taylor swift

Grammys in Your Jammies 2016

Anna Blankenheim Music, Television , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tonight I continue the tradition of watching the Grammys and live blogging – I’ll be updating throughout the show, so check back frequently for updates!

For the 5th year in a row, LL Cool J is hosting. I’ve said before, I love him as a host and can’t wait to see what he has in store this year!

We’ve lost quite a few of my favorite composers and musicians this year… I can’t wait to see how they honor them!

The Clothes

  • LL Cool J’s suit: he seriously has the best style! Loved the simple tux with the cool LL lapel pin.
  • Carrie Underwood‘s performance dress: it was so pretty and feminine! I loved the flowy bottom and fitted top!
  • Ariana Grande: Her dress was really pretty! Love a good red dress!
  • Selena Gomez: I wanted to like her dress, but it did something weird to her boobs. It needed a little more life!
  • Cam: The yellow dress. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
  • Demi Lovato: Her simple black slacks with white blazer was stunning! She looked great!
  • Karen Fairchild’s (Little Big Town) all black ensemble: Was it pants? Was it a dress? We may never know. It was an awesome combination and I loved the black leather/lace combination!
  • Anna Kendrick: First of all, I loved her simple black dress with the halter top. Stunning. Also, if you need a good laugh, follow her on Twitter.
  • Bruno Mars: loved his purple hat and jacket!
  • Adele: that dress. She is so classy!
  • Beyonce: Ugh… I don’t like this one. Is it old fashioned? Is it not? Is it see through? Not my cup of tea.

The Performances

  • Taylor Swift: I honestly think I like her better as a pop singer than I did as a country singer. She still has the awesome lyrics, high energy performances, and fun feeling, but it fits much better in a pop setting. I’m not going to pretend like she’s the best singer ever, but it feels more honest now.
  • Carrie Underwood & Sam Hunt: I loved the way they wove their songs together – I love “Take Your Time” and, of course, “Heartbeat“, one of my favorites from her latest album.
  • The Weeknd: The man can sing, has great style, and I loved the section of him singing accompanied by just a cello and piano.
  • Andra Day and Ellie Goulding: I hadn’t heard much of Andra Day, but absolutely LOVED her performance. What a stunning voice and really great control! I’m not a huge Ellie Goulding fan, but their duet actually worked!
  • John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, Tyrese: Tribute to Lionel Ritchie (Person of the Year). I love me some John Legend – like a lot. John Legend singing “Easy” is near perfection. He’s on my concert bucket list – I must see him! Demi Lovato did a great job on “Hello“… I was impressed! Luke Bryan was an odd pick for me on this one, but I think he held his own. Meghan Trainor was just ok for me too… I wasn’t totally in love with her version, but did like her new hair. Tyrese’s “Brick House” was ok as well. I loved that they brough Lionel Ritchie up to sing “All Night Long (All Night)“!!!
  • Little Big Town: They are seriously one of my favorite bands ever… I love the harmonies, the songs, and just about everything they do. This version of “Girl Crush“, complete with classical string backup was absolutely amazing!
  • Stevie Wonder & Pentatonics: Tribute to Maurice White – seriously, is there anything Pentatonics aren’t doing these days? They’re awesome!
  • The Eagles & Jackson Browne: My heart still hurts that Glenn Frey is gone… I can’t imagine that this performance was easy for any of the band, but there’s no better way to honor him than a little “Take It Easy“. They kept with the style of the Eagles – simple, harmonies, pure. Well done.
  • Tori Kelly & James Bay: Their acoustic duet was really nice. I love people that stand and sing at each other. Both have amazing voices!
  • The cast of Hamilton: So this is new… a live Broadway performance in the middle of the Grammys! Definitely a musical I’d like to see! They performed the opening number “Alexander Hamilton”.
  • Kendrick Lamar: I liked the jailhouse theme followed by the African bonfire… such a cool stage setup!
  • Miguel: I absolutely love “She’s Out of My Life“… and Miguel did a really great job with it!
  • Adele: Bruno Mars introduced her and mentioned that he helped write “All I Ask“… which makes me love it even more. It’s an amazing song with the most beautiful lyrics. I wish I was blessed with a voice like her… I could listen to her sing the alphabet!
  • Justin Beiber, Diplo, & Skrillex: I just can’t even.
  • Lady Gaga: Tribute to David Bowie. I am a little biased in that I work for Intel and we’ve partnered with Lady Gaga for this performance – so cool to see technology used in such a unique way! I could not have picked a better person to pay homage to David Bowie… Lady Gaga really did him justice! For me, this was one of the best performances of the night!
  • Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr, & Bonnie Raitt: Tribute to B.B. King. I absolutely love Chris Stapleton and think he was the perfect pick for a tribute like this. I am not super familiar with Gary Clark Jr, but absolutely love him after this performance! And you can’t go wrong with some Bonnie Raitt! Their performance reminded me of Mike and I sitting in a little bar on Beale Street in Memphis… perfect blues!
  • Alabama Shakes: I’m still a little peeved that they won best rock band over the Foos, but I can’t fault their music – they have a cool sound!
  • The Hollywood Vampires: Just when you think you can’t love Johnny Depp any more, he joins a band with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. This is rock!!!
  • Pitbull, Robin Thicke, Joe Perry, & Travis Barker: Pitbull’s performances are just always so fun and totally make me want to dance!

