| I like to write in Five Star multisubject, spiral-bound notebooks. And I use a Pilot Dr. Grip retractable ballpoint. I also like the Fisher Space Pen. It's what the astronauts use, and I like it because I can write upside down. | | | | | | | | "I like to write in Five Star multisubject, spiral-bound notebooks. And I use a Pilot Dr. Grip retractable ballpoint. I also like the Fisher Space Pen. It's what the astronauts use, and I like it because I can write upside down." | | | | Death by Committee
Over the years, the notorious secret committees that held controversial sway over GRAMMY AWARD nominations both giveth and taketh away. The complete snub of the WEEKND this year was widely seen as a case of the latter. But, as CHRIS WILLMAN points out in Variety, the same committees presumably were also responsible, for example, for the out-of-the-blue—and well-deserved—Album of the Year nomination for BRANDI CARLILE's BY THE WAY, I FORGIVE YOU at the 2019 Grammys, and quite possibly for the recognition of HAIM's WOMEN IN MUSIC PT. III this year. The committees made a lot of WTF choices, Willman writes, but among them were "a lot of *good* WTF choices."
After years of complaints, including from its own CEO less than two years ago—the RECORDING ACADEMY, at the time, kept the committees and got rid of the CEO—the Academy suddenly and decisively voted the committees, or at least most of them, out of existence on Friday. By and large they probably won't be missed. Superstar and big-event and widely acclaimed albums and singles by future TAYLOR SWIFTs and LIZZOs and KENDRICK LAMARs no doubt will continue to get recognized, and if WTFs like JACOB COLLIER's and COLDPLAY's most recent albums, both of which got 2021 nods, get passed over, it's hard to believe anyone will notice.
But was Friday's vote, which included a number of other tweaks to the nominating process, an overcorrection? When they were created in 1989—the year of JETHRO TULL's infamous hard rock/metal Grammy—the committees' purpose was to add a layer of vetting to the Grammy nominations, which are initially chosen by the Academy's entire voting membership, to make sure they didn't make the Academy look silly or out-of-touch. The Academy will continue to use them going forward in specialty categories including production, album packaging and historical recordings, while eliminating them for genre nominations (pop, R&B, rap, Latin, etc.) and the general categories like Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Might it have made sense to keep the committees, or some version of them, while working harder to root out the conflicts of interest and corruption that ex-CEO DEBORAH DUGAN and others complained about? Could they have been retained in a less active, more advisory, role? Or was it an easier, better choice to simply eliminate them and any stink associated with them, and to let the popular vote be the popular vote, no questions asked?
One oddity that always struck me in stories about how the committees worked was the image of committee members sitting in a room listening to all the albums put forward by the general membership and then winnowing the list of nominees down. Here's the Academy's current interim CEO, HARVEY MASON JR., explaining last November: "We listen to all the music—even an album, you're listening to almost the whole album, it takes I don't know how many hours. It's a long, arduous process and people take pride in it." That's not how normal people listen to music. Movies and books are generally designed to be understood in a single viewing or reading. Records, on the other hand, are meant to be absorbed over time. Music fans listen to singles and albums dozens of times over weeks, months and years, in headphones, in cars, at clubs, alone, with friends, etc. You can't listen to the Weeknd's AFTER HOURS once, in a conference room, or at home, or in a car on the way to the conference room, and know if it's Grammy-worthy or not. That's not how recorded music works. Recorded music is, almost by definition, an art of repetition.
Which is to say, maybe it wasn't a problem of conflicts or corruption or unnecessary meddling. Maybe they were just doing it wrong.
Word Up
Did little-known Petaluma, Calif., metal band DIG THE GRAVE get members of LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON, TRIVIUM, ANTHRAX and several other bands to be in its video—to, in fact, be the video—by buying their time on CAMEO? That appears to be the conclusion of the metal community, which gives the band's "ISO" video two well-deserved devil's horns. You are—admit it—mad at yourself for not thinking of this first.
Etc Etc Etc
LAURA SNAPES' profile of BILLIE EILISH for British Vogue serves as one more piece of confirmation, in case anyone needed it, that Eilish is as strong, insightful and self-aware a teenage pop star as we've seen in a long time. A fantastic read, covering some difficult territory... New buyer in town: TEMPO MUSIC INVESTMENTS, which is partnered with WARNER MUSIC and reportedly has $1 billion to play with, has bought catalog rights (paywall) from the JONAS BROTHERS, FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, WIZ KHALIFA, JEFF BHASKER, SHANE MCANALLY and others... Nine-year-old DJ MICHELLE, from the United Arab Emirates, will be the youngest artist ever to compete at the DMC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Rest in Peace
Bassist and songwriter TONY MARKELLIS, a longtime PHISH and TREY ANASTASIO collaborator... Original JUDAS PRIEST drummer JOHN HINCH, who left the band after its debut album, ROCKA ROLLA, to become an artist manager... WILL MECUM, lead guitarist for West Virginia stoner rock band KARMA TO BURN... MALCOLM CAMPBELL, a publishing executive for Spin, the Fader and Blender...DUSTIN BOYER, owner of Indianapolis honky-tonk DUKE'S INDY.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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|  | | Variety |
| | The Grammys' Nominating Committees Had to Go — Even if It Means Sacrificing Some Quality Picks (Column) | | by Chris Willman | | There may be fewer bold advocacy picks, now that the general membership is making the choices. It's worth losing those to also lose the jaw-dropping "WTF" reactions to the nominations every year. | |  | | British Vogue |
