The Grammys’ Biggest Missed Opportunities

This week households nationwide witnessed music and television become one, the mother of all music shows, the Oscars of music, the 56^th annual Grammy Awards… but were audiences left unfulfilled?

The Grammys are supposed to be the highlight event of the music world, where fantastic and unexpected performances take place and make audiences beg for more! Sadly, last night wasn’t one of those events as the music awards show had various missed opportunities.

Yes, there were mind-blowing performances like Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons, and Metallica and classical pianist Lang Lang. But among those were also some crappy ones like, everyone with a piano, and Robin Thicke and Chicago, which could have been tweaked or completely replaced by others. Here are the three performances that the Grammys should have done to make the show larger-than-life, or at least better.   

What the hell was Madonna doing?

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One of the best and undoubtedly most emotional performances was when Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took the stage with Mary Lambert for “Same Love.” Then, mid-song the oh-so-fabulous Queen Latifah walks through chapel-like doors in the background to officiate the weddings of 33 couples –both gay and straight.  How amazing would it have been, if the ex-rapper had thrown in an old school spin with a verse from her award-winning song “U.N.I.T.Y” – which although talks about the relationship between black men and women, it has an overall message of respect, acceptance and love. Instead, we got Madonna trying to steal the show as she poorly sang “Open Your Heart,” highly underwhelming.

The biggest news in hip-hop drops and the Grammys fail to incorporate it.

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Basically, why was Outkast not even a small part of this whole show? Their comeback is huge and it was one of the main reasons that Coachella, annual music festival in Indio Valley, California, sold out in record time – 2 hours and 37 minutes, according to Consequence of Sound. People are obviously excited about the reunion of the coolest, most eclectic and experimental rap duo in rap music and so should have been invited perform, or at least present in some way.

If it’s in Spanish it’s not music?

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Music is diverse in origin, sound and language. When it comes to awards season, many different genres should be gathered under one roof and celebrated as equals, unfortunately, that is not what happened last night. It is obviously hard for the Recording Academy to recognize all types of music, but let’s be mindful that the Latin culture is not only an integral part of the American culture of today, but Latino audiences are ever-growing and hold more consumer power in the U.S each year. So then why were we not fairly included during the main telecasted event? Sure the Grammys had Juanes, Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony as presenters, as well as Target commercials featuring the Prince Royce and Shakira albums, but are Latinos supposed to be satisfied with that? NO! We should have at least had one category that included a Latin song, album or artist or a live performance during the show. Marc Anthony singing “Vivir Mi Vida” would have been the perfect performance because he is an American recognized by both Latinos and non-Latinos, his album “3.0” was nominated for “Best Tropical Latin Album,” and the addition of Cheb Khaled singing the original version, “C’est La Vie,” would have had everyone on their feet.

Are there any other missed opportunities the Grammys had last night? Share your thoughts in the comments below.