by Julian Spivey
February marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Jimmy Buffett’s Living and Dying in ¾ Time, his fourth studio album overall but his second after going down to Key West, Fla. and developing the type of beach bum Shakespeare persona he would take to stardom.
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Here’s a look at Living and Dying in ¾ Time track-by-track: 
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“Pencil Thin Mustache”
This is such a Jimmy Buffett way to kick off an album with a wild song waxing nostalgic about some of the popular culture of his childhood that many probably remembered fondly at the time but few probably understand today. Whether you get the references or not – and my favorite is the autographed picture of Andy Devine (which, yes, I’ve searched on eBay for) – it’s a helluva lot of fun to sing along with. I don’t understand why pencil mustaches were ever en vouge but thank God they were if not for anything other than this song.

“Come Monday”
For as long as I can remember there’s been Jimmy Buffett in my life thanks to my dad and for as long as I can remember my favorite Buffett song has been “Come Monday,” the second track off Living and Dying in ¾ Time. Maybe it’s because in addition to constantly hearing it on multiple albums my dad had: this one, the Beaches, Boats, Bars & Ballads compilation and every live album Buffett ever recorded, it was also one of two widely played Buffett songs on the radio, along with “Margaritaville,” of course. Buffett is a very underrated songwriter and I think this lovely little three-minute ditty about longing to get back to the one you love is the best he’s ever done. Written for his future wife while he was on tour it has some of the loveliest sentiments ever put to song with the line: “We can go hiking on Tuesday/With you I’d walk anywhere” being one of my all-time favorite lyrics by any songwriter. “Come Monday” would be the first song to put Buffett on the map as it was his first Billboard Top 40 going to No. 30 on the chart and has seen long-lasting life on oldies, classic rock and classic country radio formats.

“Ringling, Ringling”
I can’t help but wonder if my dad didn’t spin Living and Dying in ¾ Time as much as some of the other Buffett albums when I was growing up because the next three songs on side A of the album: “Ringling, Ringling,” “Brahma Fear” and “Brand New Country Star” are three I don’t remember hearing all that much growing up and are probably still among the least listened to tracks from Buffett’s ‘70s output today.

“Ringing, Ringling” is a nice little country tune about the tiny town of Ringling, Mont., which used to be a station stop on the transcontinental main line of “the Milwaukee Road,” a train line that went out west from the Midwest until such travel stopped being as prevalent and the town pretty much died off. Buffett sings about the “dying little town,” but though some of the lyrics sound depressing, the country and western sound gives it more of a bouncy sound than one might expect.

“Brahma Fear”
Living and Dying in ¾ Time is more country-sounding than Buffett’s previous album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean from the year before and much more country-sounding than A1A, which would come at the end of 1974. The steel guitar whining on “Brahma Fear” proves as much. “Brahma Fear” sees Buffett reminiscing on how he wanted to join the rodeo but discovered upon growing older that a whaler boat is more his speed. Buffett would find himself singing about having a “Caribbean soul and some Texas hidden in his heart” on his next album, but “Brahma Fear” sees him experiencing that mixture earlier.

“Brand New Country Star”
“Brand New Country Star” is Buffett’s first co-write on Living and Dying in ¾ Quarter with Vernon Arnold. I can’t be convinced Buffett isn’t singing about himself in the titular role, especially with a chorus that ends with: “He can either go country or pop.” The “go country or pop” was always a hard line to toe for Buffett during his career, especially in the ‘70s and probably explains why he would both have trouble with radio hits but also found a new sound all his own.

“Livingston’s Gone to Texas”
“Livingston’s Gone to Texas” has always been one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett deep cuts and it must’ve meant something dearly to Buffett himself because it’s one of a few songs he recut from his first two more folky albums from earlier in the ‘70s. “Livingston’s Gone to Texas” appeared on Buffett’s sophomore album for Barnaby Records called High Cumberland Jubilee in a more stripped, lowkey folk-sounding song that I prefer to the more produced, more beachy, more strings version on Living and Dying in ¾ Time. The song should be a sad folk-country ballad, so I don’t vibe as much with the beachy keys Michael Utley gives it here, which folks are probably more familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, the Living and Dying version is still pretty country with its whining pedal steel guitar courtesy of Doyle Grisham. 

