Ranting On...Kanye West and the Grammys

Getting angry about the results of awards shows is a time-honored tradition.  Ask any fan of the Oscars or the Tonys and they'll be able to cite within about two seconds a recent victory that they cannot remotely understand.  And I don't believe for one second when artists say that the "nomination is a win in itself."  Yes, yes, I truly think that some of them are just excited to be there, but in that brief second before someone opens that envelope, there's a moment where they clearly are thinking, "oh my God, this could happen," and when it's not their name, they're disappointed.  These are all natural reactions to an awards show and part of the fun.  However, I think it's time to tell Kanye West to stop, because the fun and the goofiness of armchair complaining or joking privately in the green room becomes something petty and awful when you do it in public.

For those of you who live under a rock, what I'm referring to occurred this past weekend at the Grammy Awards.  When Beck beat Beyonce for Album of the Year, Kanye West looked for a minute like he would repeat his infamous moment at the VMA's from a few years back when he stormed the stage and told Taylor Swift that Beyonce deserved the award more than she did.  West thought the better of it, and for a moment it just looked like a rather well-orchestrated joke.  However, in the hours afterward, West seemed extremely serious when he said that Beck should have "respected artistry" and given the trophy to Beyonce.  Beck has been extremely magnanimous about the whole thing, saying he's a big fan of West, but in the wake of the storm, it seems like Beyonce fans have taken this as a reason to be ruthless to Beck on social media, hacking into his Wikipedia page and lambasting him with "Who is Beck?" style Twitter hashtags.

It's hard to deny that Beyonce had an incredible year.  Her album defied conventional marketing strategies, was her most critically-acclaimed yet, and basically everyone has been fawning over her every move since her self-titled album dropped.  Beck's album, by comparison, hasn't had the same sort of sales and may not even be the best of his career.  This isn't to say that he doesn't deserve the win, though.  Beck is one of the most brilliant artists of his generation-a folk rock singer who had some incredible music (including the haunting and pitch perfect "Turn Away") on Morning Phase, and had a winning album that feels right at home with the Grammys.  And while Beyonce has been waiting for years to finally score Album of the Year, it's not like Beck (who has more nominations in the category than Beyonce) hasn't also been waiting for such a citation-this is likely the high point of his awards career.

So while it's insanely tacky of West to bring up such a discussion, I will reiterate it's okay to discuss an opinion in public.  Where it crosses the line is when you have the gigantic ego to couple that discussion with shaming other people for their opinions as if yours is the only one that matters, and in particular when you steal that person's hard-earned moment in the sun because you think your opinion is the only one that matters.  Because that's what happened here.  If West was just making a joke, he would have left it at his quick jump onstage.  If West wanted to show respect toward Beck but a preference for Beyonce, he would have waited for the press to ask him about the contest afterward.  And he wouldn't have threatened the Recording Academy with not showing up in the future.  This combination crosses the line of awards show decorum, and quite frankly manners in general.  Beck worked for years to achieve this dream, as did Beyonce, Sam Smith, Pharrell Williams, and Ed Sheeran, but he won fair-and-square, and West should learn to accept that with some dignity.  The fact that he thinks that his opinion is so important that he continually feels that he needs to insert it in place of the bodies who are doing the honoring shows what a gigantic narcissist he is, and despite West's undeniably innovative rapping and musical style, I'd be fine if the Grammys took him at his word and stopped inviting him to these ceremonies in the future.