Here we got the "2023 Soul Train Awards" that only took place a few days ago, still really new and fresh, but this time component is the only thing that is fresh about it as you can see from my review and this will fade too in the coming months and years. Oh yes, there is another good thing about this show, namely that it only ran for approximately 80 minutes, but this does not include commercial breaks, so it was way longer with those. Nonetheless, I am glad this was over quickly because there have been awards shows that run double you can say. It still dragged a lot and felt much longer than it was. The host here was actress Keke Palmer and she keeps talking about how this show took place at her home. I am not sure if this was true or not, but frankly I don't care one bit either, even if I think that neutral locations are a better place for (awards) ceremonies to be held. But can I even call this an awards ceremony? Only in theory, not really in practice. I mean yes they handed out a few awards of course, but honestly these presentations and acceptances felt more like interruptions between the numerous stage performances and if we look at the percentage of the show that was awards being given out, then it's a really, really small number. This is of course a problem with many awards shows these days, has been for years, but this is not an excuse or says anything positive about this one here. It just shows that it is as bad as the others when it comes to that.
Of course, with awards shows linked to BET you can always ask the question to what extent tolerance and diversity are missing when we have a big television network that (almost) exclusively features Black artists and makes programs (almost) exclusively for Black audiences. In my opinion, this is not a good thing at all and fuels only negative behavior in the long run. Obviously, this is a more general criticism, but if we look at this show that pretty much only had Black performers, Black awards recipients and Black people in the audience, you can say that it is just as bad if it shuts all others out and does not give them a chance to win. Nothing to be proud of in the 21st century. There were several moments when people talked about their skin color, but the worst was maybe when the host of the show it was I think presented the three writers and said how awesome it is that they are all Black and that it was the first time or may also have been that it was the first time that three Black women were in charge of the writing. In any case, it is a slap in the face of those who used their talent in the past to come up with the script of previous Soul Train Awards. A face in the White writers as well as the men if it is the latter in terms of what I just stated. But discrimination is by far not the only problem this show had. It was just a mess from beginning to end and no writers should be praised for it at all. Then again, if you look at the bodies of work from said trio, you will find that they are either really new and inexperienced or have worked on previous similar awards shows that were also massive failures.
But yeah, what else sucked? I think it was ridiculous that there was one awards being given out in the first 30 minutes or was it one? Or even two? But definitely not more. And here we got an awards ceremony that ran for 80 minutes, so half of the show was almost over. Not too many other awards followed afterwards to be honest, the percentage did not increase a lot. But one music stage performance came after the next. And those were not only poor and shallow, but also totally amateurish from other perspectives. I mean if I understood correctly, then on one occasion they simply showed a pre-recorded stage performance from London? One that was shown on BET on another occasion? They cannot be serious. Or how literally in the middle of stage performances we hear the voice over and they just announced the next commercial break. I mean is this how you treat your artists? Even if they are as poor as they actually are, that was absurd. It really showed us that BET does not care about art in general. I mean imagine you watch a film on television and they are starting a commercial break all of a sudden and the film keeps running, so you miss a few minutes of the action. And this was not even a film. This was live! Absolutely unreal what happened during this event. I have watched so many awards shows, many really poor ones too (*cough* Grammys *cough*) but what happened here with the 2023 Soul Train Awards was a complete travesty. I honestly did not think it was possible to even climb another step down on the quality ladder that is already somewhere deep down in the underground, but congratulations to Nefetari Spencer, X Mayo and Rashida Olayiwola for making the impossible possible. In the worst way imaginable. Everybody who agreed to be a part of this chaos should be ashamed of themselves. What else can there be said? Oh yeah, they also included some pre-recorded segments that weren't songs, but interviews or presentations whatever you wanna call them and were supposed to be insightful or uplifting and those were also cringeworthy to watch with how scripted they were. If stuff like this that is so poor is still not even close to being the weakest inclusion of a broadcast, then you know what you are in for.
Finally, before I end the review, let me also say that the music was not good, creative or inspired at all. The voices were tolerable at times without being anything special. These people were made famous by the media to pursue certain agendas, but not because they have any outstanding talent. They can sing better than you and I, yes, but that's it. The songs were as generic and meaningless as it gets. You will understand it when you listen to the very first number of the night performed by Janella Monae. Nothing to it, absolutely nothing and quite ridiculous she refers to the song later on during her acceptance speech. Yeah she got an awards that night too, some inspiration award or something. I wouldn't give one to her. From what I have seen and heard from her, I don't see a lot of talent, neither as a musician, nor as an actress. Just my opinion of course. You have a right to think differently. All the music that followed afterwards wasn't any better than her floating-themed song from the start. One exception was maybe the Usher cover, but that was just because the song is alright and not because the performers (one of them again Monae I think) did anything special with it. As for the awards, the winners pretty much were determined already before the show and knew they would be winning. There were no nominees or at least they did not tell us about any nominees, but they just got the winner on stage, so I wish that even with the little screen time the actual awards element got that there could have been some suspense or surprise element or tension etc., but not even that you find here. If you look at the greatness of popular soul music in the 20th century, these folks here in the first half of the 21st century are giving soul music a bad name. A terrible name. My suggestion is to rename them future editions into "Soul Trainwreck Awards" until the level rises again. Highly not recommended oh and it was also embarrassing how this show was packed with sponsors and the names of the brands and companies they were constantly mentioning. Of course, said sponsors should also be ashamed to be a part of this horrible joke of an awards ceremony.
