KCSU’s Music Directors Mia Templien and Ritika/Ria Janapati know good music. Whether it be 70s folk rock or experimental pop, Mia and Ria are in the crowd dancing along. Their podcast navigates their wide variety of taste and how music from decades past is still relevant today. Join them during their journey in the music department here at KCSU!

Happy Valentine’s Day from the KCSU Music Directors! Mia and Ria break down their recent favorites in music, including trip hop bands like Massive, Portishead, and Wagon Christ, other artists like Blondie, FKA twigs, Leonard Cohen, and, of course, Talking Heads. The two then move on to the results of the 67th Grammy Awards, sharing their excitement and disappointment for who won. They celebrate Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”, Beyonce’s first win in Album of the Year, Chappell Roan winning Best New Artist, and Doechii getting Best Rap Album. Ria shares some hot takes about Best Remixed Recording and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Mia independently cheers for The Beatles’ win for Best Rock Performance.

Like what you’re hearing? Listen to more KCSU podcasts here, on our Spotify at KCSUFM, or anywhere else you get podcasts.

Transcription of episode (provided by Gus Arnold)

Ria Janapati (intro)
Hi, I’m Ria Janapati, KCSU’s Assistant Music Director, and you’re listening to the KCSU music podcast. Here at the station, the music department, which consists of Mia Templien and myself, are in charge of the music that hits the airwaves, and it’s our job to bring you our pristine taste. Join us as we navigate the music of Fort Collins and beyond.

Mia Templien
Hi there. My name is Mia.

Ria Janapati
And I’m Ria.

Mia
And we are your Music Directors here at KCSU; and here we are with another music podcast.

Ria
Another one. Thank you.

Mia
I’m so excited.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
I cannot wait. What’s on the roster for today?

Ria
We’re gonna go through some of our recent listening favorites; what we’ve been rotating, just personally. And then we’re gonna go over the Grammy results.

Mia
Yes. If you all remember, we did a podcast last semester where we talked about our predictions.

Ria
Yeah, picks and predicts.

Mia
Picks and predicts. And we’re just gonna go over how things, how things shook out.

Ria
Yeah, how the cookie crumbled.

Mia
How the cookie crumbled into tiny little pieces.

Ria
Yeah, crumbs.

Mia
There’s crumbs everywhere.

Ria
Ugh.

Mia
So-

Ria
Kind of crummy.

Mia
Hey. Oh…

Ria
I take it back.

Mia
No, that’s a good one. We should have, we should continue the ASMR. We were doing a bit of ASMR before we started.

Ria
I don’t think that we’re allowed to do that.

Mia
Well, you know what? Yeah.

Ria
Meh.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Eh. Okay. What have you been listening to?

Mia
Imagine ASMR right now. Boom. It happened. I have been listening to, I had kind of, I’ve been in, like, a weird, like, sad kind of vibe. So I listened to a lot of, like, Leonard Cohen this weekend. I listened to, what specific albums? He has, Death of a Ladies’ Man. Which, just, flames, flames all around. And then his album from, like, the late 60s that I’ve really been liking, like, in, like, ‘67 I think.

Ria
Nice.

Mia
Yeah. How about you?

Ria
I planned some shows about trip hop, so I’ve been listening to a lot of that, like, Massive Attack, Portishead. And there’s this song called “Bend Over” by Wagon Christ that I found, and it’s so good. And then, other than that, I’ve been listening to the new, I listened to the new Weeknd album called Hurry Up Tomorrow, and I was working while I listened to it so I don’t remember a lot, but I do really like the song “Timeless”; no matter what the haters think, I’m an enjoyer. And then, like always, I’ve been listening to my favorite new wave songs, my “Hanging on The Telephone” by Blondie and “Private Idaho” by the B52’s.

Ria
Of course. Do you like, are there any other Blondie tracks that you’re really particular, that really, partial towards?

Ria
“Hanging on The Telephone” is my favorite. But I also really like “Rip Her to Shreds”, “Dreaming” and “Sunday Girl” and “Atomic”.

Mia
Yeah? I love-

Ria
And “Call Me” and “Heart of Glass”.

Mia
You’re just naming everything.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Well-

Ria
That happens.

Mia
I really like “11:59”.

Ria
That one’s good.

Mia
That one, it’s, like, so high energy, and it keeps the energy the whole time.

Ria
Yeah. Ooh, also “Rapture”.

Mia
“Rapture” is a good one. “Rapture”’s is a good one. And then they also have, have you heard “Fade Away and Radiate”?

Ria
Yes, I have.

Mia
That one I love.

Ria
That one’s very good.

