text:
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Angola
- Benin
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Ethiopia
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- The Gambia
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Regional bodies
Angola: Migration Legislation Development and Asylum
Objective: The MIEUX technical assistance in Angola supported the process of legislation development, through the provision of legal advisory services and practical tools for improvement of the relevant domestic legal framework. The action focused, in particular, on the drafting of the National Asylum Law.
Summary: In March 2010, an assessment mission to Luanda took place, which aimed at evaluating the existing migration and asylum legal framework, its correlation and compatibility with international standards and the level of implementation of the national legislation. The report 'Migration and Asylum Institutional and Legal Framework in Angola', including a set of recommendations for improvement and the way forward, was drafted.
In July 2010, the 'Seminar on Migration Legislation Development' was organised, with the aim of presenting the aforementioned recommendations, and furthermore, providing a national platform of dialogue on specific topics, such as refugee law and trafficking in human beings. The event successfully gathered participants from both central and regional government authorities, as well as different relevant ministries involved in migration management. A set of final recommendations for future courses of action was adopted.
Duration: September 2009–July 2011
Benin: Migration and Development
Objective: The aim of the action is to support the Beninese authorities in designing public policies aimed at increasing the development impact of remittances in the country.
Summary: A fact-finding mission to identify the needs in terms of migration and development, and remittance management in Benin took place in May 2013. Based on the results of the fact-finding mission, the MIEUX team produced an assessment report, as well as organised a seminar on migration and development, and remittances in order to support the National Strategy on Productive and Social Use of Remittances. The seminar took place in October 2013. This will be followed by two other seminars aiming at drafting the future strategy. Experts from the German national administration and a private consultant working for the African Development Bank were deployed for the first activities.
Duration: January 2013–present
Burundi I: Border Management (and Security) and Human Rights
Summary: This action started with a fact-finding mission in December 2013 to identify border management procedures and human capacities in Burundi. It will be followed by two sets of activities. One set is related to the drafting of a border management strategy and its operational guidelines. The National Seminar on Border Management was held in June 2014 and an ad hoc joint drafting session was held in December 2014. The other set aims at strengthening the knowledge and capacities of border and migration officials in addressing the needs of vulnerable migrants at borders and in using referral mechanisms for vulnerable migrants. Experts from the French administration are being deployed for this action.
Duration: September 2013–present
Burundi II: Migration and Development
Summary: In the aim of drafting the National Policy on Diaspora Engagement, a set of activities will be implemented. This action started in August 2014 with meetings with the different Burundian actors in order to map out the ongoing diaspora-related activities. Furthermore, consultations with diaspora organisations in the EU, as well as policy exchange meetings between the staff of the Directorate of Diaspora and Belgium authorities, was organised in February 2015. A workshop was held in April 2015 to finalise the National Policy on Diaspora Engagement and to launch the drafting process of the Action Plan. The MIEUX experts are also providing guidance and support to the Inter-ministerial Committee set up by the Directorate of Diaspora. The Committee leads the drafting of the National Policy on Diaspora Engagement. Finally, a series of information sessions on diaspora engagement and communication with the diaspora are foreseen. Experts from the French and Malian national administrations are being deployed for this action.
Duration: April 2014–present
Cabo Verde I: Development of the National Immigration Strategy and Action Plan
Objective: MIEUX provided support in the development of the National Immigration Strategy under the scope of the EU-Cape Verde Mobility Partnership.
Summary: In February 2010, the Seminar on Migration Management and the Development of Migration Policies took place in Praia, Cape Verde, which gathered together representatives from various government institutions, NGOs and academia involved in migration. The seminar preceded an assessment mission, the findings of which were used for the National Immigration Strategy (NIS). Two additional missions followed in September and November 2010, with a view to improving and consolidating the draft of the NIS through a series of consultations with relevant authorities and stakeholders. Following the endorsement of the National Immigration Strategy in October 2011, the second phase of the action started with a presentation of the Immigration Strategy and a workshop on the development of the National Action Plan on Immigration. This workshop enabled the experts to gather information on recent developments in the area of immigration, and brainstorm on the content and structure of the action plan(s). The final activity presented the final action plan for the implementation of the National Immigration Strategy to the national authorities, and took place in Praia in February 2013. Experts from the Cape Verdean, Dutch, Finnish and French national administrations were deployed for this action.
Duration: February 2010–February 2013
Cabo Verde II: Support to the Drafting of New Migration Framework Legislation
Objective: In this second phase of technical assistance to the country, MIEUX supported the efforts of Cape Verde to finalise the reform of its immigration policy and legislative framework, and ensure an appropriate implementation of the recently approved National Immigration Strategy.
Summary: Following an in-depth review of the current legislative framework and assessment of its consistency with the new National Immigration Strategy and other instruments, a support workshop for the drafting of new legislation on migration and asylum took place in March 2013. The experts provided remote support in coordinating the legislative proposal drafting process, and assisted in the review of the final proposal for the main legislation to replace the 1997 Law on Foreigners, which was presented during a public event in July 2013 in Praia. Law academics from Cape Verdean and Portuguese universities were deployed for this action.
Duration: July 2012–July 2013
Cabo Verde III: Migration Legislation
Objective: The overall objective of this action is to support the efforts of the Ministry of Interior in reforming its policy and legislative framework on Foreigners and on Asylum, and to ensure a proper implementation of the relevant laws.
Summary: Following two previous MIEUX actions in the country, this action began with a fact-finding mission. Furthermore, an information session on new frameworks and procedures for the entry and residence of foreigners was organised to build the capacity and reinforce the knowledge of field and central administration officers. An expert from Portugal and one from Cabo Verde were deployed for this action. The information session on new frameworks and procedures regarding Asylum and Protection is foreseen for the second quarter of 2016.
Duration: July 2014–present
Cote d'Ivoire I: Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)
Summary: An assessment mission took place in September 2012, which provided an understanding of the current national anti-THB efforts and institutions responsible for THB. This activity was followed by the National Seminar on Counter-THB Policy, which took place in April 2013. MIEUX experts then provided support for the development of a new policy framework on THB, which will be presented in a final activity for validation and submission at the political level. An inter-departmental working group on THB has been set up. The preparation of this new policy framework was launched during a first technical meeting, co-organised with UNODC, in October 2013, which was followed by other MIEUX-UNODC joint meetings in March and June 2014 and in February 2015. The National Strategy and Action Plan to counter THB in Côte d'Ivoire for the period 2016-2020 were officially presented in November 2015. Experts from the Italian and Portuguese national administrations were deployed for this action.
Duration: March 2012-November 2015
Côte d'Ivoire II: Migration and Development
Summary: This action began with an assessment mission in May 2014 to identify the gaps and challenges related to migration and development in Côte d'Ivoire based on the results of the MeDAO project. This was followed in September 2014 by a knowledge exchange session on migration and development during which the policy development process was launched. In addition, a study visit to Morocco was conducted in May 2015 with a view towards sharing experiences and best migration and development practices within a South-South exchange perspective. The findings of the study visit are expected to also feed into the drafting process of the National Strategy on Migration and Development. A workshop on the contribution of immigrant communities to the development of Côte d'Ivoire will be organised and a specific chapter of the Ivorian Strategy on Migration and Development will be dedicated to this topic. The strategy will be presented in a final activity, for validation, and will pave the way for further discussions related to its implementation. An expert from the French national administration and a Senegalese expert are being deployed for this action.
Duration: March 2014–present
Ethiopia: Conference "National Dialogue on Tackling Illegal Migration"
Objective: From 11–12 March 2010, in partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MIEUX provided support and technical assistance in the implementation of the Ethiopian National Conference on Irregular Migration.
Summary: Held at the UN-ECA Conference Hall in Addis Ababa, the conference brought together, for the first time under one roof, over 250 national stakeholders – both from the capital and regions – to discuss and find common grounds on key challenges related to combating smuggling and trafficking in human beings. MIEUX EU experts, from the United Kingdom Home Office and the Border Agency, assisted and advised participants in the development of a national strategy on irregular migration. The conference was opened by the Their Excellencies Ato Seyoum Mesfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Mr. Dino Sinigallia, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Ethiopia, and Mr. Antonio Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar, Ambassador of Spain to Ethiopia.
Duration: 11–12 March 2010
The Gambia: Data Management
Objective: The overall objective of this action was to support the Ministry of Interior of The Gambia in preparing for the development of a national migration policy. With this aim, MIEUX provided assistance to the Gambia Bureau of Statistics in the completion, analysis and dissemination of the National Migration and Urbanisation Survey conducted in 2009.
Summary: The first activity took place at the end of October 2011 in the form of an assessment mission, with a review of the 2009 National Migration and Urbanisation Survey and the workshop "Data Collection for Migration Statistics". The workshop gave representatives from different national agencies a chance to exchange ideas, knowledge and practices on migration flows and data collection in The Gambia, among themselves and with the MIEUX EU experts. In addition, the MIEUX experts were familiarised with the raw data from the National Migration and Urbanisation Survey. The second activity was a desk-based data validation activity conducted in the experts' home countries. This was followed by a data analysis workshop in January 2012, which engaged participants from relevant agencies involved in the National Migration and Urbanisation Survey and those working at the operational level.
Throughout this action, MIEUX experts completed the National Migration and Urbanisation Survey Final Report in close coordination with the Gambian Ministry of Interior and Bureau of Statistics. These results were officially published and disseminated to various ministries and organisations at a final event on 13 December 2012 in Banjul.
Experts from the French and Italian national administrations were deployed for this Action. ICMPD also provided expertise to this action.
Duration: October 2010–December 2012
Ghana I: Capacity Building and Migration Management
Objective: MIEUX provided support to the Ghanaian Immigration Service (GIS) through a series of workshops aimed at enhancing its migration management, migration policy, communications, project management, institutional building and reform. A training session on the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM) was also provided through this action.