They Got Robbed!

  • Little Big Town: They should have won song of the year for “Girl Crush”. Period. And why does Taylor Swift always lose her shit, even when she doesn’t win? She can’t be that happy for Ed Sheeran…
  • The Foo Fighters: honestly, none of the other people in that category are rock bands!!! Are you kidding me?
  • Chris Stapleton: Let’s be real, he didn’t stand a chance against Taylor Swift in the best album category, but musically, he should have won. By a lot.

Grammys in Your Jammies 2014

Anna Blankenheim Music, Television , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another year, another night of me staying up past my bedtime and blogging about music’s biggest night in my jammies. I’ll be blogging live throughout the night… check back for updates! LL Cool J is hosting again this year… I love him! Mike noticed something very interesting about the direction of music – they don’t even televise the best rock album award anymore… sort of sad that we’re so focused on pop that we’re willing to completely marginalize other genres.

I love love love that they’re giving the Music Educator of the Year Grammy Award. This year the winner was Kent Knappenberger. I really wish they would have given it to him live on TV rather than just pointing him out to the audience! I know that my early music educators (along with my parents) were major influences in my life!

The Clothes

  • LL Cool J’s purple velvet suit. LOVE it.
  • Anna Kendrick’s white dress – I can’t decide if I like it or don’t. I love the sexy cutouts, but think that the top makes her look like she squished her boobs down.
  • Krist Novoselic’s 1860’s western inspired suit. Love it!
  • Julia Roberts’ little lacy black dress. What an amazing dress!
  • Zac Brown’s beanie. Just because it’s everywhere, even with a suit.
  • Mary Lambert’s red dress. I seriously love this dress. Modest coverage, beautiful sparkle, great shape!

