Photo: WENN.com
One of the biggest nights in music, the 54th Grammy Awards was filled with headline worthy moments. The main story outside of the awards was the tragic death of singer Whitney Houston, however the backlash against Bon Iver and encouragement of Chris Brown’s horrendous behaviour have also made the news.
Looking at the nominees of the Grammys, new artists hardly got a look in with the majority of the awards dominated by just a few musicians. However there is one act that did get more than a nod of approval at this year’s award ceremony. Bon Iver walked away from the Grammys with two awards, beating Nicki Minaj and Skrillex for ‘Best New Artist’, and Radiohead and Foster The People to claim the ‘Best Alternative Album’ award.
Moments after Bon Iver won their awards, the televised showing of the Grammys led thousands to complain over social networking site Twitter. While many asked who ‘Bonny Bear’ was, mishearing Bon Iver’s name on the show, others were outraged that he won ‘Best New Artist’. If those complaining about his recognition had of know that even his nomination was a bit strange given that his first album came out four years ago, then all internet hell would have surely been let loose.
As it stands Bon Iver beat off competition from Nicki Minaj who recently performed with Madonna at the Super Bowl and Skrillex who has an equally large following. As a major award ceremony the Grammy’s is usually shameless in its promotion of artists who are already known all around the world. Perhaps Bon Iver are bigger than most would realise, the band are also up for two BRIT Awards. Either way, it should be celebrated that an artist who hasn’t either been around for decades or stayed in the number one spot for the last year has been brought to a new audience and celebrated by a panel of music experts.
On the other side of the Grammys news is Chris Brown who won an award for ‘Best R&B Album’. Many were completely opposed to Chris Brown even being allowed near the award ceremony after he beat then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, let alone being asked to perform and the celebrated with an award. It was seen that his return to the award ceremony was a comeback, not the tail between his legs affair that it should have been. Seated on the opposite side of the Grammys venue to Rihanna, the rapper was on his best behaviour the entire evening. While many might suggest that Brown is currently serving his sentence for his crime through the American justice system, and should be allowed to continue his career there is a voice to be made for those who don’t think it will ever be right for him to return to the Grammy’s.
Sickening the story further, Twitter was full of encouragement and sick jest while Brown performed at this year’s Grammy award ceremony. While Rihanna and Chris Brown are rumoured to be dating each other again, there seems to be yet more controversy spilling from the year’s Grammy awards ceremony.