Mia
It’s just her voice, her vocals on that are absolutely incredible.

Ria
Debbie [Harry], my queen.

Mia
Debbie, my queen.

Ria
I also love when she just goes French.

Mia
Yeah, what’s up with that?

Ria
She be going French.

Mia
Why did she become French? What’s up with that? And keeping with our theme of talking about Talking Heads almost every show…

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
I’ve been listening to the song “Sax and Violins”. Have you heard that?

Ria
Yes. I’ve seen it on your Airbuds.

Mia
It has been on my Airbuds. I, that song, I, originally listening to it, I thought it was a little corny, because that’s just how a lot of, like, first listens, sometimes of Talking Heads songs can be. Sorry, with love.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
But this one just, it’s from their, like, 1988 album, I believe. It’s called Naked. They have, it’s the one with the, the chimpanzee.

Ria
Yes, I know that one.

Mia
Is it an orang… No, it’s a chimpanzee. It’s a chimp.

Ria
Is that when they go kind of salsa?

Mia
They go a little salsa on that one! Yeah, it’s funky, which is why it’s not like one of my favorites. But it, they have that, like, it’s very “Sax and Violins”, at least, is very like Little Creatures coded.

Ria
Okay.

Mia
So it feels very much like that album. But that’s… that’s maybe the only song I can name off that album, other than, like, what else? Oh, once… Once there were- parking lots?

Ria
Yeah, everyone clap. Everyone clap for Mia.

Mia
And there’s a Pizza Hut. What’s that one?

Ria
I just don’t know.

Mia
Flower. It’s something fla… What is it?

Ria
I don’t know.

Mia
I want to figure out what it is.

Ria
I’ve also been listening to Eusexua.

Mia
The song is called “Nothing But Flowers”.

Ria
Okay.

Mia
Didn’t have to look it up. I just knew it. I Shazamed it in my own head.

Ria
Nice.

Mia
Do you ever do that?

Ria
Sometimes.

Mia
Where you, like, you can’t think of the name of the song, and then you, like, meditate on it a little bit; and then all of a sudden it hits you out of nowhere, and you get, like, the album cover, the artist and the song title.

Ria
Yeah. But sometimes I just do that for normal words too. Like, I’ll forget it and then I’ll be like, oh, I should Google that. But then I don’t. And then I remember.

Mia
The beauty of the human mind. The many different caverns and caves.

Ria
Wind tunnels.

Mia
Wind tunnels.

Ria
Turbines.

Mia
Yeah. So you said you’ve also been listening to FKA Twigs’ new album.

Ria
Yeah, I really like “Keep It, Hold It” and “Striptease”. And then there’s that one song with North West, which is interesting.

Mia
Yeah. She’s got a whole, whole career already.

Ria
Don’t know why she does her verse in Japanese. I didn’t know she spoke Japanese.

Mia
Hey, beats me. Beats me.

Ria
Yeah, hey, some things aren’t meant for the average Joe to know.

Mia
That’s what the track demanded of North West. That’s what the track demanded of them.

Ria
In the sense.

Mia
In the sense that…

Ria
Alright, should we talk about the Grammys now?

Mia
All right, let’s get it. Yeah, let’s get into it. So the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.

Ria
They happened this past Sunday.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
It was the second of February [2025].

Mia
That’s, we’re so specific. This is beautiful. All the data points have been entered. The metadata is, is complete. Let’s start off with our Record of the Year.

Ria
And it was, it went to “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar.

Mia
Are we surprised?

Ria
I was a little bit surprised, but pleasantly. I was glad. I’m happy with that choice. I was actually, overall, very happy with the whole Grammys this year, which is very rare, very rarely do they do what I want them to do.

Mia
There’s often many a snub.

Ria
Many a snub, many a sneak.

Mia
Many a sneak. But there seemed to not be many sneaks or snubs.

Ria
Yeah. There were a couple. We’ll get to that.

Mia
Yeah. Hang on.

Ria
Hang on.

Mia
Be patient.

Ria
Hold your horses.

Mia
We will get there. Okay.

Ria
Okay, so “Not Like Us” won Record of the Year. What are your, what are your thoughts on that song?

Mia
I, fantastic.

Ria
Yeah?

Mia
Fantastic.

Ria
I like that it came out before Kendrick put out his album GNX, and I think that was too late for consideration in this cycle. But it really served as a precursor to the leaning so West Coast in the production, and just a lot of fun, and it was effective. And then this weekend, this Sunday [2/9/25], Kendrick’s performing halftime at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Mia
Is he gonna do “Not Like Us”?

Ria
I think so. I think he did confirm it in an interview with Timothée Chalamet.

