Frank Ocean: Taylor Swifts Grammy win was really not great TV
I sort of love that Frank Ocean doesn’t do real interviews these days and whenever he wants to say something publicly, he just posts a CAPS-LOCK message on his Tumblr. That’s what happened yesterday. The backstory is that Rolling Stone did an “oral history” piece on the history of the Grammys, and Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild specifically criticized Frank Ocean’s 2013 Grammy performance, saying: “That’s not great TV” and calling the performance “rigid” and “faulty.” So Ocean responded with a caps-lock explanation, and then he sort of went off about how the Grammys are completely out of touch (he’s not wrong). I’ll spare you the caps-lock! Here’s what Ocean wrote:
OK Ken (and David). As much as I hate to make you guys famous or even respond to you directly. We all die one day and you’re old so f–k it. Yea yea my 2013 performance at the Grammys was absolute sh-t. Technical difficulties, blah blah. Thanks for the reminder. Very much appreciated. F-ck that performance though. You think that’s why I kept my work out of the Grammy process this year? Don’t you think I would’ve wanted to play the show to ‘redeem’ myself if I felt that way?
In reality, I actually wanted to participate in honoring Prince on the show but then I figured my best tribute to that man’s legacy would be to continue to be myself out here and to be successful. Winning a TV award doesn’t christen me successful. It took me some time to learn that. I bought all my masters back last year in the prime of my career, that’s successful. ‘Blonde’ sold a million plus without a label, that’s successful. I am young, black, gifted and independent.. that’s my tribute.
I’ve actually been tuning into CBS around this time of year for a while to see who gets the top honor and you know what’s really not ‘great TV’ guys? 1989 getting album of the year over To Pimp A Butterfly. Hands down one of the most ‘faulty’ TV moments I’ve seen. Believe the people. Believe the ones who’d rather watch select performances from your program on YouTube the day after because your show puts them to sleep.
Use the old gramophone to actually listen bro, I’m one of the best alive. And if you’re up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I’m all for it. Have a good night.
In case you didn’t catch that, Frank Ocean just slammed Taylor Swift. He’s specifically saying it was a f–king joke that Taylor’s album 1989 won album of the year instead of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. While people can argue about Frank’s opinion, the truth is that many, many people feel the same way – that Taylor basically begged and campaigned and whined about it until she got Album of the Year (during which she made her speech all about Kanye) for what was really a pretty basic pop album. Many, many people thought Kendrick Lamar had the better album and that he best represents the future of music. Ocean’s also pointing out that black artists are often held to different standards at the Grammys, an issue that Kanye West has ranted about many times before (doesn’t make it less true though). As for the rest of it… Frank Ocean is the best.
Photos courtesy WENN.
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