In the few days after the Grammys air, it seems that all the buzz is about
who wore what, who won what, who lost what, and
who interrupted who onstage. But this year, amidst frivolity of it all, some artists strived to take advantage of the
25.3 million-person audience and convey a more serious message.
One artist, Prince, gave a subtle nod to the "Black Lives Matter" movement in his presentation speech for Album of the Year: "Albums, remember those? Albums still matter. Like books and black lives, they still matter.”
In a more visually impactful fashion, artists Pharrell and Beyoncé showed their support by incorporating symbolic gestures into their performances. During a pause is his song, "Happy," both Pharrell and his backup dancers (many wearing hoodies, alluding to the Trayvon Martin case) took a moment to raise their hands in the air, the symbol for the Black Lives Matter movement after the Michael Brown case this last August.
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| "Hands up, don't shoot" |
Then, towards the end of the evening, Beyoncé gave a similarly riveting performance. As she sang the gospel song, "Take My Hand Precious Lord," her background dancers can also be seen exhibiting the "Hands up, don't shoot" gesture. Seeing as Beyoncé doesn't typically give such solemn performances, this was even more impactful.
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Beyoncé closing out the 57th annual Grammy Awards
with a powerful message |
To add on to that, Beyoncé's song gave way to a performance of
Selma's "Glory," by Common and John Legend. With images from
Selma playing in the background, it was clear that the goal was to have the viewers make the connection between past and present and to reflect on it. With the current state our nation is in regarding civil rights, it's crucial that we recognize that something needs to be done. To see that these artists using their influential power to make a change is huge, considering what a crucial part media plays in all of our lives. I hope to continue to see performances such as this that keep the Black Lives Matter movement at the forefront of everyone's minds because no change will ever be made if we let it just fade away.
Abbey, Nice job blogging this term (though your total number of posts is a little low). This post nicely uses images and text to help carry your point. That many artists see their work as unrelated to the larger society beyond their own celebrity is an interesting topic. Some day you might be intersted in reading Patti Smith's Just Kids. She's an important rock start, and a great writer, who had such an epiphany after hearing how Neil Young responded in song ("Ohio") to the Kent State massacre.
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