Summary: The first activity was completed in November 2011, which identified the gaps and needs of the GIS and the internal Project Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (PPMEU). The findings and recommendations were delivered in an assessment report, which formed the basis of the activities developed in line with the overall objectives of this request. In line with these recommendations, MIEUX organised the seminar "The EU Global Approach to Migration and Mobility" in Accra in January 2012 for Ghanaian authorities and stakeholders. This was closely followed by the first of four workshops, which took place in February 2012, on project development for senior management staff of the GIS. The second was on institution building and reform (with reference to migration management) and took place 24–26 April 2012. In March 2013, a workshop on communication was implemented for the public relations officers in order to develop a communication strategy for the GIS. The last activity, a workshop on migration policies, took place in April 2013. Experts from the British, Bulgarian, Dutch and Polish public administrations, as well as two private consultants, were deployed for this action.
Duration: September 20112–April 2013
Ghana II: Migration and Development
Summary: This Action began with a 5-day event in August 2014 in Accra aimed at discussing the issue of the potential contribution of Ghanaian diaspora to the socio-economic development of the country, and launching the drafting process of the Ghanaian Diaspora Engagement Policy document. It was followed by a consultative meeting between selected representatives of Ghanaian diaspora in Europe and representatives of the Diaspora Affairs Bureau in Belgium in October 2014 to foster dialogue and interaction on the objectives and fundamentals of the policy document. This consultation ensured direct involvement of the final beneficiaries of the policy, which will be useful at the stage of identifying policy options. An institutional needs assessment was held in March 2015. This Action is currently under revision. European and South non-governmental experts have been deployed for this Action.
Duration: June 2014–present
Kenya: Document Security and Irregular Migration
Objective: The aim of this action was to provide technical assistance to the Kenyan Immigration Department (ID) on document security and irregular migration.
Summary: An assessment mission in May 2012 took the form of bilateral meetings and consultations with the Kenyan Department of Immigration Services, and other relevant agencies and institutions dealing with migration aspects, to assess the gaps and needs of the ID. This was followed by training on border management and document security also in May 2012, which was used as a basis for MIEUX experts to design and deliver a training programme for border guards and immigration officers in document security. The last activity took place in Nairobi in September 2012 with a Training of Trainers (ToT) in document security, which complemented the government's ongoing efforts to improve their border management systems at all border control points in order to hasten data collection and transmission, and facilitate better border management. Experts from the Austrian and Dutch administrations were deployed for this action.
Duration: January 2012–September 2012
Malawi I: Border Management
Objective: MIEUX supported capacity building in Malawi in the field of border management.
Summary: Three MIEUX experts from the Slovenian Border Police participated in this activity. The activity has proven highly successful and contributed to improving border management procedures and capacities through the delivery of quick and concrete results. Along with the delivery of a 'Practical Handbook for Immigration Officials on Border Procedures in Malawi', training was provided to a group of trainers to enable them to disseminate information to immigration, border police and customs officers in Malawi and to both land and air border crossing point personnel.
Duration: September 2009–November 2009
Malawi II: Migration and Citizenship Policy
Objective: The aim of the action is to support the Malawian authorities in developing a comprehensive migration and citizenship policy.
Summary: A fact-finding mission, aimed at identifying the key needs of the national authorities dealing with migration, took place in October 2013. A thematic knowledge exchange session was held in January 2014 to develop a comprehensive approach to labour migration, and migration and development. It was then followed by a session on irregular migration in March 2014. A final practical session on return and reintegration was held in May 2014, following which the drafting phase of the activity began with a joint drafting session in September 2014. The experts additionally provided remote support in the development of the Migration and Citizenship Policy, which will be presented at a national conference for the launch of the action plan drafting process. An expert from the Dutch national administration and a Nigerian expert were deployed for this action.
Duration: April 2013–present
Malawi III: Migration and Development
Objective: The overall objective of the action is to facilitate the government of Malawi's dialogue with its diaspora, through the drafting of a Diaspora Engagement Policy, in order to further the government's broader development objectives.
Summary: The action launched with an extensive fact-finding mission in the beginning of October 2014 to identify key stakeholders, as well as current policies and initiatives on diaspora related-issues in Malawi. It was followed by an information session on mapping the diaspora's geography, size and economic potential in December 2014, and a workshop on fostering sustainable links between the diaspora and the Malawi government in April 2015. To ensure the direct involvement of the final beneficiaries of the policy, a consultative meeting with the diaspora was organised in Ireland in May 2015. At this occasion, the Diaspora Affairs Unit (DAU - requesting authority) was given the opportunity to learn about the Irish experience in building links with the diaspora. Ahead of the final workshop planned for early 2016, the experts provided support to the drafting of the policy in a concerted drafting session in Blantyre which was complemented by remote support. The DAU additionally benefitted from a study visit to Ethiopia in October 2015 to get an African perspective on diaspora engagement strategies and to consult the Malawian diaspora in Ethiopia on the draft policy before finalising it.
Duration: June 2014–present
Mali: Labour Migration
Objective: The overall objective of the action is to improve the management of labour migration in Mali both at the national level and in the Malian representations abroad.
Summary: This action has two main components: drafting of the Operational Guidelines on Labour Migration and delivery of training sessions. It begun with a fact-finding mission to identify priorities, gaps, needs and challenges for labour migration management in Mali in May 2015. The experts will then provide guidance to the Malian authorities in the development of the Guidelines through a series of drafting sessions and remote support. Finally, two training sessions will be organised on labour migration management and on labour migration and migrant workers' rights to reinforce the capacities and knowledge of the Malian authorities, both at central and local levels, with regard to various aspects of the management of labour migration. South experts are deployed for this action.
Duration: September 2014–present
Mauritius: Migration ManagementObjective: The main objective of this action is to support the efforts of Mauritius and other countries of the Accelerated Program for Economic Integration (APEI) to regionally develop and implement necessary frameworks related to the management of circular and labour migration.
Summary: A fact-finding mission took place in June 2012 and will be followed by two other activities. A regional workshop on mobility, labour and circular migration will be held, followed by an information session on the implementation of APEI's Memorandum of Understanding on Mobility. Experts from the French and Italian national administrations have been deployed for the first activities, while other experts are currently being identified for the two upcoming activities.
Duration: April 2012–present
Mozambique: Modern Migration Management
Objective: MIEUX assisted the Department of Immigration of Mozambique through a three-step activity aimed at strengthening the country's capacities in border management and document security, with the support of three Portuguese experts and a Slovenian expert.
Summary: Following up on the training programme on irregular migration management delivered to Mozambican officials from 23–31 January 2010, the Portuguese SEF hosted a five-day study visit for migration officials from the Department of Immigration of Mozambique from 22–26 March 2010, which aimed to provide first-hand experience of EU and Portuguese good practices. The final step of this MIEUX technical assistance was the provision of an in-depth border management and document security training at provincial border crossing points in Mozambique 31 May–11 June 2010.
Duration: January 2010–June 2010
Nigeria III: Blue Border ManagementObjective: The overall objective of this Action is to support the relevant Nigerian authorities to address the various current and possible future challenges of migration by enhancing their capacities to better manage borders and curb irregular migration, especially at maritime borders and with regards to investigation and prosecution of irregular migration cases.
Summary: The first component of this Action will start in the first quarter of 2016 and will focus on maritime border management. A fact finding mission will be organised followed by an Information Session on Blue Border Management, Security and Human Rights targeting central and field officers. A Study visit to one EU MS will be organised to to share experiences and learn from existing practices in the field of blue border management. This will allow for the development of a Training Curriculum for Blue Border Management which will serve as a basis for a Training of Trainers (ToT) session. The second component of this Action will focus on Investigation techniques and prosecution in the field of irregular migration, including for migrant smuggling and THB and will consist of a Training Session on the topic. Experts from the French and Portuguese national administrations arewill be deployed for this action.
Duration: March 2015- present
Nigeria IV: Labour MigrationObjective: The overall objective of this Action is to enhance the capacities of the relevant Nigerian authorities in the delivery, collection and analysis of reliable data on labour migration in order to assist in the design of appropriate policy responses. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity – in its role as coordinator and implementer of the National Policy on Labour Migration – requested MIEUX assistance.
Summary: This action will begin in April 2016 with stakeholder meetings and an exchange on challenges related to labour migration data collection. This will allow for the access and evaluation of existing data banks that may already contain information about labour migrants and their characteristics. A series of interactive workshops, training of trainers, and remote support are then foreseen to deliver the technical support requested by the Ministry to design, develop, and elaborate the necessary labour market data tools.
Duration: November 2015 - present
Rwanda: Border Management, Migration Data Management and Investigation of Migration-related Offences
Summary: This action began with a fact-finding mission that took place in August 2013. It consisted of a triple set of activities. The first component supported the recently established Statistical Unit of the Rwanda Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration. Two activities focusing on migration data collection, analysis and information sharing were implemented in the first half of 2014. The second component, carried out in February 2014, aimed at improving the technical capacities of immigration officers to investigate migration-related offences. The third component aimed at improving the capacity building system of the Directorate General for Immigration and Emigration, with the objective of developing a comprehensive border management training curriculum and the respective training materials. To this end, two activities were held: a training of trainers workshop in June 2014, and an information exchange on migration data analysis and information sharing in July 2014. Experts from the Italian and Slovenian national administrations and a private consultant were deployed for this action.