“The Wino and I Know”
Jimmy Buffett opens side B of Living and Dying in ¾ Time with “The Wino and I Know,” which has always been one of my favorite deeper cuts from Buffett’s discography. In 2020, when artists couldn’t tour and perform live due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffett asked fans which of his deep cuts they most enjoyed, and a handful were picked out and turned into a docuseries on YouTube directed by his daughter Delaney. “The Wino and I Know” was one of those songs and in the video, he calls it one of the first songs he ever wrote when working as a bar singer in New Orleans and wanted it to be about New Orleans street life. I’ve always loved the couplets that follow the title in the lyrics, especially “the wino and I know the pain of back bustin’/like the farmer knows the pain of his pickup truck rustin’.”  

“West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown”
Speaking of terrific Jimmy Buffett deep cuts, next up on the album is “West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown,” which is certainly one of my favorites and one of the most biting songs ever recorded by Buffett. It’s one of those my dad always skipped when we were younger because of the dreaded “F-word” in the lyrics, but damn if it’s not one of the best “F-bomb” drops in music history. The story talks of a Nashville woman who came from a well-to-do upscale family but never quite fit in and was ostracized from their community. I’ve always identified with the rebelliousness of the woman in the song.

“Saxophones”
“Saxophones” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it doesn’t have any saxophones (there are horns on it). But that’s kind of the point too. The song is about how Buffett can’t even get played on the radio by the local DJ in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., but maybe if his music had a big baritone sax on it they would play it. It’s a fun little number that Buffett updated for his 2003 greatest hits compilation Meet Me in Margaritaville to feature the sax more prominently. I like Buffett’s vocals better on the original but the updated version is certainly funkier with the addition of the titular instrument.

“Ballad of Spider John”
“Ballad of Spider John” might be the most underrated song on Living and Dying in ¾ Time and it’s one of the best non-Buffett writes of his discography. It’s a song I find myself loving more and more as the years go by. The song was written and originally recorded by Willis Alan Ramsey on his 1972 self-titled album that wound up being his only album seemingly partially due to a record label conflict but also of his own accord. “Ballad of Spider John” sees an older con man telling a stranger of his regrets and how his life of crime cost him the one thing he dearly loved in life – his sweet Lily. The tale is one of nostalgic despair and ends with an all-time great lyric: “Old spider got tangled in the black web that he spun.”

“God’s Own Drunk”
“God’s Own Drunk” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it’s one of the few spoken word performances of his career. “God’s Own Drunk” was a monologue by early American comedian Lord Buckley about a non-drinker tasked with watching his brother’s moonshine still before becoming inebriated off it and coming into contact with a Kodiak bear. The comedic monologue set to music became an early concert staple for Buffett before he was sued by Buckley’s son in 1983 for copyright infringement. Buffett would perform an unrecorded song called “The Lawyer and the Asshole” in concert in place of the song. It’s unknown what the result of the case was but Buffett would go in to occasionally perform the song again live beginning in 1988.  

This year, I made a New Year's resolution that would shock everyone! 
 
Since 2007, I have been a diehard Swiftie. After realizing my best friend would never love me the way I loved her, I got into my red 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier on a rainy afternoon to escape. I turned on KSSN 96 FM, our local country music radio station and the first lyrics I hear are: "I bet she's beautiful, that girl he talks about, and she's got everything that I have to live without." This tale of unrequited love completely captured the love, the pain, the sadness, the helplessness, and the overwhelming feeling of longing for her to be with me. Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar" took a really sad moment in my life and offered me the spiritual hug that I needed. She let me know she had experienced the same thing I was going through and made my feelings feel validated. I was not alone. When an artist connects with you in that way, you want to hear more, so I did. The more I heard from Swift, the more I fell in love with her.
 
It is a completely normal thing for people to feel connected to particular songs because of the way they relate to our lives. In my experience with this though, it might be one or two songs from an artist that applied to me and I did not connect with other entries in their catalog. This has never been the case with Taylor Swift throughout all 18 years of her career. Every album has helped me unlock feelings that I either presently have or have had in the past but could not put into words. It felt like Swift was unlocking all of the pain for me and being the therapy I needed to finally process so many emotions that I had never dealt with before. 
 
So, as the years went on and more albums released, I became more and more obsessed with this artist and her validation of my feelings. I feel like we as a society do not talk about what we go through enough. People seem to live their dream lives with their dream jobs, their dream children, and their dream white picket fences. It is an isolating feeling for someone who knows they do not have their lives together and knows they can never attain that level of "perfection" that others put out into the world. Through many experiences in my life, I have felt completely gaslit about the way things have transpired. I have been made to feel crazy for the way I think and have people tell me that the feelings I have are not genuine or meaningful. While I have had to deal with this, Swift has been there for me through a song telling me it is going to be OK.
 