Mia
He better. Is this the first time, like, an official, like “diss track” has been like, has won Record of the Year?

Ria
I think it might be the first time it’s won, but I think that other ones have been nominated. But imagine… man, this diss track just won five Grammys.

Mia
Yes, that’s beautiful.

Ria
If you’re REDACTED, I don’t know how it would feel.

Mia
I mean. Pretty bad, probably.

Ria
Pretty bad.

Mia
Probably pretty bad. Maybe-

Ria
I saw something that was like, this is what happens when you accidentally manifest. Because REDACTED had a lyric where he said, “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now”.

Mia
And he did. Because he’s a good artist.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
But we’re there any other, were there any other Record of the Year nominees that you were like, this could have, could have gotten it but-

Ria
I loved “360” by Charli xcx. I also think “Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan would have been a great choice.

Mia
“Good Luck Babe” was a beautiful song,

Ria
And I really like “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM”, but I do think that I just have other songs off Cowboy Carter I like better, so I’m not too torn up about it not winning.

Mia
Yeah, very true. Should we move on to our Album of the Year?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Album of the Year winner…

Ria
Cowboy Carter! This is Beyoncé’s first win for Album of the Year, which is crazy when you realize she is the most winning artist in Grammy history, but it’s her first time getting this award. There was a lot of conversation about this particular album winning because she expected it to be snubbed because historically she’s been snubbed when she has gone into country themes with her music. Like on Lemonade, the song “Daddy Lessons”, getting snubbed at the Country Music Awards.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
But it all came back around. Here she is, and she’s a winner.

Mia
Yeah. She, 32 Grammy wins, but 99 nominations.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
99 nominations.

Ria
She is the, if this was the Olympics, she’s like Gabby Douglas.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
That’s pretty-

Ria
Or Simone Biles.

Mia
Pretty incredible. Yeah, I think great… And the acclaim that Cowboy Carter got, and the moment that it was. I think that it made absolute sense to get Album of The Year.

Ria
Yeah, like, there are just some, some of her coolest moments. At first, I didn’t think I was gonna like this album all that much, but the more I’ve listened to it, the more I’ve come to appreciate everything about it. Like, I really loved Renaissance, so I figured that this was just gonna be second place. But the songwriting is immaculate. The song with Miley Cyrus, “II MOST WANTED”, that one’s gorgeous. “16 CARRIAGES” is really good. There’s so many good moments. And then the fun stuff too, like “YA YA” and “BODYGUARD”. It’s just a very, very tight album.

Mia
Yeah. Very balanced.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Especially-

Ria
I also love how she was using this opportunity going into country music to uplift other Black Country artists, like Linda Martell, like Shaboozey. I think it was a really cool project.

Mia
Yeah, definitely.

Ria
Was there, what were the other albums that you were kind of looking at in this one?

Mia
Probably Chappell Roan’s, [The] Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. And then I had a lot of people talking about how Brat should have won, because they felt like that was like a really big moment. Which it was, you know, people did, it was like a big thing-

Ria
It was Brat summer.

Mia
It was Brat summer, but in terms of, like, comparing Cowboy Carter to Brat, it’s, like, hydrogen bomb, coughing baby.

Ria
I also, if it wasn’t Beyoncé, I just don’t even know what would happen. Because this award, it’s not just for Cowboy Carter, it’s for Lemonade, it’s for B’Day, it’s for the self titled. It’s for everything that she released in the past that got snubbed.

Mia
Yeah, and not, I don’t mean to discredit Charli xcx by saying coughing baby. I just mean-

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
In terms of, like, you know, what it I-

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
You know what I mean. Like, just the-

Ria
Apples and oranges.

Mia
Yeah, yeah.

Ria
Coughing baby-

Mia
It had a moment. It had a moment. But I think that the other one just had more like, more of a livelihood, more persistence. You know?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
I also think Short n’ Sweet was a cute, like, that was a cute album.

Ria
Yeah. I didn’t listen to the whole thing, but I liked all the singles that I heard.

Mia
Yeah, just wanted to say that.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
And then moving on.

Ria
Song of the Year, once again, “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar. And most of the nominees here were the same, so I think we can kind of skip past that a little bit. Okay, Best New Artist. The winner was Chappell Roan.

Mia
Woooo!

Ria
How do you feel about that?

Mia
I feel great. I think the other nominations for that, Doechii and Sabrina Carpenter specifically. I feel like Sabrina Carpenter, Best New Artist, she kind of already had, like, a lot going on, like a lot going for her before. In terms of, like, the whole Disney Channel, like, thing…

Ria
The thing about this award is it’s never actually going to new artists. Especially if you’re someone who listens to music a lot, These are names you’ve been hearing.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
But it’s just new to the Grammys-

Mia
New on, like the, like a national plane, like, international plane.