Duration: January 2013–July 2014
Senegal: Border Management
Summary: A mapping mission took place on 16-20 May 2011 to assess border management needs regarding the development of a strategy, and to identify the relevant stakeholders to be involved in the development of the national border management strategy. Two workshops on the drafting of the national strategy for border management took place in September and November 2011, respectively. The review of the national strategy for border management took place on 18-20 January 2012. This was followed by an interministerial meeting on 14 December 2012, where the strategy was presented to all relevant ministries, and comments and recommendations were gathered. In May 2013, the final activity, a workshop for the development of an action plan for the implementation of the strategy, was held. Experts from the Dutch and French national administrations were deployed in this action.
Duration: August 2010–May 2013
Sierra Leone I: Combating Irregular Flows: Border Management and Development of Migration Legislation
Objective: MIEUX provided expertise through a series of training sessions on border management/security and migration legislation.
Summary: A fact-finding mission took place in April 2010 in order to assess the migration and border management needs. As a result, an Assessment Report on Border Management and Migration Legislation was elaborated, which included a set of practical recommendations. Two training sessions on border management and security took place in Freetown with the aim of presenting EU and EU Member State models in these target areas. The training session gathered relevant border management authorities at the national and local level. The training session 'Migration Legislation' took place from 4–6 October 2011. The expertise was provided by experts from Lithuania, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.
Duration: April 2010–October 2011
Sierra Leone II: Migration Management
Summary: A first training session on border management and document security for recently recruited border guards took place in May 2013. This was followed by a training session on leadership and human resource management for senior immigration officers in August 2013. MIEUX organised several activities to support the Sierra Leonean Government in the drafting process of the first National Migration Policy of Sierra Leone. The latest one was an information session on building policy coherence in the area of migration in February 2016. The main aim of the 2-day information session was to support the Sierra Leonean Government in its efforts to design, promote, implement and assess coherent and mutually supporting policies in different areas of migration, as well as coherence at institutional level. The concluding activity, a conference to present the final version of the National Migration Policy, will be organised in May 2016. Experts from the Belgian, British, Czech, Dutch, Moldovan and Polish national administrations, as well as a private expert from the UK, have been deployed for this Action.
Duration: March 2012–present
Togo I: Labour Migration
Objective: The overall objective of the action was to improve the management of labour migration at the national level and increase the integration of Togo into the "African Operational Répertoire of Jobs and Professions" (ROAME).
Summary: An initial activity aimed at assessing the needs of the relevant government actors involved in labour migration in Togo took place in March 2013. It was followed by a first ROAME-related technical workshop in September 2013. This activity aimed at raising awareness and training the relevant staff in order to facilitate the inclusion of Togo into the ROAME. Another set of activities aimed at drafting the guidelines developed by a previously designated working group. A workshop on labour migration management was held in December 2013. An ad hoc drafting session was held in September 2014. A labour migration manual has been drafted. Experts from the Belgian, Beninese and French national administrations were deployed for this action.
Duration: January 2013–December 2014
Togo II: Migration and Development
Objective: The aim of the action is to support the Togolese authorities in drafting a national migration and development strategy.
Summary: A fact-finding mission to identify the needs in terms of migration and development and diaspora management in Togo took place in March 2013. Based on the results of the fact-finding report, a seminar on migration and development was held in August 2013. The MIEUX experts have since provided support to the drafting of a national strategy for migration and development, and have facilitated the exchange of knowledge on the productive use of remittances. A migration and development thematic workshop for policy drafting was held in April 2014. Before the final validation of the strategy, a drafting workshop was held in March 2015 and drew on the members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration and Development. Experts from the French and Ghanaian national administrations are being deployed for this action. ICMPD has also provided expertise for this action.
Duration: January 2013–present
Uganda: Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) and Document Security
Objective: The overall aim of this action was to provide support to the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) by strengthening its capacities to manage THB and document security. MIEUX provided training to both entry level and senior management staff in the targeted areas.
Summary: Following the recommendations of the initial assessment mission, a workshop on THB Awareness took place in June 2012 and provided the basic principles of THB legislation and operations for frontline immigration officers. In addition, an Operational Field Guide, developed by MIEUX experts, was presented at this workshop. In September 2012, the second workshop took place in Kampala for the National Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings on the topics of how to operate as a task force, how to draft a national plan of action and how to cooperate with stakeholders and partners. This workshop shared best practices and other examples of national action plans and provided the National Task Force with a basic framework for the drafting a national action plan. The culminating activity was a seminar on National Referral Mechanisms delivered by the MIEUX experts, which took place 10–11 December 2012 in Kampala. Experts from the British, Lithuanian and Portuguese national administrations were deployed for this action.
Duration: November 2011–December 2012
Zambia: Trafficking in Human Beings
Objective: MIEUX provided institutional and staff capacity building in the field of anti-trafficking, to the Zambian Anti-Human Trafficking Secretariat under the Home Affairs Research Planning Information Department (HARID) with the support of experts from the Dutch and Portuguese national administrations, as well as EUROPOL expertise.
Summary: Preparatory meetings for this action took place in Lusaka, in June 2010, followed by an assessment mission in the beginning of December 2010. A training session on investigation and prosecution, victim support and assistance, and (transnational) referral mechanisms took place in December, and was followed by a study visit in February 2011 to the Netherlands to meet with various national administrations, as well as EUROPOL and EUROJUST. The study visit allowed the members of the Secretariat to observe and benefit from EU good practices and first-hand experiences in combating trafficking in human beings. The MIEUX action was concluded in March 2011 with training on monitoring and evaluation where links between all relevant national stakeholders, in particular the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs and public prosecutors, were strengthened and where the role of the Secretariat, as the custodian and leading implementing agency of the national anti-human trafficking act, was confirmed. It also involved experts from: Portugal, the Netherlands and a Europol expert.
Duration: June 2010–March 2011
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) I: Free Movement of Persons
Objective: The overall objective of this action was to support the development of the Free Trade Area within COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa).
Summary: In March 2011, MIEUX provided technical assistance to the 7th COMESA Chief Immigration Officers' Meeting and the 4th Meeting of Ministers responsible for immigration, both held in Lusaka, Zambia. These events aimed to promote the Visa and Free Movement Protocols, as well as the COMESA Model Law on Immigration, through focusing on the topics of protocol implementation, harmonisation of national laws and cooperation on immigration matters between Member States to facilitate trade. This latter meeting resulted in the establishment of two task forces assigned to take the lead in the implementation of the Protocols of Free Movement: the Task Force for the Implementation of the Roadmap and the Task Force on Capacity Building.
A technical workshop on the harmonisation of COMESA Immigration Laws was held in June 2011 in Mbabane, Swaziland, and support was provided to the first meeting of the COMESA Task Force on Capacity Building, and a Roadmap for Protocol Implementation and Legal Harmonisation. The final activity of this action took place from 14–16 March 2012 in the form of a technical workshop in Nairobi on cooperation and immigration for the COMESA Chiefs of Immigration and a one-day meeting of the Task Forces on capacity building on the implementation of the Protocols. This meeting resulted in several recommendations that outline the next steps for the Task Forces to carry on the current momentum for implementation. This action was implemented with expertise from the British national administration.
Duration: July 2010–March 2012
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) II: Migration Data Information Sharing and Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)
Summary: MIEUX provided technical expertise on THB and migration data harmonisation and information sharing to the 5th and 6th Meetings of COMESA Ministers Responsible for Immigration in October 2012 and June 2015. In April 2013, a workshop was held in Kigali to promote a regional and transnational response to THB among COMESA Member States. A workshop on migration data and information sharing was held in Zimbabwe in July 2014 with the aim of harmonising migration data at regional level. To this end, a questionnaire on national data collection and information sharing systems was developed and disseminated to COMESA Member States.
The final activity, another regional workshop to present and discuss a proposal on how migration data harmonisation and sharing could be implemented in the COMESA region, will be organised in May 2016. Furthermore, the study on the harmonisation of national laws with the COMESA Model Law on Immigration, initiated under the first MIEUX request for technical assistance, has been updated and now includes an analysis of 15 out of 19 COMESA Member State legislations. Experts from the French, Italian, Lithuanian, Maltese and Portuguese national administrations, and an academic, were deployed for this Action. ICMPD has also provided expertise for this Action.
Duration: May 2012–present
ECOWAS: Management (and Security) and Human Rights
Objective: MIEUX provided assistance to the ECOWAS Commission's Department for Free Movement and Tourism through tailored capacity building, primarily on the development of the Regional Training Curriculum for Border Officials from the ECOWAS Member States.
Summary: A fact-finding mission took place in November 2011 with the aim of mapping the gaps, needs and key sectors to be covered by the Regional Training Curriculum. Following this assessment, the second activity took place from 16–20 April 2012 with the development of the first draft of the Regional Training Curriculum for Border Officials, which was validated by ECOWAS Member States in April 2012. The curriculum has since been finalised and a training of trainers took place in February 2013 in order to present it to the ECOWAS Member States. Experts from the Austrian national administration and German academia were deployed for this action.
Duration: April 2011–February 2013
West Africa: Migration and Environment
Summary: In response to three different requests received from Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Togo, this action will be implemented at both the regional and national levels. It began with a desk review and the drafting of a background paper on migration, climate change and environment in West Africa. The paper was subsequently presented during a West African regional policy consultation that took place in Togo (October 2015) to help develop an implementation plan for the Nansen protection agenda and address the needs of people displaced across borders due to natural disasters and climate change. Seven West African countries attended, enhancing their knowledge of the migration and environment nexus.. Finally, capacity building information sessions on migration, climate change and environment will be organised in Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Togo to identify best practices and enhance the abilities of national policymakers and practitioners to embrace environmentally induced migration. European academics are being deployed for this action.
Duration: February 2015–present
West and Central Africa I: Irregular Migration and Document Security
Objective: MIEUX provided technical assistance for the capacity building of relevant staff in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal in the area of document fraud through a series of training sessions to complement an ongoing regional project implemented in partnership with IOM and the "Direction de la Coopération Internationale" of France.