While this bond that formed between me and Swift's music was innocent and in a way, beautiful, it turned into something that is not OK. I may be a Swiftie, but I am also a Christian. I believe that there is one God and that He created the heavens and the Earth. I believe that He sent His Son, Jesus, down to die for my sins because of his overwhelming love for me. I believe that if you repent and get baptized for the remission of your sins, you will be in Heaven if you continue to remain faithful to God throughout your life. I believe that I should be living my life for Him, studying the Bible, and seeking to live my life in a way that would be pleasing to my Creator. I feel like I should be searching for ways in my life to please Him instead of spending so much time listening to my favorite musical therapist.
 
Now, we have arrived at the New Year's resolution that I made: I have decided to start limiting how many Taylor Swift songs I am allowed to listen to in a single day. She has become a complete obsession and an idol in my life. It is not a bad thing to like music or to like an artist but it IS sinful to idolize a person. All of the time I am devoting to Swift, I should be devoting to God. I do not think it is wrong to listen to Taylor Swift’s music so I will continue to but do so in moderation. The overwhelming hours I have given to Taylor Swift, I should be giving to God. The amount of time I have given God this last year needs to be the amount of time I give Taylor Swift this year and vice versa.
 
The important thing to remember here is that God is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14 says, "For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." While I would not blatantly say that Taylor Swift is a god out loud or necessarily think of her that way, I have been placing her on the pedestal that I should be placing God on. Whether I have been intentionally doing it or not, it is still wrong. 
 
The parameters that I put on myself were for me to listen to only six songs per day for the first week, go down to five songs for the second week, four songs a day for the third week, and get down to three per day. Three per day is what I will be allowed to listen to when it is all said and done. I did give myself one condition. If it is an album release week, I can listen to the new album several times and not only have to listen to three songs per day. After seven days with the new album though, I return to just three songs per day.
 
Does this mean that I am going to lose my passion and intense love for Taylor Swift's music?
 
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
 
I am still so excited that Swift just became the first artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy Award four times, that she was TIME Magazine's Person of the Year, and I will be at the store on April 19th, ready to purchase my copy of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department. I also have become a huge fan of the Kansas City Chiefs! I started watching just because of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, but now I love the entire team and enjoy watching them. I have never really enjoyed watching sports but my son has and this has brought us closer together.
 
This is not an article bashing Swift in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
 
She is in my opinion, the greatest artist of our lifetime, the G.O.A.T., and an amazing role model for my daughters. I think we can let anything in our lives get in the way of us having a relationship with God and that it does not always intentionally happen. Some of these things are even good things. Like, it is not wrong for my son to play baseball but is it right for him to play a game on a Sunday morning
instead of going to worship? NO! He is picking a worldly thing over the opportunity he gets to give God the glory and the praise that he deserves! 
 
My New Year's resolution of limiting my consumption of Taylor Swift’s music is a decision I made to bring me closer to God. When I am standing before God on Judgment Day, I know that this decision will have been the right decision to make. I think it is important for us to always self-reflect and make decisions that will help us become the best version of ourselves. This decision will bring me closer to being the person that God has called me to be. 

Cody Johnson brought his Leather Tour to Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday, February 10 for a fantastic night of country music that included many tracks off his 2023 album that shares the tour’s name.

Johnson is an interesting and truly rare case of an artist who got his start in the sort of subgenre of Texas Country Music and eventually found success in the Nashville mainstream after years of hard work because his music was both just too good to continue being hidden away and had enough of that mainstream shine to it to appeal to a wider swath of fans. He spoke often about work ethic – both of his own and that of Americans in general during his show on Saturday – and while I don’t necessarily believe him when he claims a lack of work ethic in today’s world in general, I do believe his hard work through nearly two decades of performing in smaller venues had led to today where he’s able to sell out the state’s largest venue.

Johnson began his set on Saturday night with a couple of my favorite tracks from his 2014 album Cowboy Like Me, which was the first album of his that I bought and made me pay attention to his music – this was back when he was a budding star in the Texas Country Music scene. Those songs were “Me and My Kind,” about a girl who’s had enough with cowboy exes that she’s sworn them off for good, and the lovely “Dance Her Home,” about finding love in a honky tonk. They were two of my favorite performances of the set.