Of course, with awards shows linked to BET you can always ask the question to what extent tolerance and diversity are missing when we have a big television network that (almost) exclusively features Black artists and makes programs (almost) exclusively for Black audiences. In my opinion, this is not a good thing at all and fuels only negative behavior in the long run. Obviously, this is a more general criticism, but if we look at this show that pretty much only had Black performers, Black awards recipients and Black people in the audience, you can say that it is just as bad if it shuts all others out and does not give them a chance to win. Nothing to be proud of in the 21st century. There were several moments when people talked about their skin color, but the worst was maybe when the host of the show it was I think presented the three writers and said how awesome it is that they are all Black and that it was the first time or may also have been that it was the first time that three Black women were in charge of the writing. In any case, it is a slap in the face of those who used their talent in the past to come up with the script of previous Soul Train Awards. A face in the White writers as well as the men if it is the latter in terms of what I just stated. But discrimination is by far not the only problem this show had. It was just a mess from beginning to end and no writers should be praised for it at all. Then again, if you look at the bodies of work from said trio, you will find that they are either really new and inexperienced or have worked on previous similar awards shows that were also massive failures.
But yeah, what else sucked? I think it was ridiculous that there was one awards being given out in the first 30 minutes or was it one? Or even two? But definitely not more. And here we got an awards ceremony that ran for 80 minutes, so half of the show was almost over. Not too many other awards followed afterwards to be honest, the percentage did not increase a lot. But one music stage performance came after the next. And those were not only poor and shallow, but also totally amateurish from other perspectives. I mean if I understood correctly, then on one occasion they simply showed a pre-recorded stage performance from London? One that was shown on BET on another occasion? They cannot be serious. Or how literally in the middle of stage performances we hear the voice over and they just announced the next commercial break. I mean is this how you treat your artists? Even if they are as poor as they actually are, that was absurd. It really showed us that BET does not care about art in general. I mean imagine you watch a film on television and they are starting a commercial break all of a sudden and the film keeps running, so you miss a few minutes of the action. And this was not even a film. This was live! Absolutely unreal what happened during this event. I have watched so many awards shows, many really poor ones too (*cough* Grammys *cough*) but what happened here with the 2023 Soul Train Awards was a complete travesty. I honestly did not think it was possible to even climb another step down on the quality ladder that is already somewhere deep down in the underground, but congratulations to Nefetari Spencer, X Mayo and Rashida Olayiwola for making the impossible possible. In the worst way imaginable. Everybody who agreed to be a part of this chaos should be ashamed of themselves. What else can there be said? Oh yeah, they also included some pre-recorded segments that weren't songs, but interviews or presentations whatever you wanna call them and were supposed to be insightful or uplifting and those were also cringeworthy to watch with how scripted they were. If stuff like this that is so poor is still not even close to being the weakest inclusion of a broadcast, then you know what you are in for.
Finally, before I end the review, let me also say that the music was not good, creative or inspired at all. The voices were tolerable at times without being anything special. These people were made famous by the media to pursue certain agendas, but not because they have any outstanding talent. They can sing better than you and I, yes, but that's it. The songs were as generic and meaningless as it gets. You will understand it when you listen to the very first number of the night performed by Janella Monae. Nothing to it, absolutely nothing and quite ridiculous she refers to the song later on during her acceptance speech. Yeah she got an awards that night too, some inspiration award or something. I wouldn't give one to her. From what I have seen and heard from her, I don't see a lot of talent, neither as a musician, nor as an actress. Just my opinion of course. You have a right to think differently. All the music that followed afterwards wasn't any better than her floating-themed song from the start. One exception was maybe the Usher cover, but that was just because the song is alright and not because the performers (one of them again Monae I think) did anything special with it. As for the awards, the winners pretty much were determined already before the show and knew they would be winning. There were no nominees or at least they did not tell us about any nominees, but they just got the winner on stage, so I wish that even with the little screen time the actual awards element got that there could have been some suspense or surprise element or tension etc., but not even that you find here. If you look at the greatness of popular soul music in the 20th century, these folks here in the first half of the 21st century are giving soul music a bad name. A terrible name. My suggestion is to rename them future editions into "Soul Trainwreck Awards" until the level rises again. Highly not recommended oh and it was also embarrassing how this show was packed with sponsors and the names of the brands and companies they were constantly mentioning. Of course, said sponsors should also be ashamed to be a part of this horrible joke of an awards ceremony.