Summary: In November 2011, a two-week training session on document fraud took place in Dakar, Senegal, with experts from the French national administration and which gathered 20 participants from Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. The final activity took the form of a study visit for African trainees to document fraud centres in France from 24–27 April 2012 and in Belgium from 7–10 May 2012. Experts from the Belgian and French national administration were deployed for this action.
Duration: May 2010–May 2012
West and Central Africa II: Legal Migration
Objective: MIEUX provided technical assistance to the National Employment Agencies of Benin, Mali, Cameroon and Senegal in their efforts to effectively manage labour migration, and develop and encourage cooperation and dialogue. This was in support of the regional initiative "African Operational Repertoire of Jobs and Professions" (ROAME).
Summary: This action was completed following a regional seminar that took place in July 2012 on the implementation of the ROAME project. The objectives of the seminar were to strengthen the capacities of the national focal points, support local coordination mechanisms and evaluate the methodology problems identified in the implementation of the ROAME. As a result, the MIEUX experts were able to harmonise and elaborate an operational toolbox with clear a methodology for the use of the fiches and develop an action plan for further development of the ROAME. Experts from the French national administration were deployed for this action.
Duration: March 2012–July 2012


text:
For all the roller-coaster tumultuousness of the primary season, the general election promises another strange jolt: the likely presence on the ballot in all 50 states of a third-party nominee -- identity, and ideology, to be determined.
This political wild card for the Internet age is Americans Elect, which just secured a spot in California, meaning it has now qualified for the ballot in 13 states and collected signatures in the 17 others that allow signature-gathering the year before the election.
With a war chest of $22 million so far, the group aims to leapfrog the logistical and ideological barriers that limit voters' choices and drive candidates to extremes.
Americans Elect delegates -- any registered voter who signs up online -- will choose a presidential ticket through successive rounds of Internet voting culminating in the choice of a candidate in June. The vice presidential nominee on this unity ticket must come from a different political party.
Visiting the Washington offices of Americans Elect recently, I arrived skeptical and ambivalent. I left impressed -- and still ambivalent.
The impressive part is the group's combination of organizational prowess and dedication to overcoming political stalemate. I am a recidivist sucker for efforts to forge bipartisan solutions.
The part that leaves me queasy is its use of secret money -- Americans Elect doesn't routinely disclose donors -- and the potential for electoral mischief despite its best intentions.
Will Americans Elect become the useful vehicle for a centrist ticket, or is it at risk of being hijacked by, say, the well-organized and Internet-savvy supporters of Ron Paul, who is already the most-tracked candidate on the group's website? Already Donald Trump has left the Republican Party and may be toying with the idea of seeking the Americans Elect ballot line.
The allure of Americans Elect is obvious at a moment when people at the highest levels of government worry that the political system is profoundly broken.
There are questions about whether the rules the group has put in place to assure qualified candidates are adequately small-d democratic. A "candidate-certification committee" is empowered to decide which candidates are eligible for nomination and which tickets are sufficiently bipartisan.
The group recently loosened rules to permit a majority vote of delegates, rather than two-thirds, to override the committee. But there is an inherent tension between assuring a qualified, balanced ticket and an open process.
Ackerman and his colleagues argue that the moment is ripe for a third-party candidate -- not merely to tip the election a la Ralph Nader 2000, but to win it. When Ross Perot ran in 1992, they note, 39 percent of voters said they were not satisfied with how they were being governed. Today, the dissatisfied number has soared to 81 percent.
OK, but -- going out on a limb -- the Americans Elect candidate will not win in 2012. Effective third-party candidacies thrive when focused around a charismatic candidate -- Perot, Teddy Roosevelt. Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, the only announced candidate so far, doesn't fit that bill. Mayor Bloomberg, are you listening? Jon Huntsman, anyone?
Still, Americans Elect could play a role in swing states, where a report by the centrist Democratic group Third Way shows registration among independents up significantly.
Absent a nominee, it's hard to game out which party might benefit, although, as Third Way notes, independents are key to the president's re-election bid. Conversely, to the extent that third parties tend to be an outlet for anti-incumbent sentiment, the group could drain away votes from the Republican nominee.
In this grumpy time, Americans Elect is a phenomenon worth watching.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
GRAMMYs 2018 Recap
By: The Busted Amp Staff
Derek: In what could be described as the darkest timeline for serious music fans, retro-sounding funk pop icon Bruno Mars swept the major awards at the 60th GRAMMY Awards on Sunday night. But we'll get back to Album of the Year in a moment. It was icing on the cake for a week that saw the GRAMMYs under fire when Lorde turned down performing during the televised ceremony because she wasn't allowed to perform solo. All of the male nominees were.
The ceremony itself wasn't much better. The most nominated female artist, upcoming alt-R&B star SZA lost in all of her 5 nominated categories, and Lorde, the only female nominee in the main categories, lost to the aforementioned Bruno Mars. It didn't get much better after the show, when Recording Academy President Neil Portnow word vomited this nonsense:
"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. I don't have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it's upon us - us as an industry - to make the welcome mat very obvious, bredding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists"
But don't worry, GRAMMYs producer Ken Ehrlich has hope that Taylor Swift will take up the torch for women next year. "She was kind of off cycle. Hopefully we'll see her next year."
Onto the actual awards.
As we mentioned above, Bruno Mars took the top award of the night, marking this the third undeserving AOTY to take the prize over Kendrick Lamar (previously Taylor Swift and Macklemore had that honor). Mars was easily the safest pick of the nominees. Despite being snubbed for AOTY, Lamar still took home many of the rap genre awards, including Best Rap Album.
"Despacito", one of the most popular songs in Latin music history, lost in every category that it was nominated in, proving that the GRAMMY voters have officially turned against Justin Bieber... or they weren't ready to let a song in Spanish win any of the top awards.
The War on Drugs rightfully claimed Best Rock Album, one of the lone bright spots of the evening, even though it wasn't part of the television broadcast. The obligatory dead rock star category, Best Rock Performance, went to Leonard Cohen for "You Want It Darker". Foo Fighters won for Best Rock Song.
Best Alternative Album was won by The National for their great album Sleep Well Beast.
Country was dominated by Chris Stapleton, who won the 3 categories he was nominated in, including Best Country Album. He also performed a good cover of Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" with Emmylous Harris.
Speaking of performances, it was a pretty mixed bag. The best of the night came from Kesha, whose rousing #MeToo/#TimesUp rendition of "Praying" captivated everyone. There was enough raw emotion to fill the otherwise dull ceremony and then some.
Kendrick Lamar's multi-part performance was also powerful. It was theatrical, timely, and Lamar himself was at the top of his game (which is something we didn't see during his mixed bag NCAAF Championship halftime show). Could have done without the Dave Chappelle interruptions, but I get it.
"I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America."
On the flip side, U2's performance of "Get Out Of Your Own Way", outside with the Statue of Liberty in the background was a little to try hard for my tastes. But the worse by far was a cover of Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" done by Eric Church, Maren Morris, and the Brothers Osbourne. Not only was the song selection a head scratcher (the song was originally written by Clapton for his young song who accidentally fell to his death in 1991), but the performance itself was fringe-worthy how pitchy and disconnected it was. Eric Church was the worst offender. Watch the below at your own risk.
Joseph: The GRAMMYs have always been frustrating, but this year it felt even more pointedly so. After dropping a surprisingly decent set of nominees, the GRAMMYs went with the lowest common denominator in nearly every category. Seeing Bruno Mars sweep every major award was just hilarious, and in hindsight it's pretty much exactly what I would expect the GRAMMYs to do.
I liked 24k Magic, no disrespect to Bruno Mars, but it was undoubtedly the weakest album in the AOTY list. Even if you were going to snub King Kendrick again, why don't you pick the lone female artist on that list in his stead?? Lorde's Melodrama was an accessible and (at least somewhat) safe album that was a massive follow-up for the Australian singer. This just points to the larger problem with the GRAMMYs: the voters are old and out-of-touch.
It's amazing, now, to see how stark the contrast is between "music's biggest night" and the Oscars, or "Hollywood's biggest night." When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started to sense that they were becoming out-of-touch because their voter's average age was over 60, (and following two straight years of #OscarsSoWhite) they made the voting body more accessible and younger. And here we are, just two years removed from #OscarsSoWhite, and we have a diverse and joyous list of nominees. There's actually only one white American actor in the acting categories, and it's the son of a French immigrant. Meanwhile, the Recording Academy's sad excuse for a president has the nerve to say women need to "step up their game" as they lose most of their respective categories again, all while snubbing hip hop for a safe/generic pop album for the 3405th time in the AOTY category. Sure, Bruno Mars is Latino, but he also represented a nostalgic feeling pop album, one that would definitely appeal to an old and out-of-touch Recording Academy.
Sure, Kesha provided the most powerful moment of the night, but it felt somewhat hollow when you remind yourself that Lorde wasn't allowed to perform solo. She was asked to join in a tribute to Tom Petty, which doesn't make much sense anyway outside of the fact that Lorde is a fan of rock 'n' roll, but don't worry guys! We have time for three Sting features! Really? Three? And what was that U2 song? It was obviously pre-recorded, why did it need to be in the GRAMMYs at all? Oh wait, I know! Because the old farts that vote for these categories love U2 and Sting!