| | "It's All About What Makes You Feel Good": Billie Eilish On New Music, Power Dynamics, And Her Internet-Breaking Transformation | | by Laura Snapes | | Voice of a generation. Avatar of internet mega-fame. Icon of body positivity. A lot rests on Billie Eilish's 19-year-old shoulders. The pop superstar speaks up about her latest transformation, new music and living life on her own terms. | |  | | The Independent |
| | Why the 'indie' artists you love are not as DIY as you think | | by Will Pritchard | | Artists like AJ Tracey, Dave and The 1975 are routinely championed for their indie status, but the meaning of this music industry buzzword has become increasingly blurred. Will Pritchard demystifies the smoke and mirrors and explores what it says about the future of music. | |  | | Slate |
| | All Polo G's "Rapstar" Needed to Reach No. 1 Was One Great Hook | | by Chris Molanphy | | The song's riff alone threatened to eclipse the rapper's entire last album. | |  | | The Paris Review |
| | Everything Writes Itself: An Interview with Black Thought | | by David Ma | | Black Thought discusses his creative philosophy, the early days of the Roots, and-in true 'Paris Review' fashion-his favorite writing utensils. | |  | | Bloomberg |
| | When Joe Rogan Offends You, Spotify Profits From It | | by Lucas Shaw | | The Swedish audio service didn't pay Rogan millions of dollars to censor him. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Months After Her Arrest Made Global Headlines, Sama' Abdulhadi Is Still Pushing Palestinian Techno | | by Katie Bain | | Abdulhadi's enthusiasm about sharing the electronic sounds and stars of her home region hasn't waned, even as she's become entangled in the region's cultural conservatism and complicated geopolitics. | |  | | Spotify |
| | Black Girl Songbook: For Her, By H.E.R. | | by Danyel Smith and H.E.R. | | On the season finale of 'Black Girl Songbook,' Danyel Smith sits down with recent Academy Award winner H.E.R. to talk about the multi-instrumentalist's music, cultural impact, influences, and more. | |  | | GQ |
| | Please Allow Dram to Reintroduce Himself | | by Danny Schwartz | | The singer invented a uniquely happy style of R&B with hits like "Broccoli" and "Cha Cha." Now, after a battle with addiction, he's going by his given name Shelley and making grown folks music that reflects his new outlook on life. | | | | Variety |
| | Grammy Chief Harvey Mason Jr. on the Elimination of 'Secret' Nomination Committees, and What It Means | | by Jem Aswad | | While a controversy over the Weeknd's failure to get any 2021 nominations unquestionably played a role in the decision, interim Recording Academy president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says the process had been in the works for many months. | | | money counters, chains clangin' |
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|  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | A man and his van: Dave Grohl on the romance and stank of life on the road | | by Mikael Wood | | In his new doc, 'What Drives Us,' Dave Grohl and a host of rock luminaries reflect on their salad days as young musicians touring the country by van. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | Maskless and Sweaty: Clubbing Returns to Britain for a Weekend | | by Alex Marshall | | In Liverpool, people danced together at a warehouse party as part of a scientific trial of how and if social distancing can safely end. | |  | | Highsnobiety |
| | Meet Bobi Wine, the Pop Star Taking on a Dictator | | by Sarah Osei | | Highsnobiety speaks to Bobi Wine, singer and opposition leader in Uganda on the occasion of his latest music release: "Xenophobia." | |  | | British GQ |
| | Burna Boy: 'I have to think for a whole generation' | | by Aniefiok Ekpoudom | | Rapper, singer, songwriter, collaborator, Grammy winner: in 2021, the Burna Boy has taken 'Afrofusion', a sound uniquely his own, all the way to the top. Speaking here at home in Port Harcourt, he explains his music is the start and solidarity is the end, sharing a strident vision of a continent united – with itself, its diasporas and the world. | |  | | Backseat Freestyle |
| | What's The Point Of A DJ Khaled Album? | | by Jayson Rodriguez | | A DJ Khaled album is a very particular thing. It's an assemblage of hip-hop's biggest talent, for sure. But it's also a testament to Khaled's dogged determination to bring a high-wattage group together for his interests. | |  | | The Ringer |
| | The Eyes Have It: A Quarter Century of Watching and Being Watched by Dave Matthews | | by Katie Baker | | With an un, oo, un oo ee oh, Dave Matthews Band released their second studio album, 'Crash,' 25 years ago and never looked back. | |  | | VICE |
| | The Guide to Films About Music, by Musicians | | Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney take us on a cinematic journey from Mississippi blues to LA hardcore to 'Dirty Dancing 2'. | |  | | Pitchfork |
| | Why HBO Max's Teejayx6 Documentary Is a Scam in Itself | | by Alphonse Pierre | | Plus more highs and lows from the world of rap this week, including an analysis of Polo G's questionable "Rapstar" video and a must-see TikTok freestyle. | |  | | The Washington Post |
| | Q&A with Dionne Warwick | | by Geoff Edgers | | Why she went on Twitter, prepping for her Mother's Day show and the Luther Vandross cover of her song. | |  | | Okayplayer |
| | When The Music Stops: The Unfortunate Reality Of Mourning Artists During A Pandemic | | by Keith Nelson Jr. | | The Covid-19 pandemic has forced music fans around the world to come to terms with the fact that mourning artists would never look the same. | | | |  | | | Music of the day | | "Rich & Famous" | | Shelley | | From "Shelley FKA Dram," out now on Empire/Atlantic. He was formerly known as Dram (of "Broccoli" fame) but, I mean, he already told you that. |  | | YouTube |
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From "Shelley FKA Dram," out now on Empire/Atlantic. He was formerly known as Dram (of "Broccoli" fame) but, I mean, he already told you that. | A documentary. About pedals. | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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