One thing I learned from Johnson’s set is I didn’t give his most recent release Leather all that much of a listen-to after it was released in November of last year – late-year releases tend to fly a bit under my radar. He performed six songs off the album on Saturday night, including real gems like the title track and “Work Boots.” But it’s the song “Dirt Cheap,” about an older gentleman’s refusal to sell his farm and the reasons why, that has me believing it to not only be the best track on the album, but an instant classic in Johnson’s repertoire.

Some of my other favorite performances from Johnson’s set included the beautiful love song “With You I Am,” from his 2016 album Gotta Be Me, and “On My Way to You” and “Dear Rodeo,” both on 2019’s Ain’t Nothin’ to It.

I enjoyed Johnson and his talented backing back The Rockin’ CJB’s rip-roaring cover of the Charlie Daniels Band classic “Long Haired Country Boy.”

The moment that truly made the entire night was when Johnson saved his best for last with his first No. 1 hit “’Til You Can’t,” off his 2021 double-album Human. “’Til You Can’t,” which won Song of the Year at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in 2023 for its writers Ben Stennis and Matt Rogers, and Single of the Year at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards for Johnson, is a terrific reminder of all of the important things you shouldn’t put off until tomorrow because tomorrows are never promised.

It was truly an amazing concert moment seeing and hearing the sold-out audience singing along with Johnson on the song.

After the song finished, Johnson took the time to sign many autographs for fans along the front rows of the arena, which you rarely see from artists at these types of venues. He would come out for a great two-song encore that included the fantastic “Diamond In My Pocket,” from his 2011 album A Different Day, the oldest song of his discography performed on Saturday night. He ended the evening with a nice rendition of the Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings classic “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

Johnson’s set was fantastic, but having to endure the performance of Chris Janson before him took a lot of mental fortitude on my part – though it honestly became so ridiculous that my wife and I just basically made a joke out of the whole thing.

The great thing about Johnson is his authenticity. You can tell he’s for real. Janson, on the other hand, felt like if Larry the Cable Guy was a country singer – it was every dumbass redneck stereotype you could think of rolled into one. The guy broke into the Pledge of Allegiance abruptly, he got down on one knee as if to pray to show his appreciation for the crowd, he had his son come out to sing a song with him in which the young boy sang about loving beer, he had his “smoking hot wife” come out and after she left made a joke about how much time he spent “doing that.” It was like “Hee Haw” on meth.

Janson went through his “hits” and also seemed to enjoy throwing much better classic country songs into his set willy-nilly like he couldn’t get through one of his own without playing someone else’s better song. Among the biggest hits of his career that he performed on Saturday were “Drunk Girl,” “Fix a Drink,” “Good Vibes” and his biggest hit from 2015, “Buy Me a Boat.”

Dillon Carmichael opened the evening and if you enjoy country songs about beer and trucks you’ll probably enjoy his stuff, but I know from hearing some of his earlier stuff that he’s a bit better than what he appeared to be on Saturday night.

Every year I like to rank the performances on the Grammy Awards telecast from my favorite to least favorite. But please keep in mind these are simply the subjective opinions of one man. I will note that I didn’t think there was a single bad performance on the Grammys telecast Sunday night so it’s not like I believe there were any crimes against music perpetrated during the Grammy Awards – I think you may have to go back to Justin Bieber performing a slow piano version of “Peaches” in 2022 for something like that. I will mention that 13 performances seem low for the Grammys and the show even went three and a half hours. The show also desperately needs to do a better job at getting its biggest nominees to perform, though I know they must’ve asked some of these artists and were turned down.

1. “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell & Friends
I was very much looking forward to seeing Joni Mitchell make her Grammys debut, despite having previously won nine Grammy Awards (she’d add a tenth this year for Best Folk Album for Joni Mitchell at Newport), but I didn’t really know what to expect and I certainly didn’t realize how touched I would immediately be. I know at 80 years old Mitchell isn’t the same singer she once was, especially after major health scares that included a brain aneurysm rupture in 2015. But within the first three words of her singing “Both Sides Now,” one of her most iconic songs, I was already teary-eyed. It was fantastic to see her perform live with her newfound family of wonderful musicians including Brandi Carlile, whom Mitchell fans owe a lot to for getting her back into the performing aspect of music, Allison Russell, Lucius and Sista Strings. It’s one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen at the Grammy Awards.