Oh, ya! Can we talk about Best Pop Solo Performance for a second? How does Ed Sheeran win that category? Social media is STILL up in arms over this disgusting decision. He beat four women who all had better songs than him, not to mention the fact that his song is pretty sexist IN ADDITION TO just being a generic mid-2000s pop song. Sheeran was wise enough to not show up at the GRAMMYs, (though I'm sure him skipping the GRAMMYs was due to logistical issues) but I doubt even he thought he would walk away with this win. I mean, even if two of the other songs split most of the votes, there was STILL enough dinosaurs that listened to all the songs in that category and said, with a straight face, "Ya. This Ed Sheeran song really speaks to me. It's the best song in this category." I'm sure next year will be at least a little different, but chances are Ken Ehrlich and others like him will think it'll all be ok to just rain GRAMMYs down on Taylor Swift again. Until the Recording Academy opens up to a younger voter base, it's going to be like this every year Taylor Swift/Adele don't make an album. The Recording Academy is akin to your racist uncle that claims he's not a racist because he has a black friend. Just because you rain down GRAMMYs on Taylor Swift/Adele doesn't mean you're not sexist dinosaurs, guys. Personally, I'm so done with the Recording Academy until they announce significant changes to their voting process. But, until then, the GRAMMYs can go F themselves.
GRAMMYs 2018 Preview
By: The Busted Amp Staff
Another year, another batch of GRAMMY nominations to sift through. This year's nominees aren't all that surprising, but given the incredible year of music that we had (check out our favorites here), this year's GRAMMY nominees continue to be a disappointing, yet not all that unsurprising group.
Here are who we think will take home the golden phonograph at this year's ceremony. We haven't looked at the Vegas odds before compiling these lists. This is purely on what we think. Right or wrong. Not that it matters.
Derek: Honestly, this is probably the best Album of the Year lineup that the GRAMMYs has had in a long time. There are your mainstram standards like Bruno Mars and JAY-Z, your "not quite indie anymore" pick like Lorde, and your truly worthy nominees like Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino. Of the two that I personally deem "worthy" nominees, only one has a clear shot at taking the title, and that's the king of hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar. Move over middle aged JAY-Z and your Tidal exclusivity. For an album that was clearly less impactful than his last, Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. still set the standard for albums in 2017, and none of the other choices on the list come even close. I'm curious if the vote will split between JAY-Z and Kendrick, leading the way for Lorde or Bruno Mars to take the title, but for me Kendrick breaks his GRAMMYs drought and takes home the top prize of the night.
Who Should Win: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
Who Will Win: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
Derek: Song of the Year is quite the shitshow this year. Instead of posting only the main artist or group of this category, we've decided to type out each of the songwriters nominated to show just how many people it takes to come up with some of the catchiest, poppiest songs of the year. Despacito broke records this past year, and I don't think there's anything that takes it off its pillar. It either takes this, Record of the Year, or both.
Who Should Win: Despacito (Derek), That's What I Like (Joseph)
Who Will Win: Despacito
Derek: Once again, the Record of the Year category is where things get tricky. HUMBLE. and Redbone were two of my favorite songs of 2017, however you can't deny Despacito of the impact that it's has on popular culture this past year. HUMBLE. takes the prize unless Despacito doesn't take Song of the Year. In that case, it takes the win here. Sorry JAY-Z, Tidal is your worst enemy.
Who Should Win: Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. (Derek), Childish Gambino - Redbone (Joseph)
Who Will Win: Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. (or Despacito if it doesn't win Song of the Year)
Derek: Shockingly, there are two new artist nominees that I'm actually not familiar with. After years of being a joke category, could the GRAMMYs actually be choosing NEW artists? Or maybe I'm just getting old. Khalid and Lil Uzi Vert have been stars over the last year, but in my mind SZA is on a complete other planet compared to the rest of the competition here. Her debut album is a monster, and she's risen as fast as any of the superstars of the last decade. She takes the win here if the GRAMMYs know what's best for them, which is debatable.
Who Should Win: SZA
Who Will Win: SZA
Derek: When will the GRAMMYs get rock right? Between the different subgenres of rock represented we have thrash metal, progressive metal, indie jam rock, stoner rock, and more mainstream rock all represented. How in the world is it possible to pick a winner from this. Well, we have to. The two metal records here, Mastodon and Metallica, were both rather disappointing compared to their previous work. Queens of the Stone Age put out a good, albeit different album. The War On Drugs put out their best release to date and one of my favorite albums of 2017. I honestly think either Queens of the Stone Age or Metallica take the win here. Queens of the Stone Age for their name recognition and the middle of the road appeal of Villains. If Metallica wins, it'll be on name alone.
Who Should Win: The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
Who Will Win: Queens of The Stone Age - Villains (Derek), Mastodon - Emperor of Sand (Joseph)
Derek: Ah, yes. The obligatory dead rock star category. We lost both Leonard Cohen and Chris Cornell in 2017, and while Cohen's performance on You Want It Darker was a stellar final release, I don't believe Cornell's hold the same light. I think ubiquitous rockers Foo Fighters take the prize, but don't be surprised if that Kaleo song that got stuck in your head last year takes the dark horse victory.
Who Should Win: Foo Fighters - Run (Derek), Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker (Joseph)
Who Will Win: Foo Fighters - Run (Derek), Chris Cornell - The Promise (Joseph)
Derek: With this weak set of nominees, Foo Fighters are going to *wait for it* RUN away with this one. (I'll let myself out). But seriously, all the other nominees here are terrible.
Who Should Win: Foo Fighters - Run
Who Will Win: Foo Fighters - Run
Derek: Best Alternative Album is probably one of the stronger categories of the evening, despite fielding three only so-so albums. The real magic comes with the bottom two on the above list. Father John Misty's best album to date, and easily one of my favorites of 2017 as a whole, and the best National release since their magnum opus, Boxer. Both are worthy picks, but I think Father John Misty has the edge ever so slightly.
Who Should Win: Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (Derek), The National - Sleep Well Beast (Joseph)
Who Will Win: Father John Misty - Pure Comedy
Everything Else
While we can't give an overview on every category, here are some highlights from the rest of the bunch, many of which will be presented live during the televised ceremony.
We at The Busted Amp fully expect Kendrick Lamar to clean up the rap categories, including wins for Best Rap Performance (HUMBLE.), Best Rap/Sung Performance (LOYALTY.), Best Rap Song (HUMBLE.), and Best Rap Album (DAMN.).
Similarly, we hope Chris Stapleton cleans up the country categories, including Best Country Solo Performance (Either Way), Best Country Song (Broken Halos), and Best Country Album (From A Room: Volume 1).
One of our favorites, Jason Isbell, is nominated for a few Americana/Roots categories, including Best American Roots Song (If We Were Vampires) and Best Americana Album (The Nashville Sound). We don't see him losing either.
Best Contemporary Blues Album is stacked with some great nominees, including Robert Cray, Sonny Landreth, Taj Mahal, Robert Randolph, and Tedeschi Trucks Band. Derek hopes Randolph takes the prize, but honestly all of them are deserving.
Producer of the Year is also a coin flip category. Derek's personal favorites are Greg Kurstin and Blake Mills. No I.D. wouldn't be a big surprise either.
Grammys 2017 Recap
By: The Busted Amp Staff
JOSEPH: Well, they did it. They snubbed Queen Bey once more. As much as I was rooting for Sturgill Simpson to upset everyone just to see his acceptance speech, I was shocked to hear Adele's name called. This moment was unexpected, but it is (and rightfully so) dominating the talk of the Grammys, as Beyonce is now an unprecedented 0 for 4 when it comes to AotY nominations/wins. But it looked like Adele was just as shocked as I was, and she proceeded to deliver one of the most humble acceptance speeches I have ever heard, during which she proclaimed Queen Bey the deserving winner. Adele's transcendence into legend didn't stop there. After the ceremony she split the award in two and gave the other half to Queen Bey in what has to be one of the best disses ever towards the Academy. This to me highlighted what was a mixed bag from this year's Grammy's.
On the one hand and for the most part....the Grammy's were pretty good with the winners. David Bowie swept all of his categories, including the stacked Alternative AotY category, and Chance the Rapper made a YUGE splash as well.
Sturgill did get his Best Country Album award, which is still a pretty strong statement to Nashville's Bro Country scene, and Megadeth even won it's first (and incredibly overdue) Grammy. Overall the performances were solid, with my highlights surprisingly being the two hip-hop performances from A Tribe Called Quest and Chance the Rapper, as well as Katy Perry's stunning Grammy-esque performance. But it seemed for every great thing the Grammy's did, there was an equally crappy thing to boot.
There were several lowlights, but to me the low point was, once again, the heavy rock performance. It's amazing how it seems every year the problems with the Grammy's lie in their one heavy rock performance, and their Lady Gaga/Metallica performance was marred by sound issues and the presenter actually forgetting to mention that Metallica was even a part of the performance. About the only thing that could've made it worse was if CBS had cut to black randomly during it. Additionally, what the heck was going on with that Keith Urban/Carrie Underwood duet? Really don't understand how the Academy thought it was a good idea to put two of the biggest names in country right now for the most generic 80s pop song ever. I mean I get that Bro Country is bad right now, but c'mon. It's not that bad. Also, and I think Derek may disagree with me on this, but I was not a huge fan of James Corden. He had a few moments that were alright, but they were sprinkled in between shameless and obvious CBS plugs for his Late Late Show, which were completely unnecessary. I fear that the Oscars will suffer the same fate in this regard in a few weeks, as they are on ABC and are being hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
Derek: Ah yes, the 2017 Grammy's.
I'd agree with Joseph. For an awards show that has a history of making some head scratching decisions, I was pleased to see just how many they got right. If you were keeping track at home, we were right 50% of the time for our "who will win" predictions but 67% right for who we thought should win. Maybe we should have a little more faith in the Grammy voters next year? Not a chance. Adele winning Album of the Year for 25 over Beyonce is almost as bad as Taylor Swift winning over Kendrick Lamar last year.