Ria
But, yeah, I think all of these nominees were fantastic. Doechii is one of my favorite artists, that, she’s just really prolific, I think she’s gonna really remain big. We’ll get more into her later with her award. Sabrina Carpenter, I agree, she had a big year. But also Shaboozey, he had “A Bar Song”, that one was big. He had some features on Beyoncé’s album, but even in the past, he had some songs on the soundtrack for Spider-Man Into The Spider Verse, and those are pretty cool. Also, I don’t know if you saw Raye’s performance, but I saw her live a few months ago, and I hadn’t really known a lot about her, and that performance made me go learn about her, because she is insanely talented.

Mia
Wild.

Ria
Great vocalist. And then Khruangbin are also amazing. They have a Tiny Desk concert that’s probably one of my top three Tiny Desk concerts, and I watch a lot of those.

Mia
What would you say your top three Tiny Desk concerts are?

Ria
Khruangbin, Sampha, and Chaka Khan.

Mia
Flames, flames.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Definitely. Chappell Roan, winner, Best New Artist. I feel-

Ria
That had to happen.

Mia
That made sense. She-

Ria
She had the biggest year.

Mia
If that didn’t happen, people would be up in arms.

Ria
Yeah. She also just had a meteoric year.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Like, the most attended set at Lollapalooza’s biggest year.

Mia
Like, like, a swarm of people.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Listening, like, just like, as far as the eye can see.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
“HOT TO GO!”

Ria
Ugh, that one’s a good one.

Mia
Yeah, that’s crazy. Okay, and then, what else do we have?

Ria
We can go to Best Pop Solo Performance,

Mia
Okay… Found it! Found it!

Ria
That went to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, and I think that’s a good choice.

Mia
Me, espresso, me, espresso-

Ria
I’m working late, because I’m a singer.

Mia
Oh. I’m, I’m working late, yeah, no, yeah, it’s because I’m a singer.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Yeah. I think that… great song. I feel like, personally, I think I mentioned this in our last one. But “Please, Please, Please”, that was-

Ria
That one-

Mia
Just… That one hit me. That one hit me. That was one that like…

Ria
That one I have to listen to at least twice.

Mia
Right?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
I had to, I was, I would, like, I would go to like, take a shower, and I would turn, put it on and just play it on loop. Because it would just, it just seamlessly, like, created this, it would just play over again, and over, and over, and over again. Lovely.

Ria
I will say for this award, since it’s Pop Solo… Okay, it’s Pop Solo, not Pop Vocal. But I would not have been surprised if it went to Billie Eillish, because I think on “Birds of a Feather”, she does a lot of vocal things that we haven’t heard from her before, and it sounds awesome.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
So yeah.

Mia
I’d agree.

Ria
But yeah, I really liked every single song that was nominated in this category, so there was no losing.

Mia
Yeah, that’s pretty incredible.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
And then, do we want to do, what next after that?

Ria
Pop Duo.

Mia
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance?

Ria
Yeah. That was Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars with “Die With A Smile”.

Mia
What did you think of that?

Ria
I don’t, I couldn’t tell you what that song sounds like.

Mia
Me neither.

Ria
I don’t know if you have all heard about this, but there’s this whole thing about Bruno Mars having all this gambling debt. So he’s just releasing all these duos now. Like, he did this one, and the one with Rosé from BLACKPINK, and then he just released, there was a Brazilian one, and then he released one with Sexyy Red and the lyrics are really funny, but I don’t think I can say them on this podcast.

Mia
That was the most recent one he did, right?

Ria
I think so.

Mia
Yeah, I saw that. I was like, Bruno!

Ria
Me and my roommates just keep texting it to each other.

Mia
Whoa.

Ria
Yeah-

Mia
Whoa, Bruno-

Ria
You can’t be in that much gambling debt.

Mia
Let’s back it up a bit. Does he step away from roulette table-

Mia
He has those shows-

Mia
Yeah. Listen to us. He has those shows in, like, Vegas, right?

Ria
Yeah he-

Mia
He like, you can’t bring your phone in. You have to, like, it’s like, there’s some, like, secrecy around it, or whatever.

Ria
Yeah, maybe. I don’t know.

Mia
I don’t know. I remember it just like… he tried to create this like experience where you have to, like, you have to be in it, which I guess, if you’re going to see live music, you’re already-

Ria
Live in the moment.

Mia
You’re already in the moment. Yeah. But it’s, like, enforced.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
You must enjoy. You must be quiet.

