Older women were anything but invisible at last night’s Grammy Awards. One of the highlights that went viral was the rap star DaBaby singing his mega-hit “Rock Star” with a chorus of gray-haired, black-robed (mostly) female back-up singers rocking out behind him.
Grammy host Trevor Noah called them “DaBaby Boomers.” Social media commenters compared the singers to the nuns in Sister Act, to Margaret Atwood (one singer was her spitting image) and, most frequently, to the Supreme Court. Newsweek predicted they would become a meme the way #LeftShark was after a woefully ill-prepared back up figure stole the spotlight from Katy Perry’s Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Here are a few of the shout outs to the women, who stomped and mugged through out the song:
“Putting the Grammies back in the Grammys.”
“I swear I just saw my grandma performing with DaBaby.”
“Where’d they get all these RBG’s?”
“A choir of wannabe Judge Judys.”
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The Preaching of the Choir
It was an unconventional move for a song about police brutality and profiling. When DaBaby sang “Rock Star” at the BET awards, he started the segment in a George Floyd position with someone’s knee on his neck, and images of Black Lives Matter marchers were interspersed through out the performance.
So what was the meaning of this dramatic addition to the song? Was it a statement about the justice system? That all of the horrors people of color face are happening under their eyes, with their “backing?”
Or was it just a case of trying something outrageous to get attention? Well then, it worked.
Not everyone praised the act. “One of the worst Grammy tropes is adding strings and/or a choir to a rap or pop song as though certain genres have to be dressed up to be worthy of inclusion in the show.”
Whatever the reasoning behind it, we loved watching this chorus, knowing they were showing the world that women like us can still sing and dance with the best of them.
Read More: From Dolly Parton to Aretha Franklin, the 2019 Grammys Were a Big Night for Women
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