What the 63rd Grammys say about the state of pop

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 63rd Grammys was as unprecedented and unusual as last year. Backdropped by the pandemic, the show was delayed and had to be taped in multiple locations in front of a bare bones audience. Echoing the public cries against injustice, standout performances by Mickey Guyton, DaBaby, and Lil Baby decried racism to the nation and to the Grammys—the academy made multiple public statements throughout the night promising to do better. The more light hearted performers played best against highly produced backdrops (Silk Sonic, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, and Taylor Swift), but others fell flat, lacking an audience reaction. Not unexpectedly, the Grammy awards ranged from predictable to jaw dropping. Notably, Beyoncé broke records: she now holds more Grammys than any other singer in history. And the major four categories —Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year — were all awarded to women. While the Grammy ceremony horse race can be as much a commentary on commercial worth as musical strengths, the ceremony has much to teach us about what pop music means in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Switched on Pop by Musicologist Nate Sloan.
0:15.4	And I'm a pretty tired songwriter, Charlie Harding.
0:18.2	It's 9.30 on a Sunday evening, which is about two hours later than either of us have stayed
0:24.0	up in many months.
0:26.4	And what we want to do tonight is summarize this most unprecedented Grammy ceremony.
0:31.9	Discuss some of the most memorable performances.
0:36.1	Dig into some of the biggest wins of the night and try and make sense of what this Grammy's
0:44.0	tells us about the state of music today at a most unusual time.
0:50.4	I feel like doing Grammy Coverage is always a little strange for us because we so much
0:55.6	enjoy diving into the music of things.
0:59.1	And the Grammy's is this bizarre institution that is as muddled in popularity, commerce,
1:08.5	lots of issues of institutional racism, sexism, it's all in there.
1:13.2	Yet it's also this night that is incredibly important for the performers who are playing
1:19.6	there as well as the artists who are nominated.
1:22.1	And so I feel like what I want to do is sort of like pay respect to them, right?
1:26.8	Those for whom this event is really important.
1:28.7	And try to get a sense of like, yeah, what went on here?
1:31.5	You know, it is more of a concert than it is an award show.
1:38.5	It's just a concert where they happen to hand out a couple of awards.
1:41.2	I'm curious from your perspective, were there any standout performances or maybe some
1:46.5	that might even didn't quite land?
1:48.8	One of the performances that stood out in a good way for me was actually by an act that
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