I still can’t get over the Grammy’s and it’s two days later. In case you didn’t know, the Superbowl of Music AKA the Grammy Awards aired Feb. 12, 2017, hosted by James Corden, and what a show, what a show. Just when you think the Grammy Awards was going on a downhill spiral into mediocrity, they amaze you with superstar performances unlike any other I’ve seen in years. It was the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, where the best of the best in the music industry gather each year in hopes of winning the prestigious Grammy Award, which is handed to them from The Recording Company based on industry professional votes. Click here to find out more about what The Grammy’s and the voting process is all about.
Here’s a quick list of the night’s biggest winners:
- Biggest Winner of The Night: Adele (5 Grammy’s) including Album of The Year and Song of The Year
- Best New Artist/Best Rap Album: Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
- Best Dance Recording: “Don’t Let Me Down” – The Chainsmokers ft. Daya
- Best Rock Performance: “Blackstar” – David Bowie
- Best R&B Performance: “Cranes in the Sky” – Solange
- Best Urban Contemporary Album: Lemonade – Beyoncé
- Best Rap/Sung Performance: “Hotline Bling” – Drake
See the full list of winners here thanks to npr.org.
I was happy for all the winners of the night, but I was more into watching the performances and was amazed at the number of superstars who performed this year and the amount of pure talent, showmanship, and creativity I’ve seen from these artists. Sometimes you can forget how truly talented some artists are amongst hype and popularity, but the Grammy’s did an amazing job to help us remember.
Performances included a mix of musical collaborations like Keith Urban with Carrie Underwood, Lady Gaga with Metallica, Little Big Town with Katy Perry. Let’s not forget the one-man-band performance of Ed Sheeran and his single, “Shape of You”. Katy Perry introduced her new single, “Chained to The