Tag Archives: Frank Ocean

55th Annual Grammy Awards Winners


The 55th Annual Grammy Awards aired tonight on CBS and while there were some  great performances, with a run time of three and a half hours there were plenty of boring moments (Frank Ocean and Taylor Swift’s performances, LL Cool J hosting).

The best parts of the show were Justin Timberlake’s performance of “Suit & Tie”, The Bob Marley Tribute which wasn’t much of a tribute at all with Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Sting, and The Marley brothers (Marley and Ziggy), the shade Chris Brown threw when Frank Ocean won by not standing when everyone else did, Kelly Clarkson’s cover of Tennessee Waltz and Natural Woman, Rihanna’s performance of Stay with Mikky Ekko and the in memorium performance of The Weight by Elton John, Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, Mavis Staples and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.

In the midst of all the performances, some awards were given. Unlike last year when the lovely Adele swept the show, everyone got some love from the Grammy committee. The top three awards (Album of The Year,  were split between Mumford & Sons, Gotye and fun.. The complete list of winners is below.

Album of the Year
The Black Keys — El Camino
fun. — Some Nights
Mumford & Sons — Babel
Frank Ocean — Channel ORANGE
Jack White — Blunderbuss

Best New Artist
Alabama Shakes
fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Record of the Year
The Black Keys — “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger”
fun. — “We Are Young” feat. Janelle Monae
Gotye — “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean — “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift — “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Song of the Year
Ed Sheeran — “The A Team”
Miguel — “Adorn”
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
fun. — “We Are Young”

Best Pop Vocal Album
Kelly Clarkson — Stronger

Florence + The Machine — Ceremonials
fun. — Some Nights
Maroon 5 — Overexposed
Pink — The Truth About Love

Best Pop Solo Performance
Adele — “Set Fire to the Rain” [Live]
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
Katy Perry — “Wide Awake”
Rihanna — “Where Have You Been”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Florence + the Machine — “Shake It Out”
fun. — “We Are Young” feat. Janelle Monae
Gotye — “Somebody That I Used to Know” feat. Kimbra
LMFAO — “Sexy and I Know It”
Maroon 5 — “Payphone” feat. Wiz Khalifa

Best Alternative Music Album
Fiona Apple — The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Björk — Biophilia
Gotye — Making Mirrors
M83 — Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Tom Waits — Bad As Me

Best Rap Album
Drake — Take Care

Lupe Fiasco — Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1
Nas — Life Is Good
The Roots — Undun
Rick Ross — God Forgives, I Don’t
2 Chainz — Based on a T.R.U. Story

Best Rap Song
Nas — “Daughters”
Wale feat. Miguel — “Lotus Flower Bomb”
Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz — “Mercy”
Drake feat. Lil Wayne — “The Motto”
Jay-Z and Kanye West — “Niggas in Paris”
Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars — “Young, Wild & Free”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Flo Rida feat. Sia — “Wild Ones”
Jay-Z and Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean and The-Dream — “No Church in the Wild”
John Legend feat. Ludacris — “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”
Nas feat. Amy Winehouse — “Cherry Wine”
Rihanna feat. Jay-Z — “Talk That Talk”

Best Rap Performance
Drake feat. Lil Wayne — “HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)”
Jay-Z and Kanye West — “Niggas in Paris”
Nas — “Daughters”
Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz — “Mercy”
Young Jeezy feat. Jay-Z and André 3000 — “I Do”

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Chris Brown — Fortune
Miguel — Kaleidoscope Dream
Frank Ocean — Channel ORANGE

Best Traditional R&B Performance
Anita Baker — “Lately”
Beyoncé — “Love on Top”
Melanie Fiona — “Wrong Side of a Love Song”
Gregory Porter — “Real Good Hands”
SWV — “If Only You Knew”

Best R&B Song
Miguel — “Adorn”
Tamia — “Beautiful Surprise”
Trey Songz — “Heart Attack”
Anthony Hamilton — “Pray for Me”
Elle Varner — “Refill”

Best R&B Album 
Robert Glasper Experiment — Black Radio
Anthony Hamilton — Back to Love
R. Kelly — Write Me Back
Tamia — Beautiful Surprise
Tyrese — Open Invitation

Best Rock Album
The Black Keys — El Camino

Coldplay — Mylo Xyloto
Muse — The 2nd Law
Bruce Springsteen — Wrecking Ball
Jack White — Blunderbuss