Ria
Yeah, you have to. It’s not optional-

Mia
Big Brother: Bruno Mars.

Ria
BBB.

Mia
BBM, that’s what they call him.

Ria
That’s what they call him, on the daily.

Mia
There were other, other-

Ria
Big bad baby mama.

Mia
There were some other nominations…

Ria
Yes.

Mia
From, a lot of big names we’ve got.

Ria
Yeah we’ve got… Okay, so “The Boy Is Mine” is a song by Brandy and Monica from the 90s, and then Ariana Grande did a cover on her album and featured them both.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
And it was pretty cool.

Mia
You gotta love that.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
You gotta love when people do that. I appreciate that. “Guess” from Charli xcx and Billie Eillish, which-

Ria
Love this one.

Mia
That was like, that’s an explosive combination. That’s incredible.

Ria
I think that one’s actually my favorite of the nominees.

Mia
That one got, like, that’s just like you put, that’s, uh, hydrogen bomb, hydrogen bomb.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
That one’s was pretty crazy. And then, “LEVII’S JEANS” Beyoncé.

Ria
And let’s talk about that-

Mia
Featuring Post Malone.

Ria
I don’t know why this one was nominated and not “II MOST WANTED”

Mia
After Malone. After Malone. Malone, this, this time around.

Ria
Yes. “II MOST WANTED” should have been nominated, but this one was.

Mia
Anything to say about that?

Ria
“II MOST WANTED” is awesome. Makes me cry.

Mia
Wow, that’s incredible.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
That’s quite the endorsement.

Ria
And then there’s “us.” with Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift, two artists I genuinely have nothing to say about.

Mia
And I as well. Shall we move on?

Ria
Let’s move on.

Mia
Let’s move on.

Ria
Best Pop Vocal Album: Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter.

Mia
That’s beautiful.

Ria
Happy with that win-

Mia
Everything is, everything is where, everything is where it should be.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Yeah. I think although, although [The] Rise And Fall of a Midwest Princess could have been there. I think that Chappell Roan getting Best New Artist-

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Kind of, kind of makes up for that. Yeah. It quelled any anger I would have had about her not getting that.

Ria
Alrighty, and then Best Dance Electronic [Recording], the winner was “Neverender” by Justice and Tame Impala.

Mia
Justice and Tame Impala. Tame Impala, just one guy. Justice, probably more than one guy.

Ria
Hey, maybe.

Mia
Maybe. I think it’s two, I think it’s two of them. There’s a lot of names listed on here. They’re French.

Ria
That happens.

Mia
They’re French. Yeah, “Neverender”. That’s, that was alright.

Ria
There are two songs nominated, or actually three songs nominated that I liked better. I really liked “Witchy” with Kaytranada and Childish Gambino, but that Kaytranada album was so good, if they would have nominated “Snap My Finger” with PinkPantheress, that would have been awesome.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
I also really liked the Fred Again and Baby Keem “leavemealone”, because I love Baby Keem.

Mia
Baby Keem.

Ria
And then “She’s Gone, Dance On” by Disclosure was also very good.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
I was surprised not to see anything by Jamie xx in here honestly.

Mia
Yeah, that, that was a really great album that he put up this year.

Ria
I’m not sure if it, like, got released after the deadline or something, but I was really surprised about that.

Mia
Maybe. You, you really enjoy a lot of, like, dance electronic music, don’t you?

Ria
I do.

Mia
Like, that’s a big, That’s a big part, that’s like, something that like every time you’ll recommend a song to me most often, more often than not.

Ria
Most often. But it’s a specific type. It’s usually house leaning; I don’t really like EDM all that much, but I like house.

Mia
Hey. You’re only human.

Ria
Yeah. Hey.

Mia
I’m not saying I like EDM with that statement.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
But I understand, I see where you’re coming from. Best Dance Pop Recording, moving on, we have “Von Dutch”.

Ria
“Living that life, Von Dutch, cult classic, but I still pop.”

Mia
Yeah. Charli xcx.

Ria
Love her. Love this win. Very happy with that. Perfect, no notes.

Mia
Beautiful, beautiful. We also have a Troye Sivan…

Ria
“Got Me Started”, that one’s good too.

Mia
Nominee.

Ria
Yeah, if it was “Rush”, that would have been better.

Mia
I’m a little surprised that they didn’t use “Rush”.

Ria
Well, it was released as a single before, so I’m wondering if it was like outside the timeframe maybe.

Mia
Maybe but if it was on the main album, you think that there would be…

Ria
You’re right.

Mia
Right? What was the other? What was the other? There was another track on that album that was really big…

Ria
“One of Your Girls”.

