A few weeks ago the biggest night in music happened. The Grammy Awards had every major music icon, legend and newbie present — Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Hozier, Sam Smith, Kanye West and Beck —to name just a few.
Sam Smith, Beck and Pharrell were just a few artists that received recognition for their work throughout the year. But the awards that were handed out and the performances that went on were not the only thing people were talking about after the show ended.
Kanye West has a real talent of making his unwanted opinion known during award shows. In 2009 he interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards when she won Female Video of the Year instead of Beyoncé.
John Sheare / Invision / AP Photo
At the Grammys Beck’s album “Morning Phase” won Album of the Year. Some people were quite shocked and clearly Kanye West was one of them.
Just as in 2009, Kayne started to head up on stage while Beck was trying to give his speech, but he stopped. However, that does not mean he did not get his thoughts out after the show.
In an interview with E! News Kayne said that if the Grammys want real artists to keep coming back then they need to “stop playing with us” and that they “keep smacking people in the face that deliver monumental music.”
He also goes on to say that Beck should have given his award to Beyoncé because Beyoncé has more artistry.
I want to go into how Kanye thinks that Beyoncé has artistry but Beck does not. Why does Kanye West get to decide what makes an artist good or not?
Kayne later admitted that he had never heard Beck’s album before.
So what was all the fuss about? Does he really like Beyoncé that much that he always feels the need to defend her?
I love “Queen B” as much as the next girl, but to compare her to Beck is like comparing two completely different things. They are both musicians, but their genres aren’t remotely similar.
Beck has been creating music since the early 90s and has released twelve albums since his first in 1993.
Though Beck does not have the mainstream following that Beyoncé has, he has something else — pure, raw talent. Over the past two decades he has not only released albums, but he has also written all of them.
On the album “Morning Phase” he did not just write the songs, but he also did all the vocals, produced the album and played 15 different instruments throughout the 13-track record.
If that is not artistry, I do not know what is.
For a fellow artist to criticize him and tell him that he is not deserving of an award must have been a real blow. Beck handled it a lot better than Kanye ever would have. He was just as surprised as anyone else to win the award, and went on to say, “I thought she was going to win. Come on, it is Beyoncé.”
Beck also said that he was happy to have Kanye up there. He said, “He deserves to be up there as much as anybody.” Beck is a humbled musician that makes music not for popularity or fame, but for the love of the art. He was deserving of the award whether Kayne West believes so or not.
Allison Picone can be contacted at Allison.Picone@ksc.keene.edu
