A less-than-Feisty little ditty at the Grammys?
Dissing musical artists makes for strange bedfellows.
Seems like critics from Gawker to the Washington Post thought Feist’s recent performance at the Grammys lacked passion. Zeal. Emotion. It-ness. The implication: No wonder she didn’t, you know, win. Like the poor girls who get voted off America’s Next Top Model, she just didn’t want it enough.
However, my friend Lauren who blogs at The Electric End on all things musically obsessive, doesn’t stand idly by. She gained the attention of Producer Dave at the Post’s “Post Rock” blog.
The offending comment during the Washington Post’s liveblogging the Grammys:
9:57: Feist is out there. Guess which song she’s playing? Hint: It’s not “My Moon My Man.” She seems kind of nervous and the performance never really takes off.
Later …
Lauren: Feist “never really took off?” I thought the subdued performance was an elegant departure from the rest of the evening’s spectacles, myself. Could have been better with strippers and a trapeze, sure, but what isn’t?
washingtonpost.com: Producer David here, the “never really took off comment” was mine, so I guess I’ll explain. It was definitely subdued but I didn’t think that worked in her favor. That song works (y’know, if you think it works) because it’s bouncy and cheery and encourages putting $299 into our struggling economy. She tried to class it up and it just was kind of boring. And she seemed very nervous, but not quite enough for it to be endearing, in that Elliott Smith at the Oscars right before Celine Dion way.
Lauren’s 15 secods of web-fame were up, but I caught up with her for a follow-up comment:
Lauren: It was a great performance. I thought it was endearing in that “losing all my nominations to a chick in rehab” way. Which is worlds more elegant than Elliott Smith’s “oh my god, this really is an impending suicide in a virginal white suit.” That, and she was definitely sporting a 100k+ pre-war Martin guitar.
Decide for yourself. Check out the video on YouTube.
What do you think?
February 13th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I have to agree with Lauren–I think it was a great performance. She did what she does in her own “feisty” sort of way. And bringing in other musicians towards the end gave it a real “classic” feel.