Bon Iver Slams Bruno Mars Grammy Wins: You Absolutely Have to Be Sting Me

Bon Iver took aim at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on Monday, questioning Bruno Mars’ Grammys sweep.

“Looks like [Grammys] are still something serious musicians should not take seriously!” tweeted Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. “Absolutely NO offense to Mr. Mars, but you absolutely have to be s—ting me.”

https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/957977283872075776

Mars scooped up six awards — album of the year (“24K Magic”), song of the year (“That’s What I Like”), best R&B performance (“That’s What I Like”), best R&B song, and best R&B album — plus an additional win for best engineered album (non classical). Mars bested Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Childish Gambino, and Jay-Z for the top prize.

“To be factual, Mr. Mars made a name in the INDUSTRY by making hits OUT of hits of yesteryear,” Vernon continued. “SO … no real need to be mad, even, at the [Grammys]. SZA? KENDRICK? I’d say move on from this s— show. Felt like a Democratic Party Party, not R ‘n’ Roll.”

https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/957978441021841408

Vernon — a four-time Grammy nominee with two wins in 2012 for best new artist and best alternative album — didn’t stop there. He next addressed the lack of female winners, asking, “While some awesome musicians do win, what is WINNING?”

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“It has to begin with … women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level. … [They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome,” he said. “I don’t have personal experience of those brick walls that you face, but I think it’s upon us — as an industry — to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.”

This response didn’t sit well with Vernon.

“S—ty Coach language,” he said.

Vernon also sided with Lorde, who declined performing at the ceremony because she was the only album of the year nominee not afforded a solo performance. Lorde was offered an opportunity to perform in a Tom Petty tribute, but turned it down, watching from the audience as Mars won album of the year. Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich defended the choice in the press room, explaining, “these shows are a matter of choices. We have a box and it gets full. She had a great album. There’s no way we can really deal with everybody.”

Vernon again took umbrage, siding with Lorde.

“I have to say Ken [Ehrlich] is a d— producer. I’m with Lorde on this, hard,” he wrote. “Ken told us Holocene (roty, soty nominee in 2011 (?)) was ‘too long and slow and that we’d lose 4-6 million viewers cause of that’ and that he’s broken a lot of careers on the show, so I should listen.”

https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/958014233115070465

To further cement his point, Vernon retweeted Crosby, Stills and Nash star David Crosby’s response to a fan question on Twitter if he watched the telecast with the hashtag, “incrozname.

“No,” he wrote. “I didn’t even bother to watch.”

https://twitter.com/blobtower/status/958035293768167427

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Update: 2024-08-08

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