The Performances

  • Beyoncé & Jay-Z: Wow… that was a very sexy performance of “Drunk in Love“. It was a bit of a strange song and strange performance, but she pulled it off without being trashy… Miley Cyrus, take note. I love me some Jay-Z… this was a great collaboration! Take note both Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke. Just sayin’.
  • Lorde: I love love love “Royals“. Her jerky performance was a little weird, but I’ll chalk it up to being moved by the music. Still can’t believe that voice comes out of a 17-year-old!
  • Hunter Hays: “Invisible” is his new song and is very moving. That said, every time I think I’m starting to really like him (I sing along with the radio) I see a live performance and it seems to just fall flat. It feels like he’s trying way too hard and that it’s really difficult for him to get some of those notes out.
  • Katy Perry: While I’m not the biggest fan of her music, I loved her performance of “Dark Horse“. I like the dark, magical aspect of the staging and loved the crystal ball part at the beginning. Very clever with the “burning at the stake” at the end. She might be someone I go see just to see the performance aspect of her show!
  • Robin Thicke & Chicago: This was a much better performance by Robin Thicke… he needs to get past all of this Miley Cyrus crap and get back to singing. They performed a medley of Chicago songs and then broke into “Blurred Lines” which sounded amazing with the Chicago horn line!
  • Keith Urban & Gary Clark Jr.: This was a great pairing on “Cop Car” – I haven’t heard of Gary Clark Jr before but love his bluesy, mellow voice and mad guitar skills. Keith Urban never fails to delight me with his kick ass guitar playing!
  • John Legend: I love his voice… he’s definitely on my list of people to see live. “All of Me” is such an amazing song… beyond the beautiful lyrics, the chord progressions and dissonance is stunning.
  • Taylor Swift: She’s still a pretty terrible live singer (I did love her acoustic version of “Red” at the ACMs) but her dress during “All Too Well” was amazing! I hated her awkward head banging while playing the piano… it always feels like she’s trying a bit too hard. Plus, I’m getting tired of her teenage angst songs… it’s time to grow up Taylor and move on to some adult content.
  • P!nk & Nate Ruess: Ever since seeing her live a few years back, I’ve absolutely loved P!nk… she is an amazing singer and her performances are always acrobatic and entertaining. I love “Just Give Me A Reason” and am blown away by Nate’s voice.
  • Ringo Starr: Ok, this will get me in a lot of trouble, but I just have such a hard time getting on board with the whole Beatles are the best thing ever thing. Ringo Starr even less so… he has a very limited vocal range and honestly I don’t get what all the hoopla around “Photograph” is.
  • Kendrick Lamar & Imagine Dragons: While it’s great that Taylor Swift loved their performance and rocked out in the front row, it’s kind of sad that those of us at home listened to a bit of silence because every other word had to be bleeped. I really like Imagine Dragons and “Radioactive“, but to me it was a strange pairing.
  • Kacey Musgraves: I love love love her voice and I love “Follow Your Arrow“. I love that her music has that distinct “country” sound to it, but is fresh and young.
  • Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr: Honestly, I’m not even sure what “Queenie Eye” refers to. Not my favorite song, and I’m talking about the man who sang my wedding song (“Maybe I’m Amazed”). Not a great song or performance in my book.
  • Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, & Blake Shelton: Let me start by saying that I cannot wait to see Willie in a few months. Was this their best performances ever? Not by far. But these men are legends, absolute legends and it’s awesome to see them still playing and singing! They sang “The Highwayman”, “Okie from Muskogee“, and “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys“. Freaking amazing.
  • Daft Punk, Pharell, & Stevie Wonder: WTF? I don’t get it. “Get Lucky” is a catchy tune, but I don’t understand the whole Daft Punk thing and it felt like they ran out of places to stick Stevie.
  • Sara Bareilles & Carole King: This was a great matchup. I love how excited to sing Sara Bareilles looked to sing and play with Carole King. I love the song “Brave” and thought they really complimented each other.
  • Metallica & Lang Lang: Let me state the obvious. Lang Lang can freaking play piano. What a cool way to intro “One“. And it just goes to show that excellent musicianship translates across genres – from classical to heavy metal. Very cool to see the interaction between them!
  • Macklemore, Queen Latifah, & Madonna: I think “Same Love” is such a wonderful song. Gay, straight, religious, not, fat, skinny, it’s all the same. Interesting choice to marry a bunch of folks on TV (gay and straight) and then have Madonna come out to sing. But whatever… point made, I guess.
  • Miranda Lambert & Billie Joe Armstrong: These two did a great little tribute to the Everly Brothers with “When Will I Be Loved”.
  • Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Lindsey Buckingham, & Dave Grohl: First things first – Lindsey Buckingham can PLAY guitar. This was a rockin’ little medley that was the perfect finish to the show. Or would have been. They cut the end of the performance with commercials. Terrible.

