Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text As he closed the 68th Grammy Awards telecast, Trevor Noah thanked CBS and the Recording Academy for a hosting gig he said felt more like being a music fan and less like doing a job. I guess that's the vibe Noah and CBS were going for on Sunday night. It was less a curated and guided telecast with a host steering the proceedings with wit and control, and more Noah acting like a kid who won a ticket to the Grammys and was then abruptly handed a microphone and told to vamp for 10 minutes. Nobody is going to come away from the Grammys telecast remembering any of Noah's monologue speech, because there was no monologue speech. There were barely any jokes. It was really just Trevor Noah running around the floor at the arena formerly known as the Staples Center gushing about the talent in a VERY small portion of the audience. Really, Noah got to, like, three tables - enough time to shake a few famous people's hands and say, "Are you kidding me?" seemingly a few dozen times. It was enthusiastic, chummy and thoroughly vapid, but if the point was for absolutely nobody in the audience to feel even slightly offended or amused, he achieved that goal. Related Stories Music Most Memorable Grammy Moments, From Bad Bunny Making History and Trevor Noah's Trump Jokes to Justin Bieber's Shirtless Performance Music Cher Mixes Up Grammy Win, Seemingly Forgets to Present Category After Accepting Lifetime Achievement Award This was Noah's sixth and, he insists, final time hosting the Grammys, and this will not be the Trevor Noah performance anybody remembers. Noah's hosting run saw the Grammys through a volatile time, including a largely outdoors 2021 show impacted by COVID. Trevor Noah has been a good Grammys host, the right man for an assortment of difficult moments. In what is, for many people, another difficult moment, somebody decided that what the circumstances demanded was a well-dressed man fanboying over Justin Bieber and Jelly Roll. And the truth, of course, is that for many viewers, Trevor delivered exactly what they craved: a hollow, cheery escape from everything happening on the news, an insulated celebration of superficiality that was then punctured by the awards and their recipients. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Nikki Glaser hosted the Golden Globes and gave a sharp, often cleverly political speech, which set the table for a telecast in which every subsequent presenter and winner - however topical and pointed their movies or shows - pretended that the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton was the real world and the rest of the real world didn't exist. Sunday's Grammys telecast went the opposite way. Noah got up and talked about Bieber's new baby, Jamie Foxx's love of pickleball, and everybody's individual fashion and beauty brands. It's one thing to not be political. Sure, I want things to be political. If you don't? Bully for you. But in lieu of political, I'd have settled for "funny" or "purposeful" or "not bothering to waste 10 minutes and just starting the show." This was none of those. It was just...enthusiastic. Presumably somebody felt that if Noah set a benignly bland tone, maybe everybody else would do the same. That was not the way things went. Whether it was Billie Eilish getting in a bleeped "Fuck ICE" or Jelly Roll thumping a Bible like a face-tatted Elmer Gantry and saying Jesus is for everybody, Sunday's winners had a lot on their collective minds. "I guess I want to say I'm up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant," said best new artist winner Olivia Dean. "I'm a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated." The man of the night, the man of the month, was Bad Bunny. Next weekend's Super Bowl halftime act, who many people will still try to claim isn't a big enough star for that honor, won album of the year and gave his speech largely in Spanish. Or should I say his SECOND speech, because Bad Bunny also won for best best música urbana album, and without resorting to obscenities, he made his point clearly, declaring: "ICE out." He continued, "We're not savages. We're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans." He urged people to fight hate with love, a message that I'm betting will get lost in some quarters - quarters that won't be pleased with a two-week grand coronation of Bad Bunny, who was already a very American icon. Bad Bunny did not, however, perform at the Grammys. As he explained to Trevor multiple times, his Super Bowl contract prohibited anything that would take the shine off of next Sunday's event. Fortunately, the Grammys didn't lack for showcase performances. There were ultra-elaborate set pieces. Sabrina Carpenter flirted and pranced her way around an airport set, wit