There's going to be a lot of speculation into why Beyonce lost, so I'll throw a few thoughts into the ring. Frankly, I think TIDAL killed her chances. By streaming her album exclusively on TIDAL, a service that has only 1% of the global streaming subscriptions and no free tier, she cut off an impressively large audience for her music. Yes, Adele did the same thing for a few months, but eventually she came around and added her catalog to the major streaming services. I'd argue that enough voters were cut off from hearing her album, especially the older Grammy voters, that Adele was able to win out.
In terms of performances, the highlight for me was Sturgill Simpson's brilliant rendition of "All Around You" with the Dap-Kings, who helped him record his newly crowned Best Country Album. While he didn't pull off a dramatic upset for Album of the Year, he can be extremely proud of the showing. He also had a noteworthy post-Grammy celebration.
Bruno Mars had a stellar tribute for Prince, much better than the unwatchable David Bowie tribute that Lady Gaga put on last year. Speaking of Gaga, her performance with Metallica this year wasn't much better. Putting on her best 80's hair metal stripper impression while James Hetfield battled microphone issues, she definitely won the "trainwreck performance I can't turn away from" award for the night, but she wasn't the only one. James Corden, riding the success of his Carpool Karaoke bit into a hosting gig, was a mess the whole night, as was the production. Can someone please get a bigger teleprompter so the presenters can actually read what they're supposed to say? I feel bad for John Travolta, who suffered another awards show blunder when he couldn't make out his speech, so he just winged it. It wasn't his fault, and he wasn't the only one affected by it either. Travolta was at the Grammys to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever and The Bee Gees, which had a fun medley tribute from Devi Levato, Tori Kelly, Little Big Town, and Andra Day. I was very surprised that they didn't do a tribute for Leonard Cohen or Merle Haggard, and if it were my show, I'd have cut the Bee Gees tribute in favor of giving Cohen and Haggard the tributes they deserved. Or at least cut a little off of Beyonce's nearly 10 minute performance, which granted will probably be one of the night's most watched clips. But goodness was that production excruciatingly long.
Jospeh: In conclusion, I think the biggest highlight for me tonight was Adele. I have never truly understood why people revere her as much as they do, but after watching her stop a tribute to George Michael mid-song so she could get it perfect for him, and after breaking down because she thought Beyonce deserved the highest profile award of the night, I can see why. However, both of these moments were accidental #GrammyMoments, and there were far too many attempts to "manufacture" #GrammyMoments for me to enjoy the show too much. Maybe it's just cause I'm cynical, but I just can't get the crappy parts of the night out of my head. Sure, there were great moments with Sturgill Simpson making even his ballads sound awesome and Bruno Mars delivering the Prince tribute to end all Prince tributes, but....I don't know. Hopefully as time goes on we'll just remember the good parts of this year's show, but right now I just can't shake the bad. And, of course, it all starts with yet another snubbing of Queen Bey.
GRAMMYs 2017 Preview
By: The Busted Amp Staff
Oh, the Grammys. If you remember our preview from last year, you'll know that we at The Busted Amp have never been big fans of The Grammys. In fact, we tend to despise it from time to time. But, in a world where music awards shows dominate, we would be remiss if we didn't spend some time talking about the picks.
So here are our 2017 Grammy predictions based on the nominees.
Derek: From someone that tries to avoid mainstream pop at all costs, two of these albums are obviously puzzlers to me. Justin Bieber's Purpose and Drake's Views are lowest common denominator artists that, in my opinion, shouldn't be in the same stratosphere as the other nominees in this category. Even with Bieber's supposed, insert airquotes here, growth. There's no doubt that "Hello" was one of the biggest singles in the last decade, but frankly the rest of the album was forgettable. Beyonce brings the most clout into this group of nominees with Lemonade, but will it be enough to overcome the other nominees? Time will tell, and you'll surely hear all about it from Bey-Nation. But wait, there's a 5th nominee? Oh yes, the obligatory non-mainstream, alternative AotY nominee. This year it's alt-country icon and music industry tackling Sturgill Simpson with his fantastic album A Sailor's Guide To Earth. Out of all of these nominees, my pick would be him, but I don't see a repeat of 2011 or 2015's shocking victories for Arcade Fire and Beck, respectively. I think Bey takes this one, with Adele as a close second.
Joseph: While we will probably disagree several times on this list, the AotY category will not be one of them. I have no idea why Drake and Justin Bieber are on here, but that's the Grammys for you. They are clearly setting this show up as a "Beyonce versus Adele" showdown, (just look at virtually every music publication and you'll see it already being framed as such) which will certainly generate the clicks and viewership they are looking for. That said, I think there's a better chance than we might think that Sturgill pulls out a dark horse and wins this category, and here's why: up until Beyonce dropped Lemonade, I thought Adele was going to sweep the Grammys this year. Now, I think there's a good chance that Adele and Beyonce are going to split the voting pretty evenly, and that does give a third party like Sturgill a better chance to win than not. After all, the same thing happened in 2015 when Beck was the dark horse. (The vote likely split between Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Sam Smith which gave Beck a chance) That said, I would not bet money on this, and I'm with Derek-I think Beyonce will be walking out of the Grammys with her first AotY victory.
Who Should Win: Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide To Earth
Who Will Win: Beyonce - Lemonade
Derek: The songwriting single category really leaves a lot to be desired this year. The obvious winner from my perspective is Beyonce, as "Formation" probably has the deepest lyrics of the bunch. "Hello" is another Adele waterworks single that *sings as Adele* must have heard a thousand timesssss. Bieber tried to be deep, but it took a roomful of writers to get remotely close. Posner took some drugs and it sounds like it took Lukas Graham seven years to write the song "7 Years". Bey-nation should take this one, but don't be surprised if it goes to someone else.
Who Should Win: Beyonce - Formation
Joseph: I laugh at this category, and this is coming from a guy who has long cared little for lyrics. But there's no doubt these are some weak selections for SotY. I think this category will come down to Beyonce versus Adele, (again) with Adele pulling it out just because of the sheer popularity of Hello. I think many voters at The Academy will give Beyonce AotY and then give Adele Record + Song of the Year to try and balance them out. But that's just my uneducated guess. All of these picks to me are laughable, so it's hard to pick just one. But hey! Maybe they'll say fuck it and give this one to Justin Bieber. Just to try and make the Beliebers happy. Because why not?
Also, can I just point out how "7 Years" and "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" sound EXACTLY the same? I can't get over how terrible these songs are.
Who Should Win:
Derek: Beyonce - Formation
Joseph: David Bowie- Lazarus
Who Will Win:
Derek: Beyonce - Formation
Joseph: Adele - Hello
Derek: This is where things get more tricky. For the single of the year, there's no denying that "Hello" has been above and beyond one of the biggest singles of the decade. But does popularity equate to being the single of the year. Wait...yes it does. Adele takes this, and I think it's an easy call.
Joseph: Hey! Twenty One Pilots got a nomination! That's pretty cool. Even though I have NO idea how it did given the fact that "Stressed Out" was dropped in April of 2015. But what does it matter, right? None of these stand a chance against Adelle's "Hello." This just might be the easiest pick for the Academy this year, and I would be shocked if any name other than Adele's was called as it's hard to deny the cultural impact this single has had over the past year.
Who Should Win: Adele - Hello
Who Will Win: Adele - Hello
Derek: Chance The Rapper has been absolutely everywhere this year, and his debut album Coloring Book is one of the most played albums of the year. Everyone loves him, especially the music industry websites, so I think he takes this award pretty easily.
Joseph: Once again I'm with Derek on this. Hard to imagine seeing anyone other than Chance the Rapper getting the nomination. Though, as is per usual with this category, he's hardly a "new artist." I mean heck I remember when he packed the That Tent for a late night set back at Bonnaroo 2014. But hey, at least his nomination is not as bad is some of the previous winners. But I digress. Watch for a potential dark horse in The Chainsmokers because they are super popular, but I fully expect Chance's name to be called here.
Also, I have to give a shout-out to Kelsea Ballerini. We're obviously cynical about this show, but she's a super likeable sweetheart down here in Nashville, and I hope this nomination further elevates her career.
Who Should Win: Chance The Rapper
Who Will Win: Chance The Rapper
Derek: For the second year in a row, the rock album category is a complete clusterfuck, but I guess you can attribute that to the blurring lines between Rock and Alternative and the fall from grace of the traditional rock genre. If you remember, we gave Tell Me I'm Pretty a pretty mediocre review, but the other albums in this category aren't much better. Magma is your obligatory metal album nominee in this category, and it's a good one, but I don't think they take the golden phonograph. This is a toss up, but I think they give it to Blink-182 or Weezer because of name recognition.
Joseph: Just give this award to Blink-182 for their "comeback story" completion and be done with it. I can't even look at this joke of a list without wanting to throw my keyboard against the wall. Even from a popular standpoint, this list is ridiculous. Like....
Who Should Win: Cage The Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty
Who Will Win: Blink-182 - California
Joseph: Another hilarious category from the Grammys featuring a cover (albeit a good cover, but still a cover) and Beyonce. I guess The Academy thought they could slip "Don't Hurt Yourself" in because Jack White is featured on it, but it hardly classifies as rock in my book. I hope "Blackstar" is the winner here, or "Heathens," but I'm so cynical about all of this I would not be surprised to hear Beyonce's name called for this category. Because it's the Grammys.
Derek: Rock Performance is definitely one of the worst categories of the year. Just because Jack White is featured on a song doesn't immediately make it rock, although my beef is less with that and more with these left field choices. You're telling me that none of the Best Rock Album nominees have a song worthy of Best Rock Performance? Jeez, fellas. That should tell you a little bit about the quality of the category. I have to hand it to Disturbed. Their cover of "The Sound of Silence" was a refreshing take, especially from a band that hasn't had anything refreshing since 2005's Ten Thousand Fists. Alabama Shakes is the most pure "rock" of the bunch, but David Bowie just has to take the prize here. Right guys?