Best Rock Performance
Alabama Shakes — “Hold On”
The Black Keys — “Lonely Boy”
Coldplay — “Charlie Brown”
Mumford & Sons — “I Will Wait”
Bruce Springsteen — “We Take Care of Our Own”

Best Dance Recording 
Avicii — “Levels”
Calvin Harris — “Let’s Go” feat. Ne-Yo
Skrillex — “Bangarang” feat. Sirah
Swedish House Mafia — “Don’t You Worry Child” feat. John Martin
Al Walser — “I Can’t Live Without You”

Best Dance/Electronica Album
Steve Aoki — Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers — Don’t Think
Deadmau5 — > Album Title Goes Here <
Kaskade — Fire & Ice
Skrillex — Bangarang

Best Country Solo Performance
Dierks Bentley — “Home”
Eric Church — “Springsteen”
Ronnie Dunn — “Cost of Livin'”
Hunter Hayes — “Wanted”
Blake Shelton— “Over”
Carrie Underwood — “Blown Away”

Best Country Album
Zac Brown Band — Uncaged

Hunter Hayes — Hunter Hayes
Jamey Johnson — Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Miranda Lambert — Four the Record
The Time Jumpers — The Time Jumpers

Best Spoken Word Album
Scott Cresswell and Dan Zitt — American Grown (Michelle Obama)
Bill Clinton — Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy
Rachel Maddow — Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
Ellen DeGeneres — Seriously … I’m Kidding
Janis Ian — Society’s Child: My Autobiography

Best Comedy Album
Jimmy Fallon — Blow Your Pants Off
Margaret Cho — Cho Dependent (Live in Concert)
Lewis Black — In God We Rust
Kathy Griffin — Kathy Griffin: Seaman 1st Class
Jim Gaffigan — Mr. Universe
Tenacious D — Rize of the Fenix

 

Grammy Nominations Announced


Many newbies have a lot to celebrate as the Grammy Award nominations were announced Wednesday on the CBS during the Grammy Nomination Concert Special. The special was hosted by LL Cool J and Taylor Swift with performances by Maroon 5, Fun., NeYo, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and The Band Perry.

The National Academy of Arts and Sciences (NARAS) made sure to spread the love around. Six artists lead the pack with 6 nominations each. Kanye West, Mumford & Sons, Fun., Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, and Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Miguel snagged a well deserved 5 nominations for his sophomore album Kaleidoscope Dream. Personally, I think his debut album was better but this one a very, very close second. The Black Keys also received 5 nominations. Other big nominees were Kelly Clarkson with 4, Taylor Swift with 3 and Carly Rae Jepsen with 2 nominations. The Grammys will take place Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 8/7c on CBS.

Album of the Year:
Black Keys, El Camino
Fun., Some Nights
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Song of the Year:
Ed Sheeran, “The A Team”
Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Miguel, “Adorn”
Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”

Record of the Year:
Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Gotye feat. Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Best New Artist:
Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Pop Vocal Album:
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger
Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials
Fun., Some Nights
Maroon 5, Overexposed
P!nk, The Truth About Love

Best Rock Album:
The Black Keys, El Camino
Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
Muse, The 2nd Law
Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Best Alternative Music Album:
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel…
Bjork, Biophilia
Gotye, Making Mirrors
M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Tom Waits, Bad as Me

Best Rap Album:
Drake, Take Care
Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1
Nas, Life Is Good
The Roots, Undun
Rick Ross, God Forgives, I Don’t
2 Chainz, Based on a T.R.U. Story

Best Country Album:
Zac Brown Band, Uncaged
Hunter Hayes, Hunter Hayes
Jamey Johnson, Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Miranda Lambert, For the Record
The Time Jumpers, The Time Jumpers

Best Dance/Electronica Album:
Steve Aoki, Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers, Don’t Think
Deadmau5, > Album Title Goes Here <
Kaskade, Fire & Ice
Skrillex, Bangarang

Country Solo Performance:
Dierks Bentley, “Home”
Eric Church, “Springsteen”
Hunter Hayes, “Wanted”
Ronnie Dunn, “Cost of Livin’”
Blake Shelton, “Over”
Carrie Underwood, “Blown Away”

For the full list of nominees click here.

What To Watch: September 15


More premieres coming for tonight. It’s the weekend so there isn’t much coming out.

