'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
As part of the SKPop GRAMMYs roundup of 2022, we look at the category of Best Music Film.
Music films have taken varying shapes and forms across popular music history. Often helping viewers peek into historical albums and musical events, and sometimes standing as statements of their own, films surrounding musicians and their music elevate the experience of the subject when done right.
This year's nominees have some serious range: a comedy special, an experimental musical theater production, a love letter to Hollywood, and two classic throwbacks to historical events.
Nominees for this year's GRAMMY Awards for Best Score Music Film
1) Bo Burnham (artist/video director); Josh Senior (video producer) - Inside
Bo Burnham is one of the most revolutionary and self-aware comedic acts ever. On Inside, he captures the pandemic experience like no other piece of pop culture does or will ever do, as he records a special cooped up in a room for a year.
He laughs, cries, acts silly and somber, all while conjuring some truly cinematic camerawork and inspired lighting. His critique of his special while performing it makes this analysis feel self-destructive. Not many can make a reviewer introspective, but Bo can.
2) David Byrne (artist, video producer); Spike Lee (video director and producer) - David Byrne's American Utopia
American Utopia was the tenth studio album by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. The tour featured an elaborate concert featuring an empty stage surrounded by metal chains and the musicians, in identical grey suits, totally untethered from any cables, allowing free movement and complex choreography.
Visionary director Spike Lee recorded a concert documentary in an exhilaration and joyous celebration of the innovation the show brought about via the utter freedom it provided the performers. And the result is cathartic, almost like a magic performance. It is a film to perfectly complement Byrne's entrancing music.
3) Billie Eilish (artist); Patrick Osborne & Robert Rodriguez (video directors) - Happier than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles
This year, Grammy darling Billie Eilish released Happier Than Ever, a sprawling, genre-spanning follow-up to When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), which swept the Grammys. The album was as much a personal transformation as a musical one.
In the concert film, which acts as an accompanying piece to the album, Billie's music seems to croon about the haunting nature of the Hollywood dream. It is her hometown, and she embraces her place in it.
The album is interwoven in concert with an absent crowd at the Hollywood Bowl. The Philharmonic's presence makes the film appear almost surreally complete in unison with Billie's latest album.
4) Jimi Hendrix (artist); John McDermott (video producer and director); Janie Hendrix & George Scott (video producers) - Music, Money, Madness...Jimi Hendrix in Maui
Jimi Hendrix is almost a mythical figure in music history. He revolutionized rock music in a career that spanned merely four years and birthed countless urban legends about his virtuoso prowess. When Jimi tragically passed away in 1970, his posthumously-released work was revered as the final vestiges of genius.
The film contains footage of Jimi playing a windy, set on the side of the Haleakala volcano in Maui. Only 17 minutes of the footage had been seen before, and the look into the entire set shows Jimi's adventure and yearning to embrace the bizarre.
5) Various Artists; Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (video director); David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent & Joseph Patel (video producers) - Summer of Soul
The Harlem Cultural Festival, which lasted for six weeks in 1969, and hosted Grammy-winning performers from the highest echelons of music such as Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone, was still seen as obscure in pop culture.
The documentary by fabled hip-hop historian and iconic drummer Questlove examines the cultural zeitgeist of the festival via beautifully restored footage while keeping the discussion and revealing interviews around the event firmly grounded in the present.
Who do you think will take the Best Music Film GRAMMY home?