Who Should Win: David Bowie - Blackstar
Who Will Win: Beyonce - Don't Hurt Yourself
Joseph: This is one of the better category this year, despite the laughable nomination of Metallica's "Hardwired." (I was not a fan of this album at all) But, beyond that, it's a strong category. While I think "Burn the Witch" should get the award, I think it will ultimately go to "Heathens." No one can deny that out of this list, "Heathens" was by far the most popular song. "Heathens" has more than double the plays on Spotify than every other song on this list, combined. While that's hardly a good reason to give it the statue, it's all the reason the Grammys need.
Who Should Win: Radiohead - Burn the Witch
Who Will Win: Twenty One Pilots - Heathens
Derek: For alternative music lovers, this category is absolutely stacked. You have five musical legends going up against each other. Bon Iver with his musical pivot album 22, a Million, David Bowie with his swansong Blackstar, PJ Harvey with her long anticipated album, Iggy Pop with his Joshua Homme collaborative final album, and Radiohead with their least rock album yet. Boy, this will be fun. I think the Grammy voters realize this is the last time they'll be able to vote for David Bowie, so I think he takes the win here. Honestly though, I think any of these are worthy choices.
Joseph: This to me is the single most frustrating category of the Grammys this year. Because it is SO GOOD. Like....who picked these? How do we have such lackluster categories everywhere else and then all the sudden this? I wish all of these could win, or at LEAST be transferred over to the Best Rock Album category, but as is, I'm with Derek. I think this one will go to David Bowie. Even though the man has never needed a Grammy for validation, it would be pretty shocking to me if The Academy didn't give this award to Bowie simply out of respect. Or at least their idea of respect. It would be my choice as well. As great as all these choices are, I think Blackstar rose above the rest and is one of the best albums of the year.
Who Should Win: David Bowie - Blackstar
Who Will Win: David Bowie - Blackstar
Everything Else
There's always a lot to cover with the Grammys, and we have neither the time nor the length to cover it all. So, here are a few highlights in the other categories.
Joseph: If you can't tell already, I find the Grammys main selections this year pretty ludacris, but to their credit I will say it evens out a bit (just a bit) in the less-signifcant categories. The pop categories are still awful, but to be fair I wouldn't expect otherwise. At least Sia snuck in a couple of nominations, though expect all of these to be toss ups between Beyonce and Adele. Though I do expect JBiebs to sneak in one win because otherwise there will be angry Tweets for days from angry adolescent girls. Get those thumbs warmed up, girls.
Flume has been making a lot of splashes in the electronic world, and even though I won't even try to claim I know every name on those lists, I expect Flume and Chainsmokers to divide the electronic categories.
I have no idea why Beyonce's Lemonade is labeled as Best Urban Contemporary Album, but expect an easy win there because it's Beyonce and it's the Grammys.
The rap category is stacked heavy with Drake, Chance the Rapper, and Kanye West. I think all three will win at least one, and I'll take it a step further and say Chance wins Best Rap Performance, Kanye wins Best Rap/Sung Performance, (though Beyonce might steal this one because it's Beyonce and King Kendrick and Kanye has been even more Kanye-y recently) and Drake wins Best Rap Album. Even though that should go to Chance. Rap Song is a total clusterfuck, (in a good way) and honestly I have no idea who will pull that one out. I'd go with "Ultralight Beam", but I think "Hotline Bling" or "No Problem" stand a better chance. And Famous might dark horse it because the vote splits on everything else and some people might want to see Kanye's acceptance speech for his controversial Taylor Swift song. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
The country category is once again full of bro Country, but at least there's a lot of variety. Loretta Lynn's nomination for Best Country Album is awesome, but I am surprised/sad that Kelsea Ballerini didn't receive any love in these categories despite receiving a Best New Artist nomination. Even though he had the best country album of the year, Sturgill's blacklisting in Nashville means the odds of him winning Best Country Album are next to nill. I think bro Country is going to take it this year.
Finally, I want to highlight the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category. Ennio Morricone, one of the busiest film composers in the history of cinema with over 500 film credits to his name, has finally been receiving the recognition he deserves with Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. He received his first Oscar this year, and I fully expect him to win just his second Grammy (first one was for The Untouchables-take THAT, Derek) for this as well, despite the stiff competition.
Derek: HA, you know my feelings on movie scores. Not my cup of tea, but I am SO excited for you and Ennio.
I'll have to disagree with you on Best Country Album. The fact that he was even nominated of Album of the Year should be a big hint that Sturgill is going to scoop up the award. These aren't the CMA's or (enter one of the gazillion other country music award shows here). The voters comes from a number of different genres, not just the country music elite, and Sturgill's meteoric rise to the top of the outlaw country scene and cross-genre appeal makes him, in my opinion, a shoo-in to win this award.
In the Americana category, indie favorites The Avett Brothers got a nomination for their so-so album True Sadness, but I don't think they'll win it. I'll give it to Kris Kristofferson.
Here's to another year of awards, controversy, and judging a very subjective subject. Enjoy the show.
GRAMMY 2016 Preview
By: The Busted Amp Staff
It's that time of year again; the GRAMMYS have released their 2016 nominees. And for people who still take stock in these sort of things, the release of the nominees is like a second Christmas
While we at the Busted Amp don't like the popularity (or name recognition) contest that the GRAMMYS can so often be, we'd be remiss to not give an overview for your viewing pleasure. (Stay tuned later this month for our end of year lists!)
Without further adieu, here are the nominees:
Boy, are there some head scratchers in this bunch. I think this award comes down the 1989 vs. To Pimp a Butterfly. There's no denying that Taylor Swift put out the epitome of a good pop album this year, and naysayers of the genre need not look farther than Ryan Adams' cover album to see that the songs have cross-genre appeal. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Kendrick Lamar gave the world a poignant, politically charged, genre-fusing hip-hop masterpiece that cemented his spot in the top echelon of rap artists.
Admittedly, I was not super familiar with Chris Stapleton, and even though I think Traveller is a better country release than just about anything else in the genre this year, I cannot see it being more appealing than the above two. Sorry Chris. Last but not least, Alabama Shakes. This is the pick that, throughout the varies categories, I don't understand. Yes, I thought Sound & Color was a good album, and I liked the change of direction that the band took from their debut Boys & Girls, but that's about it. For me, this album didn't have nearly the punch as To Pimp a Butterfly or the repeatability of 1989. In fact, after a while I thought the album was a little forgettable, even in its own genre, which I'll talk about a little later.
We are going to agree on this one. Both in who should win and who will win. The GRAMMYS are absolutely going to favor the popular selection as they always do, but as usual the popular selection is not the best. While none of these albums will likely make it on my top 5 albums of the year, only one of them will make it to my top 10. King Kendrick's latest album is a cultural masterpiece, and one that will be looked at in the future as the 2010's Straight Outta Compton or The Chronic. It's already being compared to some of the greatest and culturally relevant hip hop albums ever. But none of those albums won a GRAMMY, and the same will almost certainly stay true here. It's been over a year since 1989 was dropped, but it's easy to forget that it was 2014's only album to go platinum on the sales charts. While it's definitely not the best album of the last year, it's hard to justify not rewarding the success of 2014's biggest seller. Expect this one to be winning a lot of undeserved awards. Don't worry, Adele fans: this will be her next year.
PS-While it's on a totally unrelated note, don't cast aside Chris Stapleton's debut album. Now granted I live in Nashville so I'm in the heart of country music, but I cannot tell you how many people have come into my store asking for his album. I've had more requests for this artist's new album in the last few months than any other artist combined. Just saying.
Who should win: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (consensus)
Who will win: Taylor Swift - 1989
Another easy to predict category. None of these songs are anywhere near my top 10 songs of the year, but then again they never are. This one is T. Swift's category to lose, but out of these choices I would personally go for "Girl Crush." Derek and I will likely disagree on this one, but honestly "Alright" was not my favorite single from King Kendrick. However the raw emotion of "Girl Crush" is what ultimately does it for me. But here I'm really just picking my favorite song out of a list of, frankly, dull songs. In my opinion the GRAMMYS put together this list so they could give T. Swift a GRAMMY among a group where even haters would have to agree it's ok she wins.
On another note, why is "Blank Space" specifically up for all the awards? Wasn't "Shake It Off" the more popular song? I know I liked that song far more than "Blank Space." Honestly I thought "Blank Space" was pretty forgettable. Oh well. What do I know.
Ah, the old "Record of the Year vs. Song of the Year" debate, we meet again. It's my understanding that Record of the Year is more about songwriting and Song of the Year is "the year's best single". If that's the case, then they got these nominations pretty right for what you'd expect them to be. Don't speak too soon, Joe, "Alright" isn't my favorite single either, and especially in the context of songwriting. "King Kunta" takes the cake there. But I digress.
Taylor Swift is bound to win a few of these, it's just a matter of which ones. I think she takes this one instead of Record of the Year, and that's fine with me.
Who should win: None of them, Derek: Taylor Swift - "Blank Space"
Who will win: Taylor Swift - "Blank Space" (consensus)
Hey! I actually have a preference here! "Uptown Funk" was easily my favorite mainstream hit from the past year. Its awesome combination of modern-day electronic music and '80s style funk made it the catchiest and funnest single of the year in my opinion. It absolutely deserves this award, but will it win it? Probably not. Once again I expect the committee to cave and give another award to Taylor Swift, because she really needs more recognition. But in all seriousness, this is a pretty tight category when it comes to successful singles from the past year. Definitely tighter than Song of the Year. I think the consensus will be pretty split between "Blank Space" and "Uptown Funk," however this split may open the door to pretty much anyone in this category. If The Weeknd's name gets called here, I would honestly not be even remotely surprised.