Mia
“One of Your Girls” That was-

Ria
The one with Ross Lynch in the music video.

Mia
That was incredible.

Ria
Fire.

Mia
That was incredible. That music video, I’ve watched multiple… many, many times. Many, many times.

Ria
Triple platinum.

Mia
It was just beautiful. It went triple platinum on my YouTube account.

Ria
Okay. And then Best Dance Electronic Album was Brat by Charli xcx.

Mia
Of course.

Ria
Brat summer. Yes.

Mia
Which, why do we… I know that we touched on this earlier on Cowboy Carter winning Album of the Year over Brat. Why do we think that Brat didn’t win? Or, I guess, like, do we think that Brat had the ability to win that?

Ria
I don’t know, because also, when you look at the voters, it’s a lot of seasoned people. So a lot of them are just hearing the name Charli xcx for the first time or they know her as the “Boom Clap” girl. So-

Mia
“Boom, clap. The sound of my heart.”

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
“The beat goes on and on and on and on and on, yeah.”

Ria
Et cetera.

Mia
Et cetera.

Ria
Yeah. When you think about the voters, that, while this album was huge culturally. It was huge. It was all over everything. It isn’t Grammy bait. Like-

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Not to say that Cowboy Carter was, but it’s definitely a sound that the voters are probably more accustomed to. And have a better, like, lexicon to critique it with.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
So I think that’s why it won.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Very eloquently said.

Ria
Thank you.

Mia
That was a beautiful point. Anything else to say on the, I don’t have anything else to say about Best Dance Electronic Album. Okay.

Ria
Best Remixed Recording.

Mia
“Espresso (Mark Ronson [X] FNZ Working Later Remix”.

Ria
Because I’m a singer.

Mia
Because I’m a singer.

Ria
Okay, I do think that this one should have gone to “Alter Ego (Kaytranada Remix)”. That one’s fire.

Mia
Yeah. What particularly do you like about “Alter Ego [(Kaytranada Remix)]”?

Ria
Well, I love the original song so much. The original song is Doechii and JT, and it’s really, really high energy and intense and in your face. But the Kaytranada remix is a little more laid back. Which at first seems like it wouldn’t work, but then it does.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
I don’t really have anything else to say. I mean, there’s-

Mia
Me either.

Mia
Yeah. “Von Dutch” was also a nominee, but we already discussed that. So, moving on, Best Rock Performance.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
The Beatles with “Now and Then”. I am a “Now and Then” truther. I don’t care.

Ria
I am not.

Mia
I don’t care.

Ria
I think there are two songs that were better.

Mia
There were two songs that were better?

Ria
I liked “Broken Man” by St. Vincent a lot. I really liked that one.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
And I liked “Gift Horse” by Idles.

Mia
Yeah. It’s Saint, It’s St. Vincent. Like, what are you gonna do?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
But “Now and Then” was just such a, it was just like… I am personally a big Beatles fan, and I know that that is controversial.

Ria
It’s actually not. It’s actually-

Mia
It’s controversial in today’s climate.

Ria
It’s maybe the opposite of controversial-

Mia
Everybody hates us. Everybody hates us.

Ria
I think this hate is actually so self-inflicted.

Mia
Hey, wow. That’s a, that’s a crazy thing to say.

Ria
I don’t think it is because no one is really getting hated on for being a Beatles fan, if you think about-

Mia
I mean, maybe you’re not in the right circles, because there’s, there’s some real-

Ria
That’s the thing. What circles in the-

Mia
Music elitists. Music elitists.

Ria
If you go out into the public, and you’re like, my favorite band is the Beatles, no one’s gonna say anything.

Mia
They’re gonna think you’re, you’re, you’re normal. They’re, they’ll think you’re a normal person.

Ria
Yeah, but that’s not hate.

Mia
That’s true. Normal people scare me. I thought it was a really sweet track, because it’s like…itt tugs on your heart strings. You know

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
It’s maybe not, maybe it sounded a bit like grandpa, in terms of the instrumentality, like instrumentation. It felt very like Traveling Wilburys. But I don’t know it was, it hit me, because it’s like, I thought the music video was also kind of corny. Not gonna lie. With like, all the-

Ria
I haven’t watched it.

Mia
It’s, like, they do, it’s, like, Ringo and Paul, like, performing the song, like, at their current age. And then they bring in like, like they cut out videos of like George and John playing in like, their Sergeant Pepper’s outfits, and they are pretending that they’re all in the same room. And like, as a, you’re giving me this look. As, as like, as a concept describing it, it sounds corny but seeing it in action, it’s kind of worse. But the song is sweet because it’s like “now and then I miss you”. And it’s like, oh, they died, and that’s so sad, and we miss them.