2. “Turn the Lights Back On” by Billy Joel
OK, I can feel the young’ns laughing at me and switching for something else online now. No, I’m not a boomer. I’m only 36. But I love the classics and Billy Joel is one of my favorites. He hasn’t had new pop music since his 1994 album River of Dreams, as he kind of fell out of love with the songwriting process. Joel’s new song “Turn the Lights Back On,” which I heard for the first time last week, instantly floored me. I didn’t know what to expect from his first song in 30 years but I didn’t think it would possibly be this good. I loved the video package shown before the song, which explained how it was Joel’s meeting modern songwriter Freddy Wexler, 37, and striking up a friendship that led to at least a bit of a rekindled flame for songwriting – though I don’t get the feeling we’ll be getting another Joel album. “Turn the Lights Back On” is the perfect song for a legendary singer-songwriter who put away the pen and reclaimed it again after so many years.

3. “You May Be Right” by Billy Joel
Hey, if I’m going old school I might as well go all in, right? If I were to rank my favorite Billy Joel songs – which quite frankly I’m surprised I haven’t yet done – I think his 1980 top-10 hit “You May Be Right” off his Glass Houses album would make the top 10. Joel ended the 2024 Grammy Awards telecast on CBS with a rocking version of the song, as the credits rolled, including that terrific saxophone solo by Mark Rivera.

OK, kids, I’ll get to the new stuff … well, sort of …

4. “Fast Car” by Luke Combs & Tracy Chapman
So, Luke Combs's cover of Tracy Chapman’s iconic “Fast Car” is new, but the song itself is 36 years old. I’ve been dying to see the two perform this song together and felt that last November’s CMA Awards, in which the song won Song of the Year for its songwriter Chapman, might be the chance but it came and went. So, I felt Chapman, who’s kind of become something of a recluse, might just be sitting back at home enjoying the royalties from the song’s latest popularity. But when I heard Combs was chosen to perform at the Grammy Awards, I once again got my hopes up and thankfully the dream performance happened. I always felt Combs’s cover of “Fast Car” was loving and well-done and was happy he didn’t change lyrics to alter the gender, but I also had concerns about fans not digging deep enough to realize it wasn’t his song and might ignore the importance of Chapman. To his credit, Combs didn’t seem like he was about to let that happen and I loved the video package before the performance with him talking about his dad playing the song when he was a child and how he immediately fell in love with it. Chapman still sounds as smooth as ever. This was her second time performing the song on the Grammys, having done so to close out the 1989 show after winning Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for it.

5. “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish
Director Greta Gerwig’s movie “Barbie” was everywhere last summer and is still a behemoth of award season for movies, but its soundtrack was also a megahit that’s resulted in Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?,” which is truly the heart and soul and captures the overall vibe and theme of the film, being everywhere over the last few months winning awards at film award and now music awards. It’s to the point where I hope it doesn’t become oversaturated and ultimately despised by the public, especially given the fact she’ll probably be performing it live again in another month at the Oscars. The song won Eilish and her brother, songwriting partner and producer Finneas O’Connell, Song of the Year on Sunday night and she performed an incredibly emotional and downplayed performance of it with her brother accompanying on piano. It was a gorgeous performance and moment.

6. “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo
​I could easily have flipped-flopped Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo’s performances here – “What Was I Made For?” and “Vampire” have been my two favorite pop songs of the last year. I like a bit of angst in my pop music, which probably explains why Eilish and Rodrigo have released some of my favorite pop songs of the last half-decade, and Rodrigo certainly has that in spades in “Vampire,” about an older lover who preyed on her naivety and took advantage of her before she eventually came to this realization. In another similarity between Eilish and Rodrigo, Rodrigo begins “Vampire” with this plaintive whisper before really ramping up the song and her vocals by the end for a powerhouse performance. The fake blood over her arms and face was a nice touch – though I understand why some wanted to see her go full-on “Carrie.” But, who really wants to have to take a shower mid-award show?  

7. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus
At times during the Grammy Awards telecast it looked like Miley Cyrus was having the most fun of anyone and with good reason – she won her first career Grammy Award when “Flowers” took home Best Pop Solo Performance early in the show – and was doing her best Tina Turner performance when she took the stage. When she egged the audience to sing along when performing the song you could tell she was having a great time. Later in the evening, she would take home Record of the Year, which some consider to be the top prize at the Grammys.    

