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I liked the Grammy set.  I should have said that.   

Did you freak out when they didn’t include Etta James in the In Memoriam package?  A lot of people did.  I assumed that this performance off the top -- one that I bet was in place before all the other events of this weekend -- was supposed to cover that off.  Perhaps seeing her face is different than merely hearing her music…

How about these two women, though, huh? There’s got to be a word for these types of women. Nobody would ever call them ‘beta’, but they’re not showstoppers either.  Just utterly reliable, completely gifted musicians who keep themselves professional and close to the vest. If you know things about them it’s because you’ve really tried hard to know them, not because someone thought you should.

This can backfire though. Like you’ll notice that, despite Alicia Keys wearing the same thing as Rihanna and Gwyneth, essentially, she is NOT included in the picture of popular skinny girls. Tradeoffs.

I can see how it would be hard to be one of the ‘also rans’ but never the star.  Nobody waits up for the Alicia performance.

Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards
Photo credits: Kevin Winter/Getty

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