As I am sure most of you know by now, this past Sunday night held host to the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, awards presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the music industry. It is a celebration of the highlights in music for the past year. The performances this year were abundant and widespread, from new R&B star SZA to the odd duet of Miley Cyrus and the fabulous Elton John. However, a few stood out to me and I plan to touch specifically on those in this article.

My Favorite:

Kendrick Lamar opened the show with one of the most attention grabbing performances I have every witnessed. Loud, dramatic drums and energetic, purposeful background dancing accompanying a melody of Kendrick verses is a great performance, let alone the fact that he enlisted the mighty Dave Chappelle as a source of comic relief in the midst of his self-proclaimed “satire.”. I personally loved everything about it, and it felt like this mashup of everything he has been working on during his extremely successful career.

The Best:

I will say every time Logic performs “1-800-273-8255” with Alessia Cara and Khalid I get chills, but for these circumstances, Kesha’s gut-wrenching shouting of her hit song “Praying”, about her experience with sexual abuse, sent shockwaves through everyone who watched it, and rightfully so. It is so honest, open, and gut wrenching, especially with the “Me Too” movement creating more and more support for people to speak out against sexual assault, abuse, and all other forms of sexual misconduct. It is the moment Kesha deserved on the platform she deserved.

Every year there are albums, songs, and artists who claim to have been snubbed from a nomination for particular awards, and equally as common, fans go up in arms if the winner is decided to be someone other than who they deemed deserving. Now, I do not know exactly how the awards are determined, and often times it seems extremely arbitrary and annoyingly predictable, so I understand the complaints of fans. So I am making it my job to be the voice for those who feel cheated. I’ll focus on three main snubs, “Album of the Yea,r” “Pop Solo Performance,” and “Best New Artist. ”

Album of the Year:

Winner: “24K Magic”-Bruno Mars

Snub: “DAMN.”-Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick won a whole bunch of awards Sunday night. But, so did Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars did exactly what he does so well, create a fun, enjoyable album which anyone can listen to and dance to. While maybe slightly more successful commercially, 24K Magic does not carry the meaning and significance which DAMN. does. Kendrick is no rookie to snubs, but I think a lot of rap and hip/hop fans thought this would be the year he reigned supreme, with arguably the most meaningful award.

Pop Solo Performance:

Winner: “Shape of You”-Ed Sheeran

Snub: “Praying”- Kesha

Kesha deserved this. Hands down. Ed Sheeran is good and all but I truly do not see how anyone could argue that he earned this award over Kesha. More than just a catchy song, “Praying” possesses a purpose and tells a heart breaking story. Its empowering nature makes it seem like a perfect winner.

Best New Artist

Winner: Alessia Cara

Snub: SZA/Khalid

This is a snub solely because Alessia Cara technically broke out in 2015  with her hit song “Here”. So in that case, this award belonged to either SZA, whose album “CNTRL” is as good as any other album released this year, or, my personal favorite, Khalid. His debut album “American Teen” is just a flat out good, fun listen and has the commercial success to make him a Grammy winner. I would be satisfied with either of these two though, so I’ll leave that up to you.

All in all, I enjoy the Grammys. They are a reminder of all the good music which is constantly being released. Here’s to an even better Grammys in 2019.