A Short Little Grammys' Highlight

How bout those Grammys last night, huh?  As usual, the show was pretty entertaining overall, full of beautiful (and not so beautiful) people, a lil controversy, and of course the awards themselves.  But for me and many others the highlights of the 57th Annual Grammy Awards show were all about the performances, and there was definitely enough to whet any music lover's appetite.  Since I posted a preview with commentary on the show yesterday, I've feel it necessary to do an obligatory follow-up...

 

Time

The Winners

As mentioned in today's Song of the Day post, Brit crooner Sam Smith was the big winner last night, taking home 4 Grammys for Best New Artist, Song and Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album.  Other winners included alternative rocker Beck's Morning Phase for Album of the Year, Beyoncé for Best R&B Performance (Drunk In Love), Pharrell Williams' Happy as Best Pop Solo Performance, and Say Something, by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera for Best Pop Duo Group Performance.  Out of the six categories in which I predicted winners, only two came out to be correct (Smith for Best New Artist and Rather Be, by Clean Bandit taking Best Dance Recording). If you'd like to check out the rest of the winners, visit Grammy.com.  

Us

The Performances

Beginning with classic Aussie rock band AC/DC opening the show with Highway to Hell, the entire show was full of entertaining performances by the best in music today,  Some of the highlights for me included the great Annie Lennox joining Hozier for a rendition of his nominated Take Me to Church along with her own version of the classic I Put a Spell On You (and she did!), Mary J Blige joining Sam Smith for a beautiful and soulful performance of his Grammy-winning Stay With Me, Paul McCartney, Kanye West and Rihanna with a nice version of their FourFiveSeconds tune, and of course Madge's recreation of her new Living For Love video, complete with muscled minotaurs.  For the best and worst of Grammy performances, check out Billboard.

  

usatoday

Kanye and A Lil Controversy

Once again, Kanye West proved to be an ignorant idiot when he briefly stormed the stage upon guest presenter Prince announcing Beck as the winner of the Grammy for Album of the Year.  At first the stunt seemed innocuous, as West quickly returned to his seat with a laugh, but we all remember what he had done to Taylor Swift at the VMA's back in 2009.  Well, today USA Today reports that West did not think it was a joking matter and went into an ignorant tirade that proves he needs to be OUT of any sort of spotlight.

I don't know what he said, all I know is if the Grammys want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain't gonna play with them no more. Flawless, Beyoncé video. Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé, and at this point, we tired of it...

Because what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you're disrespectful to inspiration and we, as musicians, have to inspire people who go to work every day and they listen to that Beyoncé album and they feel like it takes them to another place.
REALLY?

Well, West obviously has never taken any sort of time to listen to Beck, who has been around, and been very successful, for years now. I think they need to stop inviting him to awards shows...

There's so much more I could say about the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, but I'm sure by now if you're interested you'd have read it, or seen it all. Check out any of the links within to read more, and stay tuned for more music...