Picture this pantheon: Bruce Springsteen, Carole King, John Legend, Rod Stewart, Jamie Foxx and Barry Gibb, gathered to pay homage to the best action group in music, Clive Davis. Dynamo performances from the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, and more punctuate the gala, while everyone from Dionne Warwick to Martha Stewart watches from the sidelines.
Er, one second – that’s “Dionne Warwick’s iPhone” and “Martha’s iPhone XS Max T-Mobile.” Wait, is that a Pomeranian themed calendar behind Warwick? Did Martha Stewart just pretend that iPhone said her purse without turning off the camera first? Holy cat – which has marble top?
Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, that’s not to say it’s impossible to gather people famous for the death of Beverly Hills. So this year, the annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala, Clive Davis ’high profile, went live.
Alicia Keys (L) and Clive Davis (R) Image courtesy of Clive Davis
The Pre-GRAMMY 2021 Virtual Gala was held on Saturday (January 30), the night before the Academy planned to throw in the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. They have scheduled the ceremony until Sunday, March 14, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Virtual Gala, benefiting from MusiCares, was the first of two events. The second will take place on Saturday, March 13, the eve of this year’s GRAMMY exhibition, and will benefit the GRAMMY Museum.
Clive Davis Pre-GRAMMY’s annual bash is one of the hardest nights of the year, a chance to rub corners with music industry giants and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi together. But 2021 was not a normal year, and this was no average gala. Changing unique outfits and intricate dresses for pajamas and leisure suits, the celebrity guests gave their homes and lives a personal, sometimes bizarre, look. Where he lost sight of someone like Travis Scott bringing a crowd to his knees, this year’s meaningful event created a sense of intimate beauty and captured the general sense of online community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/pT4aRd-hCqQ
Taking full advantage of the meaningful experience, Davis structured the Virtual Gala around archival images of what he considers to be the most outstanding performances ever. (The night featured snippets of Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston and others.)
Through it, Davis was a tour guide through live and television performances from 20th and 21st century rock, country and soul artists. Child opponent Bob Dylan beats his signature song, “Blowin ‘in the Wind.” Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, brings Barack and Michelle Obama to near tears at the Kennedy Center in 2015 with “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” (The song’s co-writer, Carole King, can barely introduce herself to the crowd.)
“This performance talks about why I want to do this event tonight,” Davis said of Franklin ‘s performance. “Even through your computer screen, if you don’t have goosebumps, you should watch carefully for a pulse. “
Davis later calls Houston’s 1994 set, the medium of “I Loves You Porgy,” “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and “I Have Nothing,” “the greatest television performance for any artist. bith. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/EGZAYzY_Zt4
And while Davis ’annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala is usually a place where artists shine, the virtual audience was the main venue this year. Anyone with an internet connection can view old rock ‘n’ roll photos; it’s a different, surreal experience to watch Joni Mitchell, George Benson and Herbie Hancock as them look at. Ditto Carl Bernstein, who helped break the Watergate scandal, and anchor “CNN Tonight” Don Lemon.
If there is one silver line from the time of Zoom, we can be a fly in the wall in the homes of celebrities. So the shape of the Gala delivered the lion’s share of the sport. Martha Stewart picked up at the charcuterie in her kitchen, where her elegant pan collection hung from the roof of the house. As one of the most iconic harmonic thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Hancock laughed in front of a series of laser-beam savers. “Will you close up?” Rod Stewart shook his yapping dog with a smile during the interview. “I’m talking to Clive Davis!”
Bruce Springsteen (L) and Clive Davis (R) | Image courtesy of Clive Davis
Despite the fact that we are still tied to the house, the online Gala tenor was one of the clearer days ahead. “Perhaps the most interesting and hopeful song you’ve ever written is’ Land of Hope and Dreams, ‘” Davis once told Springsteen, announcing that his cut from the late’ 90s was release. wrecking ball (2012).
“Are you pessimistic about the future of the country and America’s promise? Or are you as optimistic as you were when you wrote about those big wheels going through fields where sunlight shines? flow ‘? he asked.
“The dream is American [an] desire, “replied Springsteen of Colts Neck studio, New Jersey, where he and the E Street Band recently released their 2020 album, Letter to you. “The distance between American reality and the American Dream, we are always trying to close, whether you are an artist or a politician … I remain optimistic even in the midst of great difficulties which we are going through at the moment. reunite and find his better angels and move on, you know? I have to believe that. “
Barry Gibb (L) and Clive Davis (R) Image courtesy of Clive Davis
For celebrities and everyday people alike, the past year has had a profound effect on us all. Thus, an additional view of humility came through these interviews.
“I’ve never taken anything seriously, and you’ve never taken anything as a gift,” Davis told Barry Gibb. (The second one with a 2020 and 2021 flagship with the HBO dock on the Bee Gees, How you can break a broken heart, and his album duets by Americana artists, Greenfields: Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.) “Seeing this record at the top of the charts makes me happy as a fan, and it must be a joy for you as an architect.”
“It’s awful; there’s no question about that,” Gibb replied. “This is the first No. 1 in 40 years, and that’s something very special that I can’t put into words … It was all like a dream, and the whole thing came as a vision, giving enter the title. “
As would be expected for a whopping five-hour event, some of the celebs went out early, leaving their depressed pets staring at the camera. Joni Mitchell, however, was a soldier, watching the telecast to sto while her creamsicle-colored cat roamed around for attention.
Seeing Mitchell happy, healthy and funny is a prey. In 2015, she suffered an aneurysm; in 2020, she was still struggling to walk because of it. But at the end of the night, there she was, pajama-clad, munching popcorn and cracking jokes. During the broadcast, Mitchell regularly sucked white wine with both hands. (Here’s to your next 77 years, Joni.)
While this year’s Pre-GRAMMY Gala may have been missing the usual pastime and relationship, that beast emerged as a feature. Of course, as always, the music was the point, but legends of a residence and the gathering of furry friends stole the show for once. With vaccines being rolled out around the world, music will be back to business as usual in no time. “
And just like every year, this year’s Pre-GRAMMY (virtual) Gala was unique and repetitive – and it made a difference as a result.
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