The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
The 60th Annual Grammy Awards were held on Jan. 28 in New York City, and two of the awards are headed to new homes in Atlanta, with artists Childish Gambino and Mastadon receiving honors.
Gambino, known to many by his birth name Donald Glover, took home the award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his hit single, “Redbone.”
Glover, a Stone Mountain native, released his third album “Awaken, My Love!” in 2016 and saw “Redbone” gain popularity as the album’s second single. The song eventually peaked at #12 on the Billboard Top 100, and appeared in Jordan Peele’s 2017 Horror Film “Get Out!” in the film’s opening and closing credits.
“Redbone” also received nominations in two other categories including Record of the Year.
For fans of Childish Gambino, his receiving the award may be bittersweet. Its release marks a major milestone in the seemingly numbered days of the project. Glover has said in the past that the next Gambino album produced will potentially be the last.
Glover’s Golden Globe-winning television series “Atlanta” will premiere its second season in March of 2018. Glover will star as Lando Calrissian in the highly-anticipated Solo: A Star Wars Story in May.
Atlanta- based metal band Mastodon, who formed in 2000, took home the award for Best Metal Performance for their song “Sultan’s Curse.” The song is the first track on their seventh album, “Emperor of Sand,” recorded at The Quarry Studios in Kennesaw. It netted the band their first Grammy after a long career in an oft-overlooked genre.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Troy Sanders, Mastodon bassist/vocalist, said in a Hard Drive Radio interview.
“We never started a band with the purpose of wanting to be a trophy or a Grammy award winner,” Sanders said. “That’s the furthest thing from your radar when you find some friends to start a band with.”
Mastodon have been nominated in the past, but this award marks their first instance of catching the coveted award. Since releasing “Emperor of Sand,” they released the EP “Cold Dark Place” in the fall of 2017. They will co-headline a tour with progressive rock band Primus across North America through the summer of 2018.
Written by Robert Davison
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