The craziness, the cool, and the cringe that is known as The Grammy Awards, was all of that Sunday night.
A mix of new and old school, rookies and veterans on that enormous and nerve-wracking stage, shouting everything from, ‘Here I am…like my first hit?’ to ‘Don’t forget me – I made some great music back in the day!’
There were several great performances, and it made me happy to hear rock music start the show with AC/DC doing Rock or Bust. The audience was on their feet.
Rock lives! #ACDCgrammys
— Amy Wolter (@amyjwolter) February 9, 2015
I wasn’t a fan of all the ‘hell-themed’ tunes and visuals, but Madonna showed us where Gaga, Katy et al got their inspiration years ago for pushing the envelope onstage.
I loved Miranda Lambert’s confidence and swagger on Little Red Wagon. I mean, you can’t just stand there and sing that song. And Pharrell’s version of Happy, starting in a dark minor key and exploding into the major, was fantastic. (See, you can change a mega-hit for your live show!)
But weren’t we all waiting for Tom Petty to come out and join Sam Smith for the mash-up of Stay with Me and I Won’t Back Down?? But I digress.
There was one performance that really struck me…
It was Hozier and Annie Lennox. Hozier came out and sang his hit, Take Me to Church. Just sang. Not much emotion there… he just stood behind his mic and sang it. Since he didn’t really need to be playing guitar, the performance would have been much more compelling had he taken his guitar off and worked the stage holding the mic… at least toward the end of the tune.
When Annie joined him onstage, the song took a giant leap – yes, maybe because the crowd loved her to begin with. But she proceeded to pour herself into the emotion of the song and sang it with passion! She was the one taking us to church.
Then, boys and girls, she showed the kids how it’s done. When she launched into I Put a Spell on You,… well, all I can say is Hozier should have just left the stage. She not only sang with passion and emotion, she performed that song to the back row. She didn’t care about the cameras, she was performing for the crowd.
And the crowd loved it. Watch this video and see their reaction!
Hozier’s face said it all… he knew he’d been upstaged, but he resigned smiling and watched the show with the rest of us. Hozier tried to ‘take us to church,’ but Lennox took Hozier to school.
You may not be going to the Grammys anytime soon, but wouldn’t you like to create some show-stopping performances like these? Doesn’t matter that you don’t have a huge stage or massive production, you can learn how to engage your audience and get your own standing ovations.
Click here to book a session and let me show you how!
Amy Wolter
As a trained Live Music Producer for Tom Jackson Productions, Amy Wolter brings her years onstage as a lead singer & keyboardist - along with her experience as a producer, arranger, and songwriter - to singers and bands who won’t settle for ‘good enough’. She’s worked with artists at all levels, and genres ranging from Rock to Celtic, empowering them to have confidence and authority onstage, and put on memorable live shows, a few of whom have been on two of the largest US tours in recent history. Some of her clients include Grammy award winners The Band Perry & Lacrae, CMA and ACM –winning country acts, Gloriana & Thompson Square, 2016 The Voice contestant Mary Sarah, CCMA (Canada) winners High Valley, Jess Moskaluke & Chad Brownlee, and Winter Jam Tour veterans Sidewalk Prophets & Love and The Outcome.
Follow Me:
If they were in a band together, Tom would be telling her to stop dancing around while he’s playing his guitar solo, because she’s misdirecting the audience. BUT good luck telling Annie that. Would Hozier have served himself by moving over to her to at least share her spotlight?
Yes Brian! If it were me rehearsing them, here’s what I would have done; For ‘Take Me to Church’, I would have had Hozier take his guitar off to free him up a bit, since his guitar part was not huge (may not even have been turned up at all for all we know!). Work with him on really engaging the audience in the emotion and tension of the song. Then when Annie starts ‘I Put a Spell on You’, Hozier could have put on his electric. At the solo I’d have him step to the front of the stage and OWN that sucker to match HER energy! When she came in with the ‘mouth-harp’ solo – which may have been spontaneous (we love taking chances onstage) -he needed to react and move toward her…respond visually to her like the crowd did! To REALLY maximize this, I would have developed in rehearsal, a trade-off between the two of them creating a fun/musical moment.
Thanks, Amy. That makes so much sense.
I think we were just seeing 2 different artists at different stages of their careers. It was obvious Hozier was nervous, on the biggest stage of his fledgling career. A year ago nobody had heard of him. He was also very poorly lit, and you could hardly see his face. Still, I enjoyed seeing and listening to him. Without his introverted personality he probably wouldn’t be writing unique songs like ‘Take me to Church’ .
