Meanwhile at the Grammy's

CAN anyone tell me who Arcade Fire is? Magaling ba sila talaga? They won Album of the Year for The Suburbs at last night's Grammy Awards and I'm shocked that 'with-it' gal me hasn't heard of them. (OA! ;p I'm so not with-it I actually thought the band's name was The Suburbs! haha.) Of course I was rooting for Lady Gaga's Fame Monster and Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. These two artists have been the brightest lights in the US pop scene, especially the former - a really fantastic and intelligent performer.

I was mildly taken aback by Katy's live performance though. I cringed as her singing went off-pitch several times; if it were an audition at the American Idol, Simon Cowell would've probably trashed her.

(Lady Gaga's Fame Monster wins Best Pop Vocal Album of the Year at the Grammys. Photo from www.glamourvanity.com".)

Anyway, I'm glad that Gaga won for Best Pop Vocal album, despite her rambling thoughts about Whitney Huston, hehe. Again, in this category, I was rooting for either her or Katy.

The most fun performance of the night, I thought was by Cee Lo Green, who looked like he plucked out all the feathers of the NBC Peacock and wore 'em (good for him, the Grammy's were on CBS), w/ a flashy headdress/skullcap(?) to boot. He and actress Gwyneth Paltrow sang his popular 'F*** you!' with some muppets as back-up singers and musicians.



As you know, Gwyneth sang the GP rated version of his song ('Forget You!') on a recent episode of Glee. She's got some pipes, mind you. But she was a bit stiff, unable to really shake her booty (unlike those muppets!) no doubt due to her killer heels from Christian Louboutin. Anyhoo, that Cee Lo performance appeared to be an homage (or a rip-off) of Elton John's gig on The Muppet Show in 1977, where the latter sang Crocodile Rock, feathers, glittery skullcap and all. (Of course, the joke was Lady Gaga's egg hatched and out popped Cee Lo. haha!)

(Btw, in case you were wondering, this is what Gwyneth Paltrow was wearing at her performance at the Grammys - Christian Louboutin retro colorblock booties from the Spring 2011. Kaya nahirapan sumayaw ang ale, hehe.)

Another favorite performance was by Mick Jagger who sang some soul, and looked really fashionable in his threads. He may be an old dude, but he still is Mr. Cool.



But the biggest upset of the night was in the Best New Artist category, which everyone thought would be won by Justin Bieber. But sorry, biebettes, the lovely artist Esperanza Spalding took home the award. This lady is one of the best jazz singers/bassists today, although I was a bit surprised that she's still considered "new" since she's been around since 2007-2008? She even visited Manila and performed at the Philippine Jazzfest in 2009. Dunno if this is true but there were some tweets that Spalding's web site crashed soon after she won, perhaps due to the number of people googling who she was. (UPDATE: Apparently what happened was some of the Bieb's cheap loser fans sabotaged Spalding's wikipedia page. Tsk tsk.)


(Esperanza Spalding performing at the White House in Feb., 2009. Watch this and you'll understand why she beat the Biebs.)

Jazz rules. Always.

I protest!

TAYLOR Swift wins the Grammy's? WTF?! Are the judges all old futzballs with a crush on little girls who like to sing victim songs with a twang? Duh!

I was so rooting for Lady Gaga to win the Album of the Year of the award. With five no. 1 hits from The Fame CD, how could she lose out to that cutesy Taylor Swift? Lady Gaga is provocative, yes, but super-creative and such a brilliant performer. (I am so sorry I missed her show here in Manila.)


(Madonna and Lady Gaga at SNL. Sorry for the poor AV quality guys, but NBC had all the higher quality pulled out. Spoilsports!)

I may be treading on thin ice here and earn the ire of Madonna fans (I used to be one of them), but talbog na ang Lola nyo . Lady Gaga not only has a strong singing voice for her young age (w/c Madonna didn't have at that same age), but she is an accomplished pianist and dancer, prolific songwriter, and a genius in reinventing herself for each performance. Not to mention, she also is an intelligent girl, very articulate and doesn't take herself too seriously, except when working, as her interviews have shown. (Imagine, pati si Oprah and Barbra Walters naloka sa kanya? Haha!)

Anyhoo, Gaga performed beautifully at the opening of the Grammy's and got everyone all excited when she sang and played the piano w/ Sir Elton John, ang royal bading. Impressive!



I thought that was the best performance of the night already, until Pink took to the stage. I've always liked Pink's CDs bec. she always turns out strong songs w/c capture the spirit of independent women. Anyhoo, watch this. Pink sings, and twirls, and brings the house down.


(Clap for her!)

Ivylicious says she thinks Pink was lipsyncing bec. her voice didn't even break nor did she run out breath while twirling around. I think the lipsyncing could've been done when she was high up in the air, bec. the audience wouldn't notice it naman. Still it was a really standout performance, dontcha think? Hello Cirque de Soleil?

Going back to my original rant, I still don't like the fact that Taylor Swift won over Lady Gaga. Swift has the kind of voice and face that I want to stick a stoker to. Ick. Does this anything have to do w/ my disliking country music so much? You betcha! ;p