Ria
Oh no.

Mia
They were, it was just four boys from Liverpool and they were all friends. And it’s like, and then time and death and all this sad stuff takes them away. And, yeah.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
But, that’s just me being sentimental, so I guess the Grammys don’t care about my sentimentality.

Ria
Well, they did, because they won.

Mia
This is true. This is true.

Ria
Once again, self-inflicted.

Mia
So wait, they do care. Why? What is wrong with me today? I’m being so, I’m being so “poor me”. What is going on?

Ria
Okay, let’s move on to Best Metal Performance.

Mia
Best Metal Performance.

Ria
It was “Mea Culpa” by Gojira, Marina Viotti, and Victor Le Masne.

Mia
And we also had nominations from-

Ria
Okay, I actually really wanted to “Suffocate” by Knocked Loose and Poppy to win. I liked that song a lot.

Mia
Poppy…

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
..too? That’s, that’s a crazy one.

Mia
Also, there was an interview on the red carpet where the interviewer, there’s another nominee named Spiritbox, and there’s, the singer for that, I forgot her name, but she’s a woman, and so is Poppy, and they’re the only women nominated. So it was the singer Spiritbox, and the interviewer was just like, “Poppy! How does it feel to be nominated?” Like, confused them. And she just went with it, and kind of just pretended to be Poppy for the rest of the interview. And it was really funny. But in that, I learned that apparently no women have ever won this category.

Mia
Are you serious?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Wow. Metal folk, get on it.

Ria
Guys.

Mia
The people of, the people of the metal.

Ria
Knock it off.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Knock it loose.

Mia
Knock it off. Knock it loose. Get it together.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Move, step up.

Ria
Okay, next one. We’ve got Best Rock Song and the winner, I’m very happy, was “Broken Man” by St. Vincent.

Mia
Yes.

Ria
Yes.

Mia
St. Vincent, Annie Clark, songwriter; parentheses, St Vincent. That’s a good one.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
That’s good one. This feels good.

Ria
Alright. And then, another controversial one coming up, Best Rock Album. The winner was Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones.

Mia
I’d like to say, I am a big Rolling Stones fan. Did not listen to this album.

Ria
Yeah, because no offense why would you.

Mia
You know why, you know why, They’re all 80.

Ria
That’s ageist, Mia.

Mia
They can’t, okay, it’s the Rolling Stones that are 80.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Do you know what they have been through? And the fact that they’re 80 now, it’s like, what is, what’s-

Ria
What are we doing?

Mia
What are we doing now?

Ria
What are we doing?

Mia
I am afraid to say that they’ve done their best.

Ria
I had three albums I would rather win in this category.

Mia
Yeah. What were they?

Ria
They were Romance by Fontaines D.C., TANGK by Idles, and No Name by Jack White.

Mia
Do we think that Fontaines D.C. could have won?

Ria
I don’t know, because they’ve been nominated for-

Mia
They’re quite smaller, but they’re like very, they’re very much rising.

Ria
Yeah, but this also wasn’t their first nomination.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
But I do think that, given a few more years, if they get a little bit bigger than they’d have that…

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
…power. But this is another category in particular, or when you think about who’s voting, and they’re gonna be partial to certain things.

Mia
The seasoned voters. Yeah.

Ria
“Back in my day…”

Mia
“It’s the Rolling Stones. I love them.”

Ria
Whoa. Play that song.

Mia
Play that, play that funky music.

Ria
“Paint It, Black”. Okay, Best Alternative Music Performance was… the winner was “Flea” by St. Vincent. But I honestly would have been happy to see this go to “Starburster” by Fontaines D.C.

Mia
I would have also liked to see “Song of the Lake” from…

Ria
Nick Cave.

Mia
Yeah. Wild God, which was a crazy album for him to be releasing now.

Ria
Good for him.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
See, you can be old and do cool things.

Mia
This is true. Hey-

Ria
You heard it here first.

Mia
You heard it here first.

Ria
You have our permission.

Mia
Yeah, every, everything’s gonna be okay, yeah.

Ria
Okay. And then the winner of Best Alternative Music Album was All Born Screaming by St. Vincent.

Mia
Another St. Vincent, things are where they should be. Do we have, I thought it was, the lineup in this is interesting, because you have Clairo in there with Charm.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
A nomination-

Ria
Which I think it, I think it kind of makes sense in that category.

