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Ben Affleck's Misery Is the Only Grammys Highlight Worth Mentioning

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | February 6, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | February 6, 2023 |


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I watched a portion of the Grammys last night partly because I wanted to see Trevor Noah, but mostly because my kids wanted to follow both the awards drama and the Beyoncé of it all — Beyoncé did break the record for most Grammy Awards all time with 32 awards, but was shut out of the top awards again. Of the 32 Grammys she’s won, only one is for a “Top Award,’ a Song of the Year Grammy in 2010 for “Single Ladies.” The kids were equanimous in their rooting interests, announcing during most awards, “We really want Lizzo to win, but it’d be great if Beyoncé won, too, and I love Adele, and I wouldn’t mind if Harry Styles won, either.” I didn’t really care — the only musician I cared about this year, Zach Bryan, lost to Willie in the pre-show ceremony. It’s hard to get mad at that.

Meanwhile, if Trevor Noah’s goal as host of the Grammys was to center the attention on the musicians instead of himself, he accomplished that. He did his monologue from the audience amongst the A-list musicians, so obviously the jokes were not cutting. He was fine, but not memorable. The awards were not all that surprising, either, although I found it amusing that Harry Styles — who won album of the year — said in his acceptance speech that “people like him” don’t usually win these kinds of awards. I’m not sure what he meant by that? Good-looking white men? I suspect the history of the Grammys would suggest otherwise. One person who was surprised to win was Bonnie Raitt, who beat out the likes of Beyoncé for Song of the Year.

Some of the Grammys drama happened online, where Chris Brown (blergh) threw a tantrum after losing to Robert Glasper.

Glasper himself acknowledged Chris Brown’s jeers.

For my money, however, the best thing about the telecast was Ben Affleck’s relatable misery.

WHY IS THERE NO DAD ROCK CATEGORY AT THE GRAMMYS?

For the record, he wasn’t miserable the entire night. There was at least one moment where he found the one guy in the room he knew from his job. Here they are laughing over their shared ignorance of the band Wet Leg.

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(Wet Leg, by the way, was nominated for Best New Artist and won for Best Alternative Album. They’re good — very Breeders-like for old-schoolers).