If you're under 25 and watching that beatbox part wondering, "What the hell is going on," then welcome to the delightful chaos of '90s music. The fearless experimentation in that era was really something.
Some of them still are. Two of the most popular female artists today are Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo; both of whom sing, write their own songs, and play instruments, and would fit in perfectly at Lilith Fair if it were still around.
Grammy awards 1998 is super unbelievable. So many female artists playing instruments & got nominees. Paula Cole, Sarah Mclachlan, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow,, Jewel, Alanis Morisette etc. Today female artist mostly dance with bootilicious
I love this trio: wild card Paula Cole using the spotlight to freak people out a little bit, Shawn Colvin's relative normalcy and a lovely performance of the Song of the Year, and their leader Sarah bringing all the weirdness and beauty together, at the top of her game. Great time capsule.
Sheryl Crow actually felt bad for the ladies who were practically lumped together just because of their association with Lilith Fair. She was appalled at what the producers did. And for the record, NONE of the ladies wanted to do it either but you know, whoever pays the piper calls the tune. It's either 5 minutes of airtime for all three of them OR none at all. For what its worth, this ended up as one of the most iconic performances from the 90s - it's up there with the Björk/PJ Harvey duet ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction) in my book.
Agreed. Female artists had a hard time getting real estate on the airwaves. Radio programmers could just play one an hour and check that off the list. These women and others like them started changing that ridiculous system, but the Grammy producers apparently were either ignorant or couldn't care less.
Omg same! This popped up when I was looking for videos of Shawn Colvin singing Sunny Came Home, but by the end of this my other favorite song was Building A Mystery lol
Wow this is haunting I was a little boy in the 1990’s I remember Paula cole where have all the cowboys gone, I don’t want to wait Sean Colvin sunny came home and Sarah McLachlan building a mystery and possession in so many more I also remembered jewel Natalie Imbruglia Meredith Brooks Alanis Morissette so many beautiful singers and memory’s traci Chapman Macy gray I try oh can I please go back to being a little boy 👦
At 1:48, Paula starts doing that breathing mouthing movements which I watched the first time back when I was 14. To this day, it strikes me as awesome/WTF/bitch I own this performance!!!! LOL!!!!!
I love how at 5:04-5:11, Paula and Shawn come on stage to sing background vocals for Sarah. Such a great display of women supporting each other! The Lilith Fair era truly was the best time for pop music! 🎶
absolutelly beautiful. ladies. i sooo miss when there was a wealth of female singer/songwriters...some live on...especially melissa etheridge, but the rest? sorry to offend, but, crap! flauting their brely clothed bodies, and lip sycncing (can't spell) or treuly awful live performances, because it was all produced, and produced, etc in studios. but i believe. so believe, a new group will be here soon. and melissa...ROCK ON!
Paula cole was awesome but as a tween watching this back in the 90's the only thing I was thinking was she trying to make a statement with her hairy arm pits?
I so remember this!!!!! When Paula was doing that breathing rap beginning at 1:47, I was like WTF!!!!! It was unique and weird at the same time!!! Weird!!!
OMG...love the hairy pits and the crazy thing she does at the end of her performance. Too bad she hung up her boots too early...she was an amazing artist!
a musician aims for a grammy not a reality show. and mind you the singers who join idol aim for a recording contract to land a chance for a grammy. paula cole didnt have to wait and join for singing contests like that to come along just to land a recording contract. with no bigwig connections like what reality show contestants have nowadays, her efforts earned her a grammy opportunity. she sang at the grammy's and no idol would trade a grammy stage for an idol stage.
Btw the look on Sheryl crows face at the end is pure hate and jealousy you have 3 very talented lady’s up there Paula Cole Shawn Colvin Sarah McLachlan clearly Sheryl Crow is jealous and can’t sing as good as they do without autotune
Stop by the nearest Kevin Gilbert video and one may get an idea of how much of a sh*t fans of true artistic integrity give about Sheryl Crow. Wasn't directed at you, sir. Just sickens me every time I see her name to know how relatively few people have ever even heard of KG... /rant
![Lilith Medley [Grammy Awards '98] - Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, & Sarah McLachlan](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
