitely doesn’t need to play the sex card to get his message across. The guy has street cred and proves his artistry-over-commercialism on a daily basis. Did he deserve the award? Absolutely!
Next — Beyonce did not have a new album in 2014. Sorry but re-releases don’t count in this discussion. Beck actually put out a new record, with new songs, that he wrote last year. So this round also goes to Beck.
But let’s just talk about Mrs. Carter for a moment. Beyonce has created the Sasha Fierce persona. She considers herself a feminist and fights the good fight not just for females but for females of color. She is an incredibly successful business woman, married to an equally business savvy man and she is being a great mom at the moment. She’s a tough chick and I respect her for that. So don’t you think for just a second, that if she has an issue with how she is treated by the Grammy Committee that she’d get up and have her own say about it? But see, that’s the thing. Bey is a classy broad. She puts up and shuts up. Rather than get her panties in a knot over a little gramophone trophy that isn’t going to get her a better recording contract or a better tour schedule, she just goes out there and continues to make music. Beyonce and hundreds of other musicians who will never set foot on the Grammy stage, just keep working their butts off doing what they love. And they will keep on doing it because…who needs another dust-catcher in the house? The trophies they seek to add to their shelves are gold and platinum records that show how much actual music fans like their art and are also a nice receipt for the money it adds to their bank accounts so they can actually survive living on their art.
So Beyonce proves she is a real lady, a true professional, a grown-up and just plain holds onto the manners her parents taught her. She also has her own husband, if we want to get a little cavemannish here, who can stick up for her. Jay Z has been around the bend a few times and he loves his wife. So if he has that much of a problem with the Grammys, wouldn’t he be one to stand up and say something? And what really annoyed me on this point was that not only did West usurp another man’s chance to defend his spouse, he did it in front of said husband. It would come as no surprise if Jay Z feels more than a little offended and would be well within his rights to at least call West out for this faux pas.
Why Beck? If West was being sensible he’d go after an artist in the same genre/category as Beyonce. Beck is not a pop artist. At least West got that part right when he intimidated Swift. Why didn’t West rush the stage when Pharrell received his award for “Happy”? Bey’ released 5 singles in 2014, none of which won. That would have been a fair match-up and Pharrell, although not televised, also nabbed an award for an album in the Urban category. Or maybe West could have done his thing in the middle of Tony Bennett and GaGa’s performance because they won for Best Traditional Pop album. Or he could have “gone big or gone home” and just taken on the wunderkind of the night and hopped on stage during one of Sam Smith’s multiple tearful acceptance speeches. Plus, why go after artists? They have no control who the Grammy members vote for. His beef should be with the organization who determines the nominees and voters not the recipients.
West just released a new album himself. If he is, justifiably, ticked off at his label for not releasing it in time to be eligible for a Grammy this time around then why not take the opportunity to exploit camera time, both in the auditorium and backstage with the press corps, to disrespect the label and promote his new record? I mean, come on, with an ego as huge as his, shouldn’t his first concern be for his own career? What about his artistry?
When all was said and done, my take-away was that Kanye West is an immature, unprofessional prat who has a schoolboy crush on Beyonce that is so strong he’s not afraid to show it in front of her husband and his wife. He also, apparently, cannot seem to figure out how “singer-songwriter” equals artist and artistry. Again, if he wants to compare apples to apples…he should be up there defending his own career considering he has written well over a hundred songs himself including ones for Beyonce. In conclusion, West has come away looking like a pathetic, love-struck, ego-maniacal child instead of a credible artist. It really is rather a sad statement.
