Bon Iver, who just received no less than four Grammy nominations, had spoken with New York Times writer Jon Caramanica earlier this year, and had quite negative comments to make about the ceremony:
‘I kinda felt like going up there and being like: 'Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending that this is important’
‘I don’t think Arcade Fire was compromised, but 98 percent of the people in that room, their art is compromised by the fact that they’re thinking that, and that they’re hoping to get that award. And who is that award given by? It’s like they think it’s literally handed down by the musical-history gods.’
He sat down with Jian Ghomeshi on QTV in Toronto on Thursday, and, basically, said he was still standing behind his comments about the Grammy’s:
‘To be fair, I think I can stand behind all that stuff, in maybe not so harsh of words’
‘I come from a place where music growing up was an expression, purely. It was a journey, it was a vehicle for self-discovery, and things like that, and so I've always been a little bit hesitant of an industrial approach to music and making music… Michael Jackson – he's the best, everybody loves Michael Jackson – but his success became fuel on top of fire, on top of fuel. Obviously it didn't work out well for him personally. The whole system is just bizarre to me’
And to the question ‘Do you want to win?’ he answered it would feel weird to win for him: ‘When you win you feel like,.. oh… sorry!’
He is a very articulate and modest guy, from a small town (he repeated it many times), and he wants to stay humble, as if he was not really ready for fame.
And about the Kayne West debacle?
‘I have to defend Kayne, because I really like him and he has been so good to me’
‘The thing that nobody talks about when that whole debacle went down was that he was right. That Beyoncé video was the best video of the decade’
What an odd couple! Super modest Bon Iver with megalomaniac Kayne West!