Politics and Music Come Together During The 60th Grammy Awards

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards, held on Sunday Night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, were full of performances and politics.

During the first performance featuring Kendrick Lamar, comedian Dave Chappelle kept cutting in the performance for comedy purposes that included a message on race. Kendrick Lamar was the night’s second biggest winner stepping away with five Grammy awards total.

“My favorite part about The Grammys were all the live performances such as Kesha, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, etc. It’s really cool to see everything they do and how to entertain the audience,” said freshman Sarah Fatzinger

James Corden, who hosted the Grammys for his second year, also weighed in on political issues through a comedic sketch including him, Hillary Clinton, and other celebrititites reading from “Fire and Fury.”  

Bruno Mars, who took home seven awards including record of the year, and Cardi B then performed their new song “Finesse Remix.” After the performance, Trevor Noah, host of the Daily Show, said, “I love that song. It takes me back, way back, to when Trump wasn’t president.”

“I loved seeing Bruno Mars take the win [for almost] every award because he has worked so hard especially this year. He deserves every award possible and I think that in order to achieve something you have to work your way up to a higher level of success just like Bruno Mars did and other nominees,” said freshman Katie Klein.

Then Camila Cabello came on stage to announce U2’s performance and said, “I’m a proud Cuban-Mexican immigrant, born in eastern Havana, standing in front of you on the Grammy stage in New York City, and all I know is, just like dreams, these kids can’t be forgotten and are worth fighting for.”

U2’s performance was a memorable performance singing underneath the Statue Of Liberty, trying to get a message across about immigrants.

Janelle Monae introduced Kesha by calling women to join together and support the #METoo movement. Kesha then performed “Praying” which is about her struggle with being sexually abused by her music producer Dr. Luke.

“The biggest message of the show to me was women’s rights because women matter and all the things that are happening in society today need to change,” said freshman Marie Garlich.

Ed Sheeran, who was up against Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Lady Gaga and Pink, won for best Pop Solo Performance for the song “Shape of You.” Lots of fans were mad that none of the women artists won.

“I know a lot of people thought that they [the Grammys] really didn’t support women because Ed Sheeran won best pop solo performance. I think all the nominees were good, so I’m not mad Ed Sheeran won,” said freshman Sarah Fatzinger

Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid performed “1-800-273-8255” to close out the night. The performance featured a group of people on stage wearing shirts that said “you are not alone” to support those struggling with suicidal thoughts and emotional distress. Logic gave a powerful speech after the performance about how people are beautiful and need to be themselves.

by Ellie Canizares, Side Dish Czar