Music’s biggest night kicked
off things in 2018 as the 60th Grammy Awards was held in January
hosted by James Corden. While Jay-Z was the top nominee with 8 it was Bruno
Mars who was the biggest winner of the night earning 6 wins including all three
major awards with 24K Magic as the Record of the Year, the album of the same
name as the Album of the Year and Song of the Year going to his That’s What I
Like. Kendrick Lamar was also a big winner at the Grammys taking 5 awards
including Best Rap Album for DAMN., Best Rap Song and Best Music Video for
HUMBLE.
Some of the great performances
of the night included DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller with Wild Thoughts,
Elton John and Miley Cyrus with Tiny Dancer, Kesha with Praying accompanied by
Camila Cabello, Cyndi Lauper, Andra Day, Bebe Rexha and Julia Michaels as well
as tributes to Tom Petty, Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell as well for the
Las Vegas Shooting and Manchester Arena Bombing. Other significant wins
included:
·
Best New Artist: Alessia Cara
·
Best Pop Vocal Album: Ed Sheeran - ÷
·
Best Rock Song: Foo Fighter – Run
·
Best Country Song: Christ Stapleton – Broken
halos
·
Best Latin Pop Album: Shakira – El Dorado
·
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: Justin
Hurwitz – La La Land
·
Best Song Written for Visual Media: Lin-Manuel
Miranda – How far I’ll go
·
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical – Greg
Kurstin
The 75th Golden
Globe Awards were also held in January hosted by Seth Myers. Alexandre Desplat
won for Best Original Score for The Shape of Water whilst the Best Original
Song went to This Is Me performed by Keala Settle from The Greatest Showman
written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
Meanwhile, some highly
anticipated nominations were announced during the month. First up we have the
coveted 90th Academy Awards nominees for Best Original Score and
Best Original Song.
Best Original Score:
·
Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer
·
Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood
·
The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat
·
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams
·
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri –
Carter Burwell
Best Original Song
·
Mighty River: Mudbound – Mary J. Blige, Raphael
Saadiq and Taura Stinson
·
Mystery of Love: Call Me by Your Name – Sufjan
Stevens
·
Remember Me: Coco – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and
Robert Lopez
·
Stand Up for Something: Marshall – Diane Warren
and Common
·
This Is Me: The Greatest Showman – Benj Pasek
and Justin Paul
Secondly we have the BRIT
Awards 2018 nominations with Dua Lipa leading the fray with 5 nods including
British Female, British Breakthrough, British Single and British Artist Video
of the Year for New Rules, Album of the Year for her self-titled album. She
sets a record as the female artist with the highest nominations at the BRIT
Awards in one ceremony. Ed Sheeran is also up for 4 awards including British Male,
Album of the Year for ÷ and British Single and Video for Shape of You. Breakthrough
act last year, Rag N’ Bone Man has 3 nods including British Male and British
Single and Album of the Year for Human.
Finally, we have the 5th
iHeartRadio Music Awards nominations. Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, DJ
Khaled and Luis Fonsi top the nominations each receiving 5 nods. For song of
the year the following go head to head for the coveted title:
·
Despacito – Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft.
Justin Bieber
·
Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
·
Something Just Like This – The Chainsmokers
& Coldplay
·
That’s What I Like – Bruno Mars
·
Wild Thoughts – DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna &
Bryson Tiller
Mary J. Blige adds another
accolade under her belt after being nominated for Best Supporting Actress in
Mud Bound as well as her contribution to the Best Original Song nominee Mighty
River as she received the honor of her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In other accolade news, Sigrid
won the BBC Sound of 2018. The 21-year old rose to fame in 2017 through her
critically acclaimed debut single Don’t Kill My Vibe. Previous recipients of
this coveted title include Adele, Years & Years, Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding.
Ray Thomas, flautist and
vocalist for British Rock group The Moody Blues died on January 4, at the age
of 76. Although no cause of death was given, Thomas was diagnosed with prostate
cancer in 2013. Alternative Rock suffered another massive blow when Dolores
O’Riordan lead singer of The Cranberries died at the age of 46, when she was in
London for a recording session on January 15. Although the cause of death was
not made public, police ruled out any suspicions.
In the US, Ed Sheeran &
Beyonce continued their reign with Perfect for the first 3 weeks of the month
before Sheeran was billed as a solo artist in the last week at the top after
which Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug’s Havana took the crown. During the month Dua Lipa’s New Rules, Justin
Timberlake’s Filthy and Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B’s Finesse all entered the top
10.
In the UK, Ed Sheeran’s
formidable rule with Perfect fueled by duets with Beyonce and Andrea Bocelli
continued at the top until Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran’s River replace the
former as the UK No.1 During the month Ramz’s Barking, Bruno Mars featuring
Cardi B’s Finesse, Jason Derulo’s Tip Toe and Camila Cabello’s Never Be The
Same all entered the top 10.
Other songs which became
popular during the month were:
1. Rita
Ora & Liam Payne – For You
2. Bebe
Rexha & Florida Georgia Line – Meant to be
3. Dua
Lipa – IDGAF
4. Keala
Settle – This is me
5. Kendrick
Lamar & SZA – All the stars
6. Jax
Jones ft. Ina Wroldsen – Breathe
7. Rudimental
ft. Macklemore & Jess Glynne – These days
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
