There were so many things about this year’s 2017 Grammy Awards that made it interesting for both positive and negative reasons. We went through a roller coaster of emotions from artist to artist; it was certainly a sight to see.
The Grammy’s took place this year on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. There were several highlights of the evening, but the most notable was possible Adele’s acceptance speech after winning the category, Album of the Year. The other artists that were up for nomination in this category were Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Drake, and Sturgill Simpson. Adele won for her newest album 25. Once she got on stage, she immediately started crying. She told the audience about the last time she was there it was five years ago and she was pregnant, and she has had some struggles since then but has now pushed through them and created 25.
The interesting part here was when she basically said that Beyonce was the one who deserved the award for her album, Lemonade. “I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and I’m very gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyonce…. The Lemonade album was so monumental and beautiful…the way you made me and my friends feel, the way you made my black friends is empowering, and you made them stand up for themselves, and I love you.” The screen then panned to a teary-eyed Beyonce, and it was a really nice moment.
The next part of the night that was out of the ordinary for an award show came from the musical group 21 pilots. The band won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance; other nominees included The Chainsmokers and Halsey, Lukas Graham, Sia and Sean Paul, and Rihanna and Drake. As soon as 21 pilots was announced the winners of this category, they stood up and dropped their pants. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun were the two that came up to accept the award announced that the story started in Columbus, Ohio, when the two were sitting in Joseph’s house watching the Grammys. “As we were watching we noticed that every single one of us was in our underwear. And Josh turned to me, and we were no one at that time, and he said ‘if we ever win a Grammy, we should receive it just like this.’” That’s exactly what they did!
Another notable victory this night was for Chance the Rapper, a 23-year-old artist with no label. He won the category of Best New Artist, and became the first artist to win a Grammy for an album that was only available through streaming. According to an article from Business Insider, “Before this year’s Grammys nominations were announced, the rules were changed to allow artists who were unsigned or released streaming-only albums to be eligible. Many saw the move from The Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammy Awards, as an endorsement of Chance specifically and his acclaimed album Coloring Book. Chance is also not signed to a label, another first at the Grammys.” This is huge for artists everywhere; it just goes to show that you really can make it if you’re talented enough and work hard enough to get yourself out there.
Unfortunately, not everything was perfectly smooth. There were some technical difficulties with performances during the night, specifically with Lady Gaga and Metallica’s performance together. James Hetfield, lead vocalist of Metallica, had a mic malfunction for the first verse of the performance, and eventually even knocked his mic stand over. He took one more final, ugly turn by tossing his guitar off stage in anger at the end of the routine. Meanwhile, Gaga had to try and pick up the pieces as the malfunctions presented themselves. That certainly wasn’t a winning performance, but hey, at least they looked good in their hard-core outfits.
They weren’t the only ones to have issues with their performance; Adele also had problems while performing a dedication to the late George Michael. She was in the process of doing the performance and was noticeably upset with the way that the performance was going, and asked to start over. She asked the crowd for permission, and of course, they gave her the OK. She then restarted and was able to do his tribute the ‘right’ way.
Overall, the night went well. The night could be easily summed up in Chrissy Teigen’s tweet (@chrissyteigen) “Beyonce killed me Adele gave me life I’m confused.”
image taken from www.time.com