There's no doubt that "Uptown Funk" has been one of the biggest earworm in recent memory. That old school feeling, Bruno Mars, and all the girls hitting you hallelujah (woo!). When it comes to the best single, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars are the heavyweights. The only problem being that they're up against other heavyweights. Taylor Swift and The Weeknd released two powerhouse songs of their own. Personally, I don't think "Blank Space" is as strong as, say, "Shake It Off", but both it and "Can't Feel My Face" are going to make this category mighty interesting. As for the other two nominees, Ed Sheeran has the unfortunate match up against the formerly mentioned songs, and this year "Thinking Out Loud" just doesn't have the fighting power. I'd be shocked if D'Angelo wins, not that "Really Love" isn't a good song, but to me it's not even in the same league.
Who I think should win: Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk" (consensus)
Who will win: Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"
This category has always been one of the most mind-boggling, frustrating categories of the GRAMMYS, especially recently. I think the favorite to win this category is Meghan Trainor, even though she was nominated twice last year for Record and Song of the Year for "All About That Bass". I think between Sam Hunt, James Bay, and Tori Kelly, it's really anyone's game. Hunt is also nominated for Country Album of the Year, so I think his chances are a bit higher than the rest. The indie crowd, including myself, are going to be pulling for Australian Courtney Barnett because of her fantastic release Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, which has, in my opinion, some of the best storytelling of any album released this
I definitely agree that in recent years this category has been a head-scratcher. I think Meghan Trainor will win this category easily because GRAMMYS will want to include her in this year's festivities somehow. Even though she was also nominated last year....? This makes little sense, but I won't question it. I'll be hoping for Courtney Barnett to pull off the upset but I think too many pop fans would storm the Twitter front if she actually did for the GRAMMYS taste. I do miss the years when Bon Iver would win and the pop fans would storm Twitter though....
Who should win: Courtney Barnett
Who will win: Meghan Trainor
I have a few bones to pick with this year's Rock Album nominees. First, how in the world do they consider James Bay rock? Second, if Slipknot's song "Custer" is up for Best Metal Performance, how is the album up for Best Rock Album and not Best Metal Album? Third, Muse's album Drones has to be one of the biggest piles of shit this year. It was utterly terrible and borderline unlistenable. Either I'm just getting old, forgot what rock is, or this category is nothing but junk this year. I certainly don't think rock had this bad of a year.
Out of this list, give the GRAMMYS to Death Cab For Cutie, even though I didn't think that album was phenomenal either, but at least it was dark and brooding because Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel divorced. This list is so forgettable that I don't have any clue who they'll actually pick. I'm going to say James Bay for the sole reason that he's had the biggest "hits" of this year from the nominees. Either him or Muse - solely because of name recognition, because it can't possibly be for the actual album.
Lol. That's all I have to say. Every year, the GRAMMYS have at least one "Lol" category with an absolutely ridiculous group of members comprising the category. Last year it was the Best Metal Category. This year it's the Best Rock Category. I really don't care for any of these albums, so I will refrain from having a stake in this fight at all, but I will 100% agree with Derek. Muse was once my favorite band. I stuck with them all the way through The Resistance, but in recent years even I admit they have lost much of their former glory, and the fact that they are on this list is an insult to the genre. I'm worried that the GRAMMYS will take this whole thing one step further and even nominate them for a victory simply due to the recognizability of their name. But, I don't think they will go THAT far and will instead hand this ridiculous category to James Bay. Shame on you, GRAMMYS.
Who Derek wants to win: Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi
Who will win: James Bay - Chaos and the Calm
For clarity, Best Performance is for the people who actually perform the song as well as the songwriters. Best Song (see below) is for the songwriters only.
The inclusion of Alabama Shakes was a no brainer considering their inclusion in the Album of the Year discussions. It's definitely the single that's gotten the most airplay from the album, and a worthy addition to the nominees since there is no "Best Alternative Performance". "Something From Nothing" was the best single on the new Foo Fighters ambitious album/tv series, even though the tv series was much better than the album itself. Wolf Alice is huge across the pond in the UK, but hasn't quite broken out here in the USA yet. A win here could change all of that, and "Moaning Lisa Smile" is a churning, guttural jam of a song to debut with.
I'm a little confused on the category choices for Florence + The Machine and Elle King. Florence is also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Elle, in my opinion, is straight up pop. Despite all of this, I think Florence + The Machine take the prize.
Ya, I think Florence is on this list so she can win a category, because she is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of rock music. She's also not the second or third thing that comes to mind either. Yet, here she is, and she'll likely win the category. Which is a shame because, while I do like Florence Welch despite my terrible experience seeing her live, I absolutely loved "Moaning Lisa Smile." It's one of my favorite songs of the year and is a shining example of where the rock genre can move towards. Never thought I'd be upset at the prospect of Florence Welch winning a GRAMMY but I guess that day was bound to come eventually.
Who should win: Wolf Alice - "Moaning Lisa Smile"
Who will win: Florence + The Machine - "What Kind of Man"
Again, for clarity, Best Performance is for the people who actually perform the song as well as the songwriters (see above). Best Song is for the songwriters only.
My opinions here aren't much different than the Rock Performance category. I don't see why the songwriting for James Bay and Highly Suspect are any better than Wolf Alice, Foo Fighters, and even Courtney Barnett, who's up for Best New Artist.
If Florence wins the last category, Elle King will win this one. Or it will be reversed. This year rock was the official dumping ground for the GRAMMYS, with most of the picks making little to no sense or not even being classified as rock by everyone but the GRAMMYS. And ya, why are James Bay and Highly Suspect both in this category when Wolf Alice and Foo Fighters aren't? And why least rock-iest tracks in both categories? Oh. That's right. So the GRAMMYS can give them these categories and let T. Swift sweep the pop categories. Give the people what they want, right?
Who should win: Alabama Shakes - "Don't Wanna Fight"
Who will win: Elle King - "Ex's & Oh's"
I think I am one of the few people in the music world that doesn't understand why Bjork gets the praise that she does. To me, at least, her voice is abrasive and hard to listen to and a lot of the music is jumbled and noisy. Part of me wouldn't be surprised if she takes this category, because she has 14 nominations without a win, which is the sixth highest all time without a win. I think it would be unfortunate if she got it here though.
The big gun here is obviously Alabama Shakes, who is also nominated for Album of the Year. If they don't win the latter, I wouldn't be surprised if they win this. If they do win Album of the Year, however, I can see this award going to someone else.
Personally, I'm rooting for Tame Impala, which put out one of the best records of the year, and an album I'm still listening to on heavy repeat. I wouldn't be shocked if they gave it to Wilco because they have a pretty huge following and Star Wars was a pretty decent album overall...(Star Wars HYPE).
I think My Morning Jacket is the clear underdog here with The Waterfall, even though it was a solid follow-up to the also GRAMMY nominated Circuital. Even though I think hit a sweet spot between Circuital and frontman Jim James' solo album Regions of Light and Sound of God, I think there are too many better choices here for them to garner the necessary votes.
For all my bitching about the GRAMMYS, I will give them this category. They did an excellent job here, lining up some of the best albums of the year in this category. I'm with Derek on this one, though: I really want to see Tame Impala walk away with the most prestigious honor at this year's ceremony, but I don't think the GRAMMYS have the guts to give this award to an experimental/psychedelic group. No, I think we'll just have to be impressed with the fact that they even received a nomination. I think this award will come down to either Bjork or Alabama Shakes.
While I do like Bjork more than Derek does, I do also think she's rather overrated. So many people revere Bjork, and I don't really see why short of the fact that she's inspired a lot of big name artists we see today. But this album to me was just meh, and it would be a damn shame to see this category go to her simply because the GRAMMYS feel bad they've nominated her 14 times without a nomination, because her fans are the kind of fans to be acutely aware of this fact. Wilco stands a pretty good chance just because of his fervently loyal following, but his following also couldn't care less how many awards his albums receive. Alabama Shakes will likely be the ones to walk away with this award, especially since they don't stand a chance in the main category against T. Swift. I'm ok with this because Sound & Color is an excellent album, but both My Morning Jacket and Tame Impala had better albums this year.
Who should win: Tame Impala - Currents
Who will win: Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Everything Else...
While there are a lot of other categories we could talk about, that would make for a ridiculously long post, so we'll just leave you with some of our thoughts.
While we can be left to wonder what the heck the GRAMMYS were thinking with their rock categories, it's pretty hard to deny that Kendrick Lamar is going to sweep the rap categories. Especially given the infamous "Macklemore over Kendrick" debacle that happened a few years ago. The Best Country Album category is also going to be a tight one, with the GRAMMYS likely wanting to hand the award to Sam Hunt or Kacey Musgraves to stay in line with "pop" country, but they'll be overlooking one of the best traditional country albums of recent memory in The Traveler in the process. Other than that, the only other thing I want to mention is the egregious overlook of Kamasi Washington's The Epic in Best Jazz Album. That's a head-scratcher if I ever saw one, given the fact that The Epic is very close to my favorite album of the year and a monumental accomplishment within the jazz world, but whatever, guys. That's cool.
I could not agree more with Kamasi Washington. The Epic is a fascinating, heart-stopping, exhilarating adventure and its absence on the nominee list for Best Jazz Album is a travesty. For Best Country Album, I was not at all impressed with Kacey Musgraves' album, and I found her live act at Bunbury Music Festival to be lacking in both energy and interesting material. I think this one goes to the heavy hitting newcomer, Chris Stapleton, who actually released a gritty, relatable album.. And finally, for the rap categories, Kendrick is life, Kendrick is love.
Enjoy the show.
Who Are we?
Derek Jung and Joseph Kathmann -- Just two ordinary guys that love talking about music. Boom.
January 2018