Annie Lennox (whom I absolutely love) is a totally different kind of artist – she’s seen and done it all before, and was out to enjoy what could be her last chance to sing at the Grammys. She’s a real diva, who wears a sequin suit, makes eyes at the audience, waves the mic stand around like a magic wand and commands the stage. But not everyone wants to see that kind of showmanship, and certainly not all the time. Hozier wouldn’t be himself if he tried to copy her. I personally love more understated music, where the lyric and melody are allowed to speak for themselves and we see the artist a little more vulnerable.
Anyone can watch videos of Freddie Mercury and Annie Lennox and figure out how to be a great front man/woman and put on a big show. But some genres of music just don’t suit that kind of showboating. I think the really interesting area for this website is working with artists who are a little more understated, and helping them to create visual and thematic moments in their show that don’t detract from or change the essential intimacy and vulnerability of their style.
Glad you brought this up Martin! It’s important to us that people know that when we are working with an artist, we work to stay true to who that artist is and keep the integrity of the music in place. It certainly WOULD look strange if he went all-over-the-stage crazy on that song. HOWEVER, if I had the chance to work with him, there are things I’d do to make sure the audience feels more of a connection with the artist. It may start with a slight change in the arrangement to allow him some space, or taking his guitar off, which basically looked like a security blanket. It’s definately a song that demands attention to the lyric, so I would work with him on making sure his face/body movement matched what he’s singing about, so I believe that HE believes what he’s singing about. ( I’d need to spend a little time with the song of course to know EXACTLY what I’d need to focus on) Getting on the Grammy stage for the first time HAS to be nerve-wracking, so the rehearsal time ahead of that can’t be overlooked. Everything we work on helps artists with their confidence level and I believe he could use some help to make sure his songs can be felt in the audience. We work with singer/songwriters all the time and it’s different than working with a rock band for sure. We’ve got some before/after videos Backstage that would show you the different ways we work with different genres/types of artists.
Amy, I didn’t catch the Grammys live, but am so glad you posted this video clip! I love me some electrifying performance!!
Why isn’t anyone talking about Jeff Lynne and the return of E.L.O.? I mean Ed Sheeran was on stage jamming with them and still…nothing. Yeah okay AC/DC was great and some of the other performances, but to me it still comes back to the songs. E.L.O. had great songs. Welcome back!
LOL – the first time I heard Sam Smith’s song, I thought, “Wait, isn’t this Tom Petty’s song?!” A good song nonetheless…
Now about Annie: WOW!. I was watching this on my laptop and I had to pause the video to get my headphones out, I wanted to be closer to it! She just draws you in with her performance! I noticed that Hozier seemed detached from his performance, and his vocals seemed weak and ineffective. But then when Annie started singing with him, she lit the match and his vocals improved! How many times have you seen this, Amy, when a singer is detached from the emotion of a song, it’s really hard to get the voice to do what it needs to, to give a great performance?
Great comments, keep it coming!
Unfortunately Ben, we see this a lot…people just singing songs. Often times during rehearsal, we’ll stop and ask the artist what the song is about. If they wrote it, we ask what was it that made them write the song in the first place? Or if it’s a cover song, why did they choose it – what was it about what the song says that they connected with? Once they verbalize that, then we get them to tap into that emotion – get INSIDE the song and deliver it with their entire being. They have to believe and own what they are singing about to make the audience believe it too!
Great comments to the show. Yea the vets showed the up and comers how to command the stage and make us all get goose bumps – when Annie just walked on stage, then bigger goosebumps watching that emotion of her performing – not just singing a song.
Now if they would just take the thugs and devil worshiping off the show it would be much better. Image – Prince was called the “Little Carrot” with his orange outfit. Artists may want to be aware of the brand you wear on stage – right?
Tom Jones – one of the greatest performers. Perhaps YouTube Tom Jones and watch his performances in the 70’s – the man would command the stage, dancing and singing because his songs made everyone want to dance!
What do your songs do to you and the audience – how do you perform on stage, not just sing your songs – right?
You got it Doak! If you don’t know how to perform display, emote, translate,describe… your songs the right way, something is lost and you won’t get that connection that Annie got when she sang. Hadn’t heard the ‘little carrot’ remark – ha! Yes, what you wear will speak for you, so get it right! Hire a stylist if you don’t know how. 🙂