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Thursday, April 1, 2021

Folklore lifts Grammy for Taylor Swift

“Everything I wanted” and “folklore” are in news .. ..



The Grammy Award  is an award presented by the Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the music industry. The trophy depicts a gilded gramophone.  It is considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards, along with the Academy Awards (film), the Emmy Awards (television), and the Tony Awards (theater and Broadway). The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor and respect the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958.  

You would have heard ‘Yaakai Thiri’ song from Ayutha Ezhuthu.  It was sung by - Sunitha Sarathy, A. R. Rahman, Pop Shalini, Tanvi Shah.

The 63rd  Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held   in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020. The nominations were revealed via a virtual livestream on November 24, 2020. The performers for the ceremony were announced on March 7, 2021. South African comedian Trevor Noah hosted the ceremony. Beyoncé received the most nominations with nine, followed by Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch, and Taylor Swift with six each.  The ceremony was originally scheduled for January 31, 2021; but was postponed  to March 14, 2021, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles as well as health and safety concerns therein.

"Everything I Wanted" won the Record for the year .. .. is a song by American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish, and co-written by Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell, who also produced it. Darkroom and Interscope Records released the track as a single in  2019. It is a house and electronica-influenced pop and alternative pop track with minimal piano and downtempo bass guitar instrumentation. Inspired by a nightmare she experienced, the song is about Eilish's strong relationship with O'Connell and his protectiveness of her from harm.

The Album of the Year was won by “Folklore” of  Taylor Swift. Folklore is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. This album was released in July  2020, through Republic Records. Swift conceived Folklore in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic as "a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness" out of her imagination, and collaborated with producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually. The  album explores fictional narratives featuring characters and story arcs, in contrast to the autobiographical tone of Swift's previous projects. The album's title was inspired by the singer's desire for the music to have a lasting legacy akin to folk songs, whereas its artwork and aesthetic reflect cottagecore. Upon release, Folklore broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act.

To understand the award better – there  are just four categories at the Grammy Awards where artists from all musical genres compete against one another — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. In these four races, country artists bump up against R&B musicians, and they both take on pop stars. If an artist wins one of these awards, they'll make headlines and get to give a nice speech during the awards telecast.

The Album of the Year award is the most prestigious Grammy there is, the rough equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar. The category honors an entire LP, from the first track to the last, and everything about the production of the album's sound. Originally, the Album of the Year award went only to the album’s main artist. Today, the album’s producers, sound engineers, mixers, and songwriters are also honored, as are any featured artists who appear on the album.  The winners get a  golden gramophone.

Record of the Year is often confused with Song of the Year, since both awards go to individual songs. But the distinction is actually somewhat simple. The Record of the Year honors, first and foremost, the performing artist. Song of the Year honors the songwriter. Record of the Year is given to the performing artist, the producers, the sound engineers, the master engineer, and the sound mixers.  The record here does not connote the physical, spinning disc but a product of the recording studio.  Every one involved in  recording studio working on the Record of the Year–winning song receives a golden gramophone for this award. The Song of the Year honours person or people who wrote the song.



Before concluding - Ravi Shankar was the first Indian to win a Grammy in 1967 for his performance, West Meets East, with violinist Yehudi Menuhin, in the Best Chamber Music Performance category.  The reference to ‘Yaakai Thiri’ song - …. of its many singers was Tanvir Shah, who is the first Indian woman to win a Grammy. Tanvi   has sung in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. In addition, she sings in Spanish, Portuguese   as well as Arabic.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
16.3.2021

  

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