This year’s Grammy’s weren’t the most eventful ever, and they didn’t offer us too many memeable moments. The show was pretty standard with quite a few tribute performances and expected winners.
Sadly, for the Rihanna Navy, Riri had to cancel her performance after her doctor put her on 48 hour vocal rest. But not to worry, the show still went on. As always, the ever cool, LL Cool J hosted, wearing his signature flat cap. The show kicked off as Taylor Swift opened with a performance of ‘Out of the Woods.’ What was probably talked about more than her performance was how she walked the carpet with BFF, Selena Gomez, as her date. #squadgoals
There wasn’t too much upset or shock at who the big awards of the night went to. Kendrick Lamar took home Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly (no surprises there.) Taylor Swift took home album of the year for 1989, and no one felt the need to interrupt her because everyone saw it coming. Meghan Trainor took home the well deserved Best New Artist award.
For the most part, the performances last night were slow and uneventful. Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt, The Weeknd, Ellie Goudling and Andra Day, Little Big Town, Tori Kelly and James Bay, and Alabama Shakes all gave great performances, but there was no real shock value. There was some talk surrounding Adele’s performance, questioning whether it was good or bad. I don’t think there is any denying Adele’s talent, but something did sound off during ‘All I Ask.’
The singer took to Twitter to clear up confusion by explaining that the mics for the piano had fallen onto the piano strings which messed things up, but she also said she was treating herself to In-N-Out because of the mishap. The best performance of the night was most definitely Kendrick Lamar’s, not only for his undeniable talent but for the message he sent. Kendrick came out in prison shackles to perform ‘The Blacker The Berry’ and then moved to ‘Alright’ in front of huge flames. The final image left on the screen read “Compton” on a map of Africa. Kendrick’s performance clearly stood out from the rest in style and message.
There were numerous tribute performances of the night, that celebrated so many music legends. John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor and Tyrese performed an amazing tribute to Lionel Richie. Everyone, especially Lionel, was moved by the performances, which were both powerful and lively. They sang classics like ‘Hello’ and ‘Brick House.’ Then, Lionel got up and sang ‘All Night Long,’ and had viewers dancing in their living rooms across the country.
The next tribute was for Maurice White from Earth, Wind & Fire; Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix performed a beautiful acapella rendition of ‘Fantasy.’ The Eagles made an appearance, performing ‘Take It Easy’ in tribute to late band member, Glenn Frey. Miguel gave a tear jerking performance of ‘She’s Out Of My Life’ in tribute to Michael Jackson. The best tribute performance came from Lady Gaga, in honor of David Bowie. Gaga stunned as she looked so much like the late legend and even had his mannerisms down perfectly. The tribute left the audience and viewers alike, in awe and in tears.
One of the coolest moments of the night was when Stephen Colbert introduced the Grammy winning Broadway show, Hamilton, live from NYC. The cast performed the opening number to the show, ‘Alexander Hamilton,’ it was absolutely fantastic!
The rest of what happened at the show is miscellaneous. The Biebs won his first Grammy ever and gave a beautiful acoustic performance of ‘Love Yourself,’ then sang ‘Where Are Ü Now’ with Skrillex and Diplo. Johnny Depp and band Hollywood Vampires gave a goth/punk rock performance that was weird but kind of cool.
This year’s youngest nominee, Joey Alexander, gave an incredible performance on the piano that invoked a standing ovation from the audience and viewers alike. Queen Bey showed up to present Record of the Year to Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson for ‘Uptown Funk.’ Oddly, Bruno yelled “Ley’s do it, Beyoncé” and no one really knows why. Mr. 305, Pitbull, closed the show by performing ‘La Noche No Termina’ with a special appearance by Sofia Vergara. Then Robin thicke came out to perform ‘Bad Man’ with him. It was kind of an odd and anticlimactic ending.
This year’s Grammy’s was kind of a weird. However, all the tribute performances connected musical legends to today’s artists and show cased a lot of talented. Hopefully next year Kanye will be there for some shocking moments!