It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as live television: awards shows always have a few “anything goes” moments in their broadcasts.
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were no exception this past Sunday, and though there were probably more than a few “anything goes” moments, here are my top 4 particularly awkward anecdotes:
1. Nicki Minaj’s….well, everything. I personally am a huge fan of the chart-topping rap diva, but even I thought Nicki went a little over the top, to say the least. As if her arrival complete with standard outrageous outfit and not-so-standard accessory of an elderly man dressed as the pope wasn’t blasphemously bizarre enough, her performance later on that night was an elaborate enigma. The performance opened with Nicki sitting at a confessional with a surprisingly unfazed minister rapping the opening verse of “Roman’s Revenge,” then cut to a pre-recorded video short titled “The Exorcism of Roman,” in which she played a possessed version of her alter ego Roman. Nicki then began performing her new single “Roman Holiday.” The performance that ensued afterward could best be described as a sour yet sort of sweet cocktail mix of Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” video and Madonna’s Super Bowl performance this year, with a little more than a dash of Kanye-esque grandiose.
2. Jason Aldean’s mic cuts off during his duet with Kelly Clarkson Clad in his finest fitted suit jacket and cowboy hat, nominee Jason Aldean looked more than thrilled to be performing “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, who couldn’t help but flash a smile as well…especially when his microphone cut off in the last verse of the song. It seemed like Jason definitely didn’t want to stay on stage; after some failed attempts to fix his equipment, his face turned red. In an act I could only determine to be damage control, Kelly finished singing the song and let out a couple of laughs. Despite the mishap, Aldean seemed to be a good sport about it in the end. After all, when you’re performing live for a TV audience of millions, keeping your cool kind of has to come standard.
3. Dave Grohl’s touching acceptance speech gets Rick (or should I say Ryan) Roll’d When the Foo Fighters won Best Rock Performance for “Walk,” front man Dave Grohl delivered a speech about the hard work they put into the album, taking the old-fashioned route when recording the tracks in his garage on a tape player. His motivational message was reaching momentum as he stated, “…the human element of making music is what’s most important. Singing into a microphone, learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do. It’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in [your heart] and what goes on [in your head].”
In a twist of irony, before he could even continue, the speakers blasting the synth-heavy hit “Party Rock Anthem” and the announcer introducing Ryan Seacrest cut him off.Auto-tune 1, tape machine 0.
4. The Beach Boys’ Reunion/Tribute: Not-So-Good Vibrations Though Whitney Houston’s tribute was by far one of the most buzzed-about events of the night, there was also some hype surrounding the Beach Boys performing on stage together for the first time in years. Overall, the performance was solid: Maroon 5 and Foster the People both performed excellent covers of the Boys’ hit songs “Surfer Girl” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”. The real issue came when the Boys performed “Good Vibrations,” which member Brian Wilson clearly wasn’t feeling. The photo above says it all.