Artists from around the world gathered at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8. Airing live on CBS at 8 pm, the show opened with two AC/DC songs that got the crowd ready to go.
No one turns down an invitation to the biggest night in music history. The Staples Center was filled with artists from John Legend to Gwen Stefani to Paul McCartney. Before they could even enter the venue, each star had to walk the red carpet for the second most important part of the night: their outfits. Ariana Grande ditched her mini-skirts and crop tops, and went with an elegant white dress. Miley Cyrus was more covered than usual with a long black dress that had slits on each side. Taylor Swift added a pop of color to the carpet with a teal-ish gown and magenta shoes. Almost all the men on the carpet were dressed in their tuxedos, but Pharrell took a new approach to his look—instead of a traditional tux, he went with a suit and tie paired with shorts.
Some of the worst dressed females on the carpet this year included Rihanna and Ciara. Both went with the poufy look, which was the wrong way to go. Rihanna’s pink strapless gown took up a lot of room for no reason. Ciara stuck with the classic black, but still had a little too much fluff.
For the fourth year running, LL Cool J was the host for the night. Unlike past years, LL skipped the typical trash-talking monologue and went straight to presenting the awards. The first award of the night went to Sam Smith for Best New Artist, which was presented by Taylor Swift. Swift was a contender for this award back in 2008, but was beaten out by the late Amy Winehouse. Later in the night, Smith was awarded with three more Grammys, including Best Pop Vocal Album and Song of the Year.
This year, the show seemed to have more performances than past years. Artists like Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Miranda Lambert, and Kanye West graced the stage. It was West’s first time back on the Grammy stage in six years. As per usual, he performed with no big ensemble, just him and the music. He sang “Only One,” which is one of his new singles about his daughter North West, who he had back in 2013 with wife Kim Kardashian.
Katy Perry sang a ballad that brought light to domestic violence in a very moving song. Other artists, like Madonna and Sia, went with an all out performance. Sia performed facing a wall as she normally does, but brought along a special guest; Kristen Wiig joined Sia’s music video star Maddie Ziegler for a very interesting performance. Then there was Madonna, who had back up dancers, cool effects, and even cooler costumes. Throughout her career, Madonna has been nominated 19 times at the Grammys.
Something big this year was mash-ups, which is when two or more artists got together to perform either their own songs or a cover of some famous songs. Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani sang “My Heart Is Open,” while Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett sang “Cheek to Cheek.” Ed Sheeran had pal John Mayer join him on stage for some guitar help for “Thinking Out Loud,” and Usher shared the spotlight with Stevie Wonder with “If It’s Magic.” One of the most anticipated performances of the night was Rihanna with Kanye West and Paul McCartney. Their new song, “FourFiveSeconds,” has been a hit since its release just a few weeks ago. “FourFiveSeconds” is McCartney’s biggest hit in 28 years.
Awards were presented throughout the night, including Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Rock Album, Album of the Year, and the biggest award of the night, Record of the Year. Winners Pharrell, Beck, Beyoncé, and Miranda Lambert got their chance to thank their family, friends, and fans as they accepted their Grammys live on stage. While Beck was beginning to accept his Grammy for Album of the Year, Kanye West poked a little fun at himself by going to interrupt Beck’s acceptance speech. Back in 2009 at MTV’s Video Music Awards, West famously interrupted Taylor Swift as she was accepting an award.
The nominees for Record of the Year were “Fancy” (Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX), “Chandelier” (Sia), “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” (Sam Smith), “Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift), and “All About That Bass” (Meghan Trainor). Smith came out on top with the win. All together, he was the biggest winner of the night with four Grammys. In his acceptance speech he stated the best revenge anyone could ever get on an ex, “I want to thank the man who this record is about who I fell in love with last year, thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.”
Beyonce closed the show with introducing John Legend and Common’s performance of the song “Glory” from the film Selma. She sang a gospel standard of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” and it was breathtaking.
A complete list of all the winners can be found on www.rollingstone.com.
image taken from gackhollywood.com
