Grammys Week Recap

It's one of my New Year's resolutions to fill this page with more content for you. Especially with the EP coming up. I want to give you a snapshot of what I'm doing to get geared up for that release. 

Two weekends ago I had the sick opportunity to attend the 2018 Grammys with Absolut as part of my partnership with the Open Mic Project. There was a ton of cool stuff they had me come to and it all started with the Rita Ora party hosted by Spotify & Absolut in LES at the Public Hotel. 

The line to get in, even the VIP, was disgusting. I showed up like thirty minutes before the show went on and my ass was all nervous they weren't going to let me in. Luckily the beautiful ladies at Absolut got me and my friends in, giving me self-proclaimed street cred to all the New York friends -- which I lost almost instantly when we failed to get into the Jane the next night. 

Had to make this one B&W because we all looked like shit. 

When we first walked in I b-lined (sp?) to the stage because my girl India Carney was line checking for background vocals before Rita came on. She's my favorite singer in town and possibly ever to be on The Voice so I had to scream for the fam. 

Rita came on to sing and I was pleasantly surprised. I'd obviously jammed to Black Widow and I Will Never Let You Down like four years ago, but I hadn't kept up with the new stuff which was so good. 'Your Song' and 'Anywhere' have been on repeat since I left. Also she was singing us down. Such a vibe and such a good performer - I loved it. We got to meet her after the show at the M&G and she was giving us smize and lewks.

I'm returning this suede jacket the first minute I have. Thanks ASOS, but your boy has bills to pay. 

The next night I got to catch up and embarrass myself with my friends + one of the worst humans who crashed our dinner. He made us miserable all night talking about how he "works in fashion" and is a "shoe designer," yet was wearing discount North Face apparel. The night went as follows: One of us got kicked out of the line at the Jane for attitude, we were all smearing club stamps on our wrists to jump the line at Catch, and I told someone who knew a fellow contestant on The Voice that he was 'top 24 trash.' I won't say who, but I stand by it. 

Saturday was plagued by hangover but I went to the rehearsals tour at MSG, which ended up being a tour of the backstage area because rehearsals were closed. I needed to get new pants from Zara (that I didn't end up wearing) for the Grammys and so my friend and I wandered the city being fat and eating everything in sight. Bailed on a dinner later - because I'm broke and can't be around people too much without major exhaustion. The next day was the show. 

Let me just say, I don't know how actual, non-fake celebs, get through Grammys week. I had three minor events to attend and they almost hospitalized me (not really). The nominees and performers who have to do all those parties and perform along with red carpets, the show and everything else, deserve a lifetime supply of speed. The hours leading up to the show I sat on my ass until 4 p.m. and then squeezed myself into my outfit made up of different pieces from my Voice Finale outfits together. Ball on a budget people.

I was staying like 7 blocks away from Madison Square Garden because my friends have Oprah money and live in Flatiron. So I walked to the Grammys in full drag on the streets of New York. My day started at the marketing partners reception where I met up with the Absolut team for cocktails before the show. They even had a make-shift red carpet to make us feel like actual celebs. 

Blazer: Paul Smith; Shirt: Givenchy; Shoes: Kenneth Cole Collection; Pants: Zara; Body: Spanx head-to-toe

I met the r influencers from the Open Mic Project, who have way more followers than I could ever hope to have. The other partners who came to the show were Ashlee Juno and Sam Whiteout who were both awesome to hang out with the entire night. Juno is a guitarist for huge artists - was on tour all last year with Camila Cabello. Sam Whiteout speaks around the country about race and politics. I am the fourth place finisher from the 100th season of a reality show. 

Left to right: Reba McEntire, Ashlee Juno, Sam Whiteout

When I tell you our seats were sick, I can't even explain it. We weren't on the floor with the real celebs, but we were within tomato-throwing reach of them. I couldn't concentrate on anything besides Beyonce and Blue Ivy, Khalid's sneakers, Miley et al. These are the best seats I've had at a concert, besides the time we snuck up to 5th row floor seats at Jingle Ball with my manager's boss's 13 year old children. 

I will say the show is LONG. It's like Jingle Ball with nicer outfits. I was grateful to be even in the same vicinity of these people. It was absolutely nuts to see everything that close and see what Grammys (ultimately the Voice Finale on steroids) looks like behind the scenes. Favorite performances in no particular order: Kendrick, Miley & Elton, Gaga, Broadway Tribute (Patti LuPone 2020), and Logic. Honorable mention goes to P!NK for singing us down and Kesha's coven, vocals aside. 

When I tell you I was screaming "WRITE WITH ME GIRLS" you have no idea. 

It's definitely an interesting time to be in the entertainment industry. Something awful comes out every day. To anyone that thinks women need to "step up" in music, I say maybe you need to "sit down." We only saw one woman win a televised solo Grammy (who was then bashed all evening because of a technicality she had no control over), the only female Album of the Year nominee snubbed from performing, and absolutely no LGBTQ winners televised. However, Sting had a 7 minute subway sketch, sang the longest performance duet with SHAGGY (wtf?), and U2 were highlighted THREE TIMES. All legends, but come on lets save it for another year.  Rant over.

This was an incredible weekend. Thank you Absolut for having me be apart of something so amazing as this campaign and all the opportunities that have come with. Thank YOU GUYS for the patience its taken for me to get this EP out. This is about to be such a great year for us all and I'm releasing music I WANT TO AND LOVE SO MUCH. Stay tuned....