The Grammys Belonged to Joni Mitchell

To name an individual as legendary as Joni Mitchell underrated may appear foolish—however final yr, the Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner selected to not embody her or another girls in a e-book about rock ‘n’ roll historical past known as The Masters. Defending his collection of solely interviews with white male musicians, Wenner informed The New York Instances that Mitchell was merely not a “thinker of rock ‘n’ roll.” This remark was baffling—he later apologized—but additionally clarifying, revealing the biases lengthy held by a few of music’s strongest gatekeepers.

This yr’s Grammys, nevertheless, ought to settle all questions of canon close to Mitchell and the lineage she represents. She carried out what is perhaps one of many best awards-show units ever—one which recommended that she is the thinker for an ascendant era of musicians, each in rock and roll and out of doors of it.

The overriding narrative of the night time was, within the bluntest phrases, about gender. All the profitable artists within the “large 4” normal classes had been girls: Taylor Swift took residence Album of the 12 months for Midnights (she’s now gained that prize 4 instances, greater than another artist ever), Miley Cyrus received Document of the 12 months for “Flowers,” Billie Eilish gained Music of the 12 months for “What Was I Made For?” (co-written by her brother, Finneas), and the R&B musician Victoria Monét was named Finest New Artist. Six years after the previous president of the Recording Academy infamously mentioned that girls have to “step up” in the event that they wished to win extra Grammys, the sheer quantity of feminine expertise on show was vital. However a deeper aesthetic impulse—too profound to name a development—was additionally celebrated: songwriting as exact, emotional storytelling.

Introducing Mitchell’s efficiency, the people singer Brandi Carlile argued that Mitchell was one of the influential creators in “human historical past,” as a result of she had “redefined the very function of a track.” Whereas earlier songwriters had centered on observational lyrics, Mitchell popularized the thought of , “turning ourselves inside out for all of the world to see” (as an instance the purpose, Carlile mentioned Mitchell was like the primary particular person at a celebration to take off her garments and go skinny dipping). In the case of an artform as historical as music, claims of first are all the time going to be debatable—however Carlile’s assertion was given weight by the efficiency that adopted.

Mitchell has by no means carried out on the Grammys earlier than; after an aneurysm she suffered in 2015, it appeared attainable she would by no means sing—and even communicate—once more. However over the previous two years, she has returned to performing in public with the assistance of Carlile and a bunch of different musicians. The primary such efficiency is documented on the album, Joni Mitchell at Newport, which gained Finest People Album this yr. It renders highlights of Mitchell’s catalog as collaborative vocal tapestries, wherein the songwriter’s voice is only one thread.

Like in these performances, the 80-year-old Mitchell final night time sat on the heart of a jam circle (whose contributors included SistaStrings, Alison Russell, Blake Mills, Jacob Collier, Lucius, and Carlile). However all consideration was on her. Sitting in an ornate chair that turned slowly to face the viewers at the beginning of the efficiency, carrying a black shirt embroidered with stars, holding a stafflike cane in a single hand, she had a wizardly air—gently formidable, and clearly sensible. But her look carried a sure vulnerability. She doesn’t should put herself on the market for public judgment at this level in her life, and but she has.

She sang “Each Sides Now,” the basic remaining monitor from her 1969 album Clouds. The track considers how time and expertise shifts one’s perspective—heavy themes to go to many years after the track was written. The genius of the “Each Sides Now” lies partly in its winding cadence, its sensation of tacking backward and forward, as Mitchell confronts essentially the most vexing facets of human existence as a dialectical. Final night time she delivered the track in a fashion so calm that she dipped, typically, nearer to speech than to singing. She gestured together with her arms within the method of somebody explaining one thing—which she was, besides what she was explaining was her personal ignorance. When she sang “I actually do not know life in any respect,” she appeared genuinely at a loss.

The efficiency did what “Each Sides Now” all the time does to the listener, which is sluggish the circulate of time right into a drift. However a part of the efficiency’s energy derived, too, from the opposite musicians within the room. Digital camera photographs of the viewers confirmed Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, and different indomitable cultural figures showing on the verge of tears. They had been taking within the energy of the track, and the human drama on stage, but additionally, presumably, their very own place in a convention.

To say that we’re in an period of songwriting as storytelling could sound platitudinal, however lyrics actually do matter greater than ever to standard audiences proper now. Rodrigo, Swift, SZA, Lana Del Rey, and Boygenius—all Album of the 12 months nominees—make songs bristling with scenes, confessions, phrases to be parsed. Usually these artists write about how interior lives crash right into a social world filled with characters who even have interiority. Mitchell is extra advanced in her musicianship than a few of her poppier descendants, however her capability to manage suspense by jazz-influenced melodic swoops and subtleties has been handed down as properly—simply watch Eilish’s spellbinding efficiency.

Proof of this lineage was elsewhere within the night time too, most memorably when the people singer Tracy Chapman took to the stage after not often being seen in public in recent times. She was there to duet with Luke Combs, who just lately repopularized her 1988 hit “Quick Automotive.” Rendered in two complementary voices—Chapman’s easy and robust, Combs’s tough and grand—the verses tumbled with scenes about craving and escape, about characters pushing to make their innermost wishes felt upon the world. The story the track informed was riveting—and likewise appeared, in its approach, like its personal assertion of rock ‘n’ roll philosophy.