They Got Robbed!!!

  • Kacey Musgraves: Seriously. Way better music than any of the other folks in the best new artist category. Her album is absolutely amazing! However, her winning best country album, beating Taylor Swift, was awesome.
  • Everyone else in the best pop duo category. Serious, Daft Punk & Pharell over JT & Jay-Z? Or P!nk and Nate Ruess? Lame.
  • Macklemore: I love “Royals” but don’t think it should have won song of the year over “Same Love“.
  • Everyone else in the record of the year and album of the year – again, I don’t get the Daft Punk thing and I definitely don’t think that was the best recorded song of the year.

Favorite Song Friday – “Red”

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , , ,

Over the past year or so, I’ve begun to doubt Taylor Swift. Her music has become more and more pop, which is fine, but then it makes me mad when she wins country awards. Not to mention she’s not exactly amazing live.

My thoughts about her changed a little bit with her performance of “Red” on the Country Music Awards a couple of weeks ago. I’ve liked the song from the beginning with all of its great color references.

Losing him was blue like I’d never known
Missing him was dark grey all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you’ve never met
But  loving him was red
Loving him was red

This acoustic, harmonized version featuring Allison Krauss and Vince Gill is absolutely stunning and I can’t get enough of it! Happy Friday!

Favorite Song Friday – “Highway Don’t Care”

Anna Blankenheim Music , , , ,

So, there’s something really interesting about Tim McGraw… most of the time when I first hear one of his songs, I hate it. Then, I listen again and it grows on me. This was compounded on “Highway Don’t Care” because I’m sort of over Taylor Swift, but she sings that terribly catchy hook (“I can’t live without you, I can’t love without you bayyyyybayyyyy”) that I just can’t get out of my head. Now I find myself singing along every time I hear it!

I love the guitar work at the end of the song… lo and behold, it’s Keith Urban wailing away. It sounds very Journey-ish!

I don’t think they have a music video out yet, so here is the ACM awards earlier this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv52GOdx1tg

Grammys in Your Jammies 2013

Anna Blankenheim Music, Television , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As most of you know, it’s an annual tradition for me to camp out on the sofa, stay up past my bedtime, and watch the Grammys. This year was no exception. This year was surrounded by a little bit of controversy… Apparently the attendees got a note asking them to make sure that they were well dressed… no side boob, butt crack, etc. If you’ve ever watched the Grammys, you’ll know that the attendees tend to be a bit fashion forward at this event – it’s part of what makes it so fun! Without further ado, here are my thoughts!

 

The Clothes
LL Cool J: the man looks good. I love a good newsboy cap and somehow he can make it work with a tux.
Jennifer Lopez: I love that she started with “As you can see, I read the memo”. That was a lot of leg!
Adele: I didn’t totally love her red dress… Apparently she did read the memo and covered everything up. Her speech was cute though!
John Mayer: Was that seriously a velvet blue tux?
Carrie Underwood: Her dress was STUNNING. She looks so good! I want to be her.
Kelly Roland: Apparently she didn’t get the memo either… Her dress was an odd mix of sheer and shapes.
Kelly Clarkson: Her performance dress was beautiful – simple black with a beaded band at the waist. Very elegant!
Prince: ‘nough said.

