“USA Today” Shows Us How To Write A Grammy Story Without Using The Words “Amy” And “Winehouse”

noah | February 8, 2008 9:55 am
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Look, we’re all weary of the Amy Winehouse saga, but there’s something kind of… off in this story about Grammy nominees who allegedly go against the “disposable pop” grain that doesn’t mention the six-time nominee once, yet takes time out to giggle about Christopher Freakin’ Cross, whose Album Of The Year/Song Of The Year/Record Of The Year/Best New Artist haul in 1980 can be matched by Winehouse on Sunday night. (For the record, the article’s “Five For The Future,” as picked by an expert panel that includes USA Today‘s critics: Miranda Lambert, Ne-Yo, Feist, Taylor Swift, and Fantasia.)

Perhaps I’m especially unnerved by the piece since it asks the question “But how many of today’s Grammy initiates will be back vying for awards at the diamond anniversary in 25 years?” The unspoken context being that, lol, like Winehouse will even be around in 25 years, right? Ugh. I mean, as Grammy “storylines” go, the troubles of the Back To Black singer are currently overshadowing pretty much everything else about the night (although to be fair, it’s not really hard to overshadow the current lineup of “a bunch of old people and Kid Rock”) and it’s probably good to look at other ones, but if you’re looking at breakout artists it’s almost like you’re drawing more attention to Winehouse to not mention her, seeing as she’s been more heavily feted than any other artist in the piece and has outsold four of the five. (Swift, whose Soundscans are at 2.4 million, is the anomaly there.)

These five Grammy hopefuls must defy pop’s ‘disposable mentality’ [USA Today; HT DHMBIB]