The 63rd Grammy Awards are here! The biggest night in music is THIS weekend! We love award show season in general. But for the music lovers, this is it, our Super Bowl. There are 22 scheduled performances, and some will be incredible surprise collaborations. It will be fast-paced and upbeat but still COVID-safe, with no in-person attendees. As a bonus, the Grammy fashion is always completely outlandish. Remember Lady Gaga’s egg? Many sober artists who recover out loud are part of this year’s lineup. These are the ones we’re cheering for! Let’s Play it Again with a look at 5 incredible sober Grammy nominees.
Coldplay – A Band With Sober Staying Power
Let’s start with Coldplay, a band that’s been together for over 20 years and claims they’ve lived out every rock and roll cliché, including addiction. The documentary, Head Full of Dreams, chronicles the band’s journey from 1996 through 2018. It touches on bassist Guy Berryman’s struggle with alcohol and lead singer Chris Martin’s battle with depression. Martin abstains from alcohol and leads a clean lifestyle. In an interview with Noise, Martin says, “I’m not really a great drinker, I don’t really do very well with it,” he sighed. “I become very depressed or too much. I acknowledge I can already be a strong flavor, and drinking makes it a bit too strong.” We get it, Chris. Zero proof is just better.
Coldplay has successfully weathered the storm. At 23 years, the band, made up of original members, has been nominated for Album of the Year for Everyday Life. Additionally, they received a second nomination for Best Recording Package for Everyday Life. It’s refreshing to see a group of guys with such an obvious passion for music and touring producing award-winning, non-offensive, upbeat music year after year. We hope this year brings more accolades for Coldplay.
Sober Curator Side Note: On November 22, 2019, Coldplay premiered their new album, Everyday Life, live at the Amman Citadel, Jordan. The first half was performed at sunrise, the second at sunset. It was the first and only time the album was performed in full, broadcast live worldwide. AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. The video is below.
Fiona Apple – Resurfaced and Sober
It’s been a while since the world has heard from Fiona Apple. However, she still has that golden touch when it comes to hit music. This year, Apple is sober and nominated for Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song for Shameika, and Best Alternative Music Album for Fetch The Bolt Cutters.
Fiona says, ”Fetch the Bolt Cutters, ” which is about women and “not being afraid to speak”. This is nothing new for Fiona. Throughout her entire career, she has spoken in her songs and in the press about her issues with depression, self-harm, OCD, and PTSD.
#MeToo Helped Fiona Stop Drinking
She references #MeToo when discussing her decision to stop drinking. And says,” one of the most jarring effects of the early days of #MeToo – being confronted with a memory you hadn’t let yourself see for what it was.”I think it’s one of the big reasons why I stopped drinking. With everything that was going on in the news, everything that I’d been burying under drink – and for a time, drugs, but mainly drink – for many years, you couldn’t just bury it anymore. It was poking through, but I was so numbed that I couldn’t really understand what was poking through.
“I finally felt like, I gotta be clear-eyed now, I have to face this shit. I think of myself all these years as someone who speaks honestly and faces all this stuff, but no, no, no, no. Not really. It’ll be a battle forever for all of us to keep on facing all that stuff”. To this, we say- Go, Girl! Keep fighting that good fight!
Sturgill Simpson – Country Outlaw and Recovery Warrior
Sober country star turned rocker, Sturgill Simpson is nominated for Best Rock Album Sound & Fury. This guy is into a bit of everything. He’s an author, screenplay writer, father, actor, and races cars or hits the gun range for meditation.
In an interview with Jeremy Dylan, he discusses the benefits of his sobriety: “There is an extreme benefit to having the focus and clarity and reflection at 37,” he agrees. “Along with sobriety and focus and knowing I have to support a family and take care of a child. It’s brought what I can only describe as an intense focus.” He is content in his sober lifestyle and wonders, can you be happy and make compelling country music? We say YES and think it would be a great addition to the scene.
Known as the “Country Outlaw” in protest of Nashville, Sound & Fury is anything but conventional. The album is the soundtrack to an accompanying Netflix film. Pitchfork describes it as essentially a 41-minute music video involving anime. This project seems a little all over the place, but that deep, husky, sober voice will get you every time.
Justin Bieber – The Ultimate Now Sober Wish Granter
Are you a Belieber? Like him or not, Justin Bieber is still the master of his craft, with four nominations: Best Pop Solo Performance for Yummy, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Intentions Featuring Quavo, Best Pop Vocal Album for Changes, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance 10,000 Hours with Dan + Shay. His music is definitely not for everyone, but his talent, charity, and journey to sobriety are all noteworthy.
Like many performers and celebrities, Justin grew up in the public eye with an extra bright spotlight on all his mistakes. Unfortunately, there were several. With his multiple arrests and blatant self-destruction, there was a point where we weren’t sure he was going to make it. In the self-produced YouTube docu-series, Seasons, he reveals that he used alcohol, lean, pills, MDMA, mushrooms, and weed and suffers from anxiety, depression, and, at one point, was suicidal.
We’re happy to report that Justin has made a complete 180. The docu-series also revealed that Justin finally stopped using drugs because he felt like he was dying. He works with a life coach on healthy ways to cope with stress and anxiety. He speaks about feeling present, being in gratitude, having hope for his life, and being in awe of how God has worked in his life. Justin now wants to use his gift to help others. Based on what we’ve seen, WE BELIEBE!
Sober Curator Side Note:
Justin is absolutely amazing with his fans. He has worked with The Make A Wish Foundation since 1999. It took him only 4 years to break the record for the number of wishes granted by a singer. He still grants wishes during COVID-19 on video calls with his young fans. In 2010, he even featured four Wish kids in a music video for his song Pray. We love this about him.
Billie Eilish – A True Belieber And Musical Genius
One of the biggest self-proclaimed Beliebers around is Billie Eilish, the young but wise beyond her years alternative rock star who burst onto the scene and won five Grammys in 2020 for Bad Guy. Eilish is nominated for four in 2021, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance for Everything I Wanted and Best Song Written for Visual Media for ” No Time to Die from the James Bond movie, No Time to Die.
Eilish is outspoken about her depression, mental illness, and distain for drugs and alcohol. Everything I Wanted is about jumping off the Golden Gate in a dream and having no one care. In her song Xanny, Eilish recalls the experience of having secondhand smoke blown in her face at a party. All her friends were physically ill from drugs and alcohol but considered it normal and continued to use. She relays how she can’t commit to loving anyone who is slowly killing themselves with substance. It’s amazing to see her using her platform speaking about against addiction in this way. God willing, Billie continues straight and narrow.
Airs March 14, 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT on CBS
Hosted by Trevor Noah with performances by Bad Bunny, Black Pumas, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift this year’s show promises to be phenomenal. But to see it all, Sunday, March 14, 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT on CBS- Be there!
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