Photo Credit: Larry Busacca/WireImage.com
The Grammys, music’s biggest night. The Album of the Year award was coming up. I thought that Taylor Swift would win. Her nominated album, Red, had an amazing year. But I was wrong. Dressed as robots, the French dance-pop band Daft Punk walked up to the stage to accept the coveted award for Album of the Year.
The definition of the Album of the Year award at the Grammys is “to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position.” This year at the 2014 Grammy Awards, Daft Punk won the award. You may know their music by their smash single, “Get Lucky”. It is a song about drinking and partying, hence the lyric, “So let’s raise the bar, and our cups to the stars… We’re up all night to get lucky.”
I’m sorry, but when did partying become artistic achievement?
If you didn’t know, Daft Punk’s music is purely dance music, the music that is played in nightclubs. Each song on Random Access Memories is electronic and technical sounding. There is no contrast. Every song sounds the same.
The group does not even sing on their album. They recruited other artists, such as Pharrell Williams, to do that for them. The tracks that don’t have other singers sound like karaoke sing-a-longs. Only one word is repeated on each track. They did not write one lyric on that album. And you’re telling me that this piece of music won an award previously won by musical legends such as Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, and Whitney Houston?
In my personal opinion, the album that should have won this year’s award is Taylor Swift’s “Red” album. The album has a variety of music, all written, composed, and produced by Taylor Swift. The album contains genres that range from country, pop, dubstep, and folk. Each song is written or co-written by Taylor.
Taylor Swift has been writing her own music since she was 12 years old. She writes or co-writes every song that she has released. Taylor plays four instruments: the banjitar (banjo-guitar) acoustic and electric guitars, piano, and harp. This is what the Album of the Year award should be about. These Daft Punks only use technical sounds and disc jockeys (what dj’s use) to make their “music”.
Taylor Swift’s songs are inspiring. Sure, she may have many songs about breakups, but it’s her way to cope with the emotions that she feels. At least her music is relatable. You can’t tell me that you haven’t sang along with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” at least once.
Taylor’s song-writing is impeccable. In her song “All Too Well” she says, “Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much, maybe this thing was a masterpiece ‘till you tore it all up.” If you’ve been through a loss of someone you loved, you must have felt these emotions at some point. Can you relate to a song that says “give life to music… let the music in tonight”?
Many award shows these days give the big-ticket awards to popular artists just to capture viewers. What happened to real music? We can’t let techno-dance music keep winning awards like this. America, wake up! This music is what your children will be listening to. Do you really want your little sibling walking around the house saying “I’m up all night to get lucky” ?
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