8. “Snooze”/”Kill Bill” by SZA
SZA’s performance of “Snooze” and “Kill Bill” was, without a doubt, the most cinematic performance of the 2024 Grammy Awards, including sword wielding stunt man fighting and flying all over the place while SZA, the most nominated performer of the Grammys this year, performed her biggest hits off the R&B Album of the Year SOS.

9. In Memoriam: “For Once In My Life” & “The Best Is Yet to Come” by Stevie Wonder, “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Annie Lennox, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me” and “Optimistic” by Jon Batiste and “Proud Mary” by Fantasia Barrino

This wasn’t my favorite Grammy In Memoriam and much of that has to do with not giving much spotlight to Jimmy Buffett, who I understand never won a Grammy Award and only received two nominations for country music collaborations late in his career, but he was a singer-songwriter and musician who meant so much to me and millions around the world. It came off a little disrespectful. There were only half of the performances in this In Memoriam that I enjoyed. The segment, which had to have been the longest of the telecast, began with Stevie Wonder paying tribute to Tony Bennett with a performance of “For Once In My Life,” which was done as a duet with Bennett via an old video recording. I just didn’t like the idea of this. It got better when Wonder performed “The Best Is Yet to Come” afterward, but the spot could’ve been used to tribute Buffett or Gordon Lightfoot or anyone else. I enjoyed Annie Lennox’s tribute to Sinead O’Connor on “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which she sounded terrific on. Then Lenny Kravitz announced a tribute to music executive Clarence Avant, who was known as “The Godfather of Black Music,” and Jon Batiste performed a medley of “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me” and “Optimistic,” which by the end felt like Batiste may have forgotten there were images and names of deceased music legends scrolling on a screen. The In Memoriam segment ended with a terrific performance of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” by Fantasia Barrino.

10. “Training Season”/”Houdini” by Dua Lipa
Debuting music on an award show is hard because it’s not conducive to really hearing the lyrics, especially when done as a two-song medley and while being a part of a spectacle as the Dua Lipa performance was. So, while on first listen “Training Season” and “Houdini” from her upcoming album didn’t stand out to me like some of her hits from the past, they may grow on me over time. Opening the Grammys is certainly an honor.

11. “On Form”/”City Boys” & “Sitting On Top of the World” by Burna Boy feat. Brandy & 21 Savage
The Grammy Awards celebrate music from all over the world so it was nice to see Nigerian performer Burna Boy, who’s won a Grammy and was nominated for four this year, make his Grammy telecast debut with a medley of songs off his most recent album I Told Them … He performed “On Form,” “City Boys” and then was joined by Brandy and 21 Savage for “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” Hopefully, we’ll see more performances like this in future years from the Grammys.

12. “My Eyes,” “I Know?” and “FE!N” by Travis Scott feat. Playboi Carti
I don’t dislike rap but of all of the major musical genres, it’s the one I listen to the least and understand the ins and outs of the least. So, please chalk this ranking up to that fact. Travis Scott performed a three-song medley (I do hate medleys though) off his Grammy-nominated album Utopia: “My Eyes,” “I Know ?” and “Fe!n,” which featured Playboi Carti. The performance was one of the most cinematic of the evening, by far, with Scott performing amidst a burning set and at the end trashing the place with folding chairs, which looked so cathartic. My biggest issue was the constant censorship of some of the lyrics which made the performance hard to follow. While some might blame that on Scott I just wish CBS/network TV standards weren’t so prudish – it was after 10 p.m. (CST) after all when he performed.

13. “Atomic City” by U2
I understand that U2 opening the one-of-a-kind (for now, at least) The Sphere venue in Las Vegas with a residency was one of the big music stories of 2023 but I never really got U2 performing at the Grammy Awards. I was sort of holding my opinion on it to see what they would perform because, even though I’m not a big U2 fan if they had performed a classic like “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Where the Streets Have No Name” or especially “With or Without You” I would’ve been pleased. Instead, we got “Atomic City,” which was written as a promotional tie-in for their Sphere residency (you know the kind of stuff rock & roll is all about), and the performance didn’t appear to my eyes to be live but a previously shot, hectically with a drone performance. The whole thing seemed robotic and lifeless. OK, maybe I should go back up and edit the part about there not being a bad performance on the show – but there wasn’t a bad “live” one.