Grammies

The 59th annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, February 12, 2017. Many big names were there to accept the biggest awards in the music industry. Others, like Drake, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and Frank Ocean boycotted the Grammys altogether. Ocean didn’t even submit his album for consideration. Beyonce had the most nominations of the night with a total of nine but lost all three major categories, Song of the Year; Record of the Year; and Album of the Year, to Adele. Adele took home the most Grammys with a total of five.

Adele kicked off the show with her song “Hello.” Throughout the performance, she stood on a circle stage with no excess lighting, dancers, or screens. Adele delivered a strong performance, which makes sense since she won Song, Record, and Album of the Year later in the show.

LL Cool J resigned from his position as Grammys host after 5 years. This year, host of the Late Late Show, James Corden, hosted The Grammys. James Corden appeared from a rising platform, but it got stuck halfway up and he had to climb the rest of the way out. After walking down a few stairs, he fell into another hole and continued to roll down the rest of the flight. He clumsily made his way through a sea of dancers without a right shoe, but everyone watching knew this stunt was planned. “This is a disaster!” He screamed in disappointment and said the rehearsals didn’t pay off. He continued to rap about how important Grammy night was and how he ruined it by falling. He introduced the show while rapping, still without a right shoe.

Best New Artist was the first award of the night, given out by Jennifer Lopez. Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Chance The Rapper, Maren Morris, and Anderson .Paak were nominated. The Grammy went to Chance the Rapper who expressed his gratitude to God and thanked his family and his team who have supported him.

“Closer” by The Chainsmokers (feat. Halsey), “7 Years” by Lukas Graham, “Work” by Rihanna (feat. Drake), “Cheap Thrills” by Sia (feat. Sean Paul), and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots were all nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, but Twenty One Pilots took home the Grammy. On their way up to the stage, band members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun took off their pants. Tyler continued to accept the award, completely disregarding the fact that they weren’t wearing pants. He told a story about how the first time they watched the Grammys together, all of them were in their underwear, and they told themselves that if they ever won a grammy, they would receive it just how they were right then and there. That’s exactly what they did.

James Corden introduced the next singer in his underwear after Twenty One Pilots did so. Ed Sheeran then took the stage, playing “Shape Of You” which was released early this year and went straight to number one. Sheeran stripped down his song with an acoustic guitar, a keyboard, and a loop pedal.

Proud mother, Tina Knowles introduced her daughter, Beyonce, as a loving mother and friend. She took the stage in a sparkly golden dress with a matching headdress. Her performance of “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” was introduced by a variety of voiceovers originally from her Lemonade film. Her performance was a tribute to motherhood and women, the holographic images projected on her showing her mother and daughter. A poetic line from her performance said, “Your mother is a woman, and women like her cannot be contained.”

Having just played the super bowl halftime show a week beforehand, Lady Gaga then performed with Metallica. Surrounded by flames, James Hetfield’s microphone cut out for the first half of “Moth Into Flame.” During a guitar solo, Lady Gaga dove into the sea of people in front of the stage and was thrown back moments later.

Although politics are not supposed to be discussed on live tv, many artists had an underlying political theme in their performances. Katy Perry debuted her new song for the first time on television “Chained To The Rhythm” with Skip Marley. Perry stood in a house surrounded by a white picket fence. Throughout the song, the fence grew taller and the platform the house stood on tilted. The house spun with different screens being projected onto it. The line, “Dance to the distortion,” was took literally as the house was taken apart by the dancers piece by  piece at the end of the performance. Katy and Skip walked down from the spinning platform to stand in front of the now put back together pieces of the house with the Constitution of the United States Of America on the wall behind them.

A Tribe Called Quest and Anderson .Paak were joined by Busta Rhymes and Consequence. Their medley performance of “Movin’ Backwards,” “Award Tour,” and “We The People,” sought to represent the people. Busta Rhymes busted through a wall made of fake cinder blocks and led many immigrants onto the stage and out into the aisles as Consequence called out “President Agent Orange” and his unsuccessful attempt at the muslim ban.

William Bell and Gary Clark Jr. performed “Born Under A Bad Sign” for the nights’ shortest performance. They then introduced the nominations for Best Urban Contemporary Album. The Grammy went to Lemonade by Beyonce. She walked out from backstage, still wearing her extravagant outfit from her performance earlier. In her acceptance speech, Beyonce read from a golden card, thanking her friends, family, and God. She provided a strong-minded speech about the realistic depiction of deep southern culture and to confront issues that make us uncomfortable.

Over the course of the night, many musicians were honored. George Michael, who passed away on Christmas of last year, was honored by Adele. She sang an arrangement of his song “Fast Love.” Photos and videos of Michael appeared on the screen behind her. Moments into the emotional tribute, Adele stopped singing and asked to start over. She apologized for doing so but said she wanted to deliver the performance he deserved. From there, she put on one of the best performances of the night. As the audience cheered for her, Adele had tears in her eyes. Prince was honored by The Time with “Jungle Love” and “The Bird.” Bruno Mars appeared on stage after hearing Prince’s voice from “Let’s Go Crazy.” This energetic performance was one of the best ones of the night. DNCE introduced the Bee Gees tribute that included Tori Kelly, Little Big Town, Andra Day, and Demi Lovato. They sang “Stayin’ Alive,” “Tragedy,” “How Deep Is Your Love?” and “Night Fever.” John Legend and Cynthia Erivo performed “God Only Knows” to honor over 50 more memorable musicians including Keith Emerson, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mary Stewart, and Sir George Martin.

The Grammy for Best Rock Song went to David Bowie’s “Blackstar.” Presenters Katharine McPhee and The Chainsmokers accepted the award on the deceased artist’s behalf, saying his music is forever.

The Grammy for Best Rap Album went to Chance The Rapper for Coloring Book. He later sang “All We Got” from that award winning album. He was joined by Kirk Franklin, Francis and the Lights, Tamela Mann, and a gospel choir to add in snippets of “How Great,” “No Problem,” and “Blessings.”

Celine Dion presented the award for Song of the Year quoting Stevie Wonder beforehand. The nominees included: “Hello” by Adele, “Formation” by Beyonce, “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” by Mike Posner, “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber, and “7 Years” by Lukas Graham. The Grammy went home with Adele, who then apologized again for restarting her George Michael tribute.

The nominees for Record of the Year were “Hello” by Adele, “Formation” by Beyonce, “7 Years” by Lukas Graham, “Work” by Rihanna (feat. Drake), and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots. The Grammy went to Adele for “Hello.” Producer Greg Kurstin spoke since he was cut off by the music when he and Adele won Song of the Year earlier.

The nominees for Album Of The Year were 25 by Adele, Lemonade by Beyonce, Purpose by Justin Bieber, Views by Drake, and A Sailor’s Guide To Earth by Sturgill Simpson. The Grammy went again to Adele for 25. Adele walked out from backstage crying as she accepted the award. She explained her struggles becoming a mother and said she can’t possibly accept this award. She talked about Beyonce’s Lemonade album, calling it monumental and beautiful. Adele broke her Grammy in half during acceptance speech on accident but offered to give one half of it to Beyonce. Adele and Beyonce went head-to-head for the three biggest awards of the night, Adele winning every single category. Adele won all five Grammys she was nominated for.