 

The Performances
Taylor Swift: Not really sure what this performance was about. I love “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” because it’s pretty much been stuck in my head since she released it. But I don’t understand the circus bit…
Elton John and Ed Sheeran: Honestly, Elton John can do no wrong in my book. They sang Sheeran’s song “A Team” which I keep thinking is a Jason Mraz song every time I hear it (which is good by the way).
fun.: These guys are amazing. Nate Ruess, their frontman has a phenomenal voice. They sang “Carry On” which they absolutely killed it!
Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley: I am beyond excited to be seeing these two in just a couple months. They sang “Over You” and “Home”. This was a good, mellow performance… I can’t wait to see them rock!
Miguel and Wiz Khalifa: They sang “Adorn”. I don’t think I have hear Miguel before, but he’s got a pretty good voice. I like how smooth his voice is.
Mumford & Sons: OMG, I love these guys. Like a lot. And I love “I Will Wait For You”. I have no idea how Marcus Mumford manages to play guitar, sing, and play drums with his feet all at the same time. I seriously hope they come to NorCal sometime soon!!!
Justin Timberlake: “Suit and Tie” is really starting to grow on me. Lets not lie, I will be first in line to see JT when he goes on tour again. As always, he is a great performer. I love that he has Jay-Z rap in his song too… It feels like he got longer on the show than on the recorded song (I felt like it was really short on the record).
Alisha Keys and Maroon 5: I really like “Daylight” and thought it was a good choice for the show. I loved that Alisha Keys played the drums on “Girl On Fire”. It was a great duet with her and Adam Levine – I loved the mash up of the two songs.
Rihanna: She sang a song called “Stay” with a guy no one knew (songwriter Mikky Ekko). I normally can’t stand her, but actually really liked this song and performance.
Dr. John, The Black Keys, and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band: This was a pretty cool combination of musicians. They performed “Lonely Boy” but I wished they would have let the jazz band have a little solo.
Kelly Clarkson: I loved her performance of “Tennessee Waltz”. I’ve loved her since she was on “American Idol” and think she’s only gotten better over the last 10 years. She sang “Natural Woman” on Idol (remember the crazy high part?!) and did a great job on this version too.
Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna, Damian Marley, & Ziggy Marley: I think he’s so talented and love his music. “Locked Out of Heaven” was a great pick for the show! It was neat to have Sting sing and play with him too! That led nicely into the Bob Marley tribute.
The Lumineers: Their catchy tune “Hey Ho” was a great intro to Jack White.
Jack White: His music is so creepy and great! I love seeing him perform – it’s captivating! The whole jam session around the piano thing was really neat!
Hunter Hayes: “Wanted” has been growing on me and it makes me happy to know he can actually sing!
Carrie Underwood: “Blown Away” is not my favorite song she does, but she rocked it. She wore another beautiful dress – a great grey/blue couture frock. I loved “Two Black Cadillacs” – it’s one of my favorites on her newest album. I thought it was interesting how they used her dress to project light, shapes and patterns.
Elton John, the Zac Brown Band, Mavis Staples, Mumford & Sons: Zac Brown kicked off the tribute with “The Weight”. Hearing Marcus Mumford and Elton John jump in was great. Levon Helm would have loved the tribute – a great collaboration!
Frank Ocean: He sang a song called “Forrest Gump” that was pretty, but a little odd. He has a pretty good voice, but the song repeats Forrest Gump just a few too many times.it’s like the story of the movie but in a song and with something about a cigarette burning his fingers.

LL Cool J, Chuck D, Travis Barker, Tom Morello and DJ Z-Trip: This was  very raucous perfomance (geez, Travis Barker can play the drums) and had a great little tribute to MCA. Not the best finish every to the Grammys, but a good one none the less.

 

They Got Robbed!
“Stronger” Writers: If you listen to the lyrics, it’ really a great song… I do like “We Are Young”, but think “Stronger” is a much better song.
Mumford & Sons: I think they seriously deserved to win best rock performance… I like the Black Keys, but I think M&S should have won! They did win album of the year over BK, so that makes up for it a little bit.
Everyone in the pop vocal album category: Kelly Clarkson totally deserved it, but what a category!!! There were some serious contenders!

I was really excited that they’re going to start giving the Music Educator of the Year award next year. While my music was encouraged by my parents at a very young age, I can think of several teachers (Mr. G, Mr. Hodge, Dr. Adler and Stephanie my vocal instructor) who helped teach, encourage, and inspire me along the way. This is going to be a great award!