Mia
Yeah, alternative. Not alternative in a like, alternative is a very broad category, I’ll say. Which is why we have such a blend with the Wild God, Charm, like, the Brittany Howard album-

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
And then St. Vincent. But-

Ria
I think we’re gonna skip past R&B for time purposes and just go into Rap. I also have some mean things to say, and that’s not very podcast friendly.

Mia
Right? We’re trying to be kind.

Ria
We’re staying positive.

Mia
Positive, yeah. So do we want to do Best Rap Performance?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Alright.

Ria
This one was “Not Like Us”, third one of the night, but I, there were some really good nominees in this one.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Specifically “NISSAN ALTIMA” by Doechii and “Yeah Glo!” by Glorilla. Also “Like That”, with Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar was really good.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
So this was just a tough, tough category.

Mia
“NISSAN ALTIMA” is an incredible song.

Ria
Incredible song.

Mia
It is, like, so well produced. Like, her, like Doechii on it is, like, impeccable.

Ria
Yeah. And that’s, like, rapping, pen game.

Mia
The pen. The pen was on fire.

Ria
The pen was, the pen was ablaze.

Mia
The pen was ash, she had written so fast, it was so flames, it was just, it had just been obliterated.

Ria
Alright.

Mia
What else? What’s our next category?

Ria
Best Melodic Rap, and the winner was “3:AM” by Rapsody and Erykah Badu. That song was actually quite wonderful. But I really liked “SPAGHETTII” by Beyoncé and Shaboozey and Linda Martell.

Mia
Shaboozey. Of course, of course. And then, yeah. Then you also have another, you have, WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU from Future and Metro Boomin, and featuring The Weeknd was another nominee.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Which I didn’t really, I didn’t hear much about that one.

Ria
Neither did I.

Mia
No.

Ria
No. Okay. And then Best Rap Song was also “Not Like Us”, and this was basically the same nominees as Best Rap Performance. But, I’m just really happy that “Carnival” didn’t win.

Mia
Yeah, what were your, what was your reasons behind that? I mean, I guess-

Ria
I don’t like that song.

Mia
Yeah. Songwriters, you have Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West, featuring Rich The Kid, Playboi Carti.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Which, like, all of these artists have done something that I like, but for some reason, this is just not good.

Mia
Interesting combination. Interesting, they cooked something up. They cooked something, I don’t know what it was.

Ria
It was an amalgam.

Mia
It was, it was in a big, it was in a big pot-

Ria
That whole album-

Mia
And the color, I can’t really tell, like, it was all, there was a lot of different ingredients.

Ria
That whole freaking album was something. Speaking of album, the winner of Best Rap Album was probably my favorite part of the whole entire night.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Because the winner was Doechii with Alligator Bites Never Heal.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
Love, love, love, that project.

Mia
This is, this is, it’s a momentous occasion.

Ria
I’m very happy that Kendrick Lamar’s album came out after the consideration, because I think he would have won.

Mia
Yeah.

Ria
But this deserves it. It’s necessary. And Doechii is the third woman to ever win this award. The first was Lauryn Hill, and the second was Cardi B, and then Cardi B presented her this award. It was really cool.

Mia
That was beautiful.

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Yeah. I have no notes. I have no notes. It’s funny that Eminem was also nominated, which is just…

Ria
Hey, to each their own.

Mia
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). What? What are we, what are we doing here?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Eminem.

Ria
Okay, the rest of these seem to be a bit out of my wheelhouse, not gonna lie.

Mia
Yeah, we have, like-

Ria
Except Beyoncé won Best Country.

Mia
Of course. What else was nominated in that?

Ria
Post Malone, Kasey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson.

Mia
Okay, I feel good about Beyoncé winning that, then.

Ria
Yeah, me too.

Mia
I mean, like, I already did, but with the comparisons, it’s… yeah.

Ria
It’s a wash.

Mia
It’s a wash, what are you gonna do?

Ria
Yeah.

Mia
Well, this was a lovely conversation.

Ria
A lovely convo.

Mia
This was a lovely chat. I hope this, I think we’re gonna have to bring this to an end. We’ve had, we’ve gone through everything, we’ve recapped all of-

Ria
Yes we have.

Mia
All of our stuff. Hope you enjoyed. Hope you learned something.

Ria
Stay safe out there.

Mia
Hope you liked it. Stay safe out there, of course.

Ria
All right.

Mia
This is Mia.

Ria
And Ria.

Mia
Signing off.

Ria
Bye bye.

Mia
See ya!

Ria Janapati (Outro)
That was the KCSU Music Podcast. I’m Ria Janapati, KCSU’s Assistant Music Director. If you like what you just heard, you can listen to more on our website, at kcsufm.com, our Spotify @kcsufm, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.