 

9/8c – OWN – Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s – Season 2 Premiere. The show follows the loud, loving and still very musical Montgomery family as they struggle with expanding their family owned business and creating a legacy to pass on to future generations, one soulful dish at a time.

11:29/10:29c – NBC – Saturday Night Live – Season 38 premiere. SNL kicks off the new season with host Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted) and musical guest Frank Ocean (Channel Orange, Nostalgia Ultra). The show lost a lot of the funnier people they had on the show but there are still many left like Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Jay Pharoah, Vanessa Baher and Bobby Moynihan. We’ll see if it gets any funnier than the last couple of seasons. I doubt it but I’ll keep watching.

MTV Video Music Award Nominations


The MTV Video Music Awards nominations were announced last week and Rihanna and Drake lead the pack with 5 nominations each. Rihanna is up for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video with “We Found Love” and Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects with “Where Have You Been?

Katy Perry is right behind them with four nominations. Beyonce, Coldplay, Frank Ocean and M.I.A have 3 nominations each. I heart Frank Ocean and I’m happy for his nominations but it just feels like MTV just wanted to give him some reason to show up to the show, which he probably won’t. The full list of nominees is below and you can see who takes home a moon man when the show airs Thursday, September 6th at 8/7c on MTV with performances from Alicia Keys and One Direction.

Video of the Year
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Gotye, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”

Best New Artist
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
The Wanted, “Glad You Came”

Best Hip-Hop Video
Childish Gambino, “Heartbeat”
Drake feat. Lil Wayne, “HYFR”
Kanye West feat. Pusha T, Big Sean & 2 Chainz, “Mercy”
Watch the Throne, “Paris”
Nicki Minaj feat. 2 Chainz, “Beez in the Trap”

Best Male Video
Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Chris Brown, “Turn Up the Music”
Usher, “Climax”

Best Female Video
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Katy Perry, “Part of Me”
Beyoncé, “Love on Top”
Nicki Minaj, “Starships”
Selena Gomez & The Scene, “Love You Like a Love Song”

Best Pop Video
One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa, “Payphone”

Best Rock Video
Coldplay, “Paradise”
The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
Linkin Park, “BURN IT DOWN”
Jack White, “Sixteen Saltines”
Imagine Dragons, “It’s Time”

Best Electronic Dance Music Video
Duck Sauce, “Big Bad Wolf”
Calvin Harris, “Feel So Close”
Skrillex, “First of the Year (Equinox)”
Martin Solveig, “The Night Out”
Avicii, “Le7els”

Best Video With a Message
Demi Lovato, “Skyscraper”
Rise Against, “Ballad of Hollis Brown”
Kelly Clarkson, “Dark Side”
Gym Class Heroes, “The Fighter”
K’Naan feat. Nelly Furtado, “Is Anybody Out There?”
Lil Wayne, “How to Love”

Best Art Direction
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Lana Del Rey, “Born to Die”
Regina Spektor, “All the Rowboats”
Of Monsters & Men, “Little Talks”

Best Choreography
Chris Brown, “Turn Up the Music”
Rihanna, “Where Have You Been”
Beyoncé, “Countdown”
Avicii, “Le7els”
Jennifer Lopez f/Pitbull, “Dance Again”

Best Cinematography
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
Adele, “Someone Like You”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Coldplay feat. Rihanna, “Princess of China”
Lana Del Rey, “Born to Die”

Best Direction
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
Duck Sauce, “Big Bad Wolf”
Coldplay feat. Rihanna, “Princess of China”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
Watch the Throne, “Otis”

Best Editing
Beyoncé, “Countdown”
A$AP Rocky, “Goldie”
Gotye, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Watch the Throne, “Paris”
Kanye West feat. Pusha T, Big Sean and 2 Chainz, “Mercy”

Best Visual Effects
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Rihanna, “Where Have You Been”
David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj, “Turn Me On”
Linkin Park, “BURN IT DOWN”

Entertainment News


Some entertainment headlines from the past week.

Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler both announced this week that they will be leaving the American Idol judging panel. There has been speculation for weeks about Lopez’s exit but Tyler’s came a little as a surprise. But not that surprising as there were rumors of major shake ups on Idol coming (Budget cuts, lots of firings). There are even some talks about Randy Jackson moving towards being a mentor towards contestants and not being a judge. Now that these two have left, who is going to take their place? Some of the names being tossed around as replacements are Adam Lambert (season 8 Idol runner-up), Celine Dion, Charlie Sheen, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey. I love Mariah and I think she would be great. It still wouldn’t get me to watch the show though. I don’t think anything could.  All these big names they want are expensive though and I don’t see any of them except Lambert taking less than $15 million for the gig. Just to put it into perspective Lopez made $20 million per year as a judge. That isn’t going to save them any money at all. I’m sure that in the coming weeks there will be more speculation and a ton more names thrown out there as replacements. It’s always funny watching the process unfold.

Get ready ladies. Another round of Magic Mike is on the way. Channing Tatum said “Yes, yes and yes!” during a Twitter interview with Glamour U.K when asked about a sequel to the his hit movie. “We’re working on the concept now. We want to flip the script and make it bigger.” Hmmm I don’t know about a sequel to this movie. Granted I liked it and all but there is no need for a sequel. The movie was resolved. If there were to do a sequel Tatum’s character wouldn’t be in it because at the end of the first one **SPOILER** he quits stripping. I mean there is plenty of eye candy there to continue I guess but story-wise it just needs to end.

R&B singer and songwriter, Frank Ocean’s new album, Channel Orange was released a week early this past Monday on Itunes. And while that might not seem like a problem for most people, apparently Target took offense and has decided not to stock the physical album that will be released this coming Tuesday, July 17th. Ocean’s manager, Christian Clancy was not happy about this and tweeted, “Target has refused to carry Frank’s album because of iTunes exclusive. Interesting since they also donate to non-equal rights organizations.” This in reference to Target having made donations to anti-gay political organizations. Ocean essentially came out revealed the week before on his tumblr page and that seems to be the reason Clancy is bringing that up. Target has come out and said their reasoning for not carrying the album is because Ocean’s management team released the album online first and not for any other reason. I would believe Target except Jay-Z and Kanye West did the same thing when they released their joint album, Watch The Throne, last August and Target still carried their album. It doesn’t matter to me though.  I was always going to get the album and it was always going to come from Best Buy who will surely reap all the benefits from carrying the album. Channel Orange is now available on iTunes and in stores this Tuesday. Check out his performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

There is a new Walking Dead trailer for season 3 that came from Comic Con this week. It shows the survivors working together to clear the undead from that ominous prison glimpsed at the end of the last season. The footage also shows a katana-wielding new character Michonne (Danai Gurira) slicing through zombies and teaming up with Andrea (Laurie Holden). The trailer ends with a shot of Michael Rooker’s scumbag character Merle, who escaped from a pair of handcuffs by slicing off his appendage back in the first season. In the third season footage, Merle sports a knife for a right arm.   This looks crazy as hell. Can’t wait for it to start. The Walking Dead season 3 premieres October 14 on AMC.

Yay more Hunger Games news. Lionsgate has announced that they are going to be splitting up the third installment of the series, Mockingjay into 2 parts. They will start with Catching Fire hitting theaters on November 22, 2013, Mockingjay, Part 1on November 21, 2014, and Mockingjay, Part 2 on Nov. 20, 2015. This way, like the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, every Thanksgiving families can head out to the theaters and see kids kill each other. Entertainment Weekly has a nice article on the possible places where they could split it up. There are many spoilers so if you haven’t read the book don’t even click on the link.

Awkward Black Girl: Countdown To Season 2 **1 Day Away**


**It’s more like less than 8 hours away**

We are finally down to my #1 episode of ABG. I have enjoyed going back and watching all the episodes over again in preparation for the season 2 premiere that is coming tonight. It made me like this series even more. So my favorite episode is episode 5: The Dance. This episode is the best to me because first it starts off with a dance montage to Ice Cube’s “You Can Do It (Put Your Back Into It)”, then it shows us why “hair is the best thing to happen to rhythmless non blacks.” Everything about this episode is how I feel at parties, the awkward dance like you are having a good time, trying to make friends, and dancing next to people so they will recognize their urge to dance with me. Haha I am cracking up just thinking about all my awkward moments at parties. It’s all a hot mess and I love it. It is also where we are introduced to the wonderful white J. The way they meet and instantly click is so great and it’s why from this episode on I was team white J. It also introduced me to Frank Ocean’s “Novacane,” a song I can never get enough of. Every time the song comes on I think of this episode. I just love it so much.

Be sure to watch the season 2 premiere episode tonight at 9/8c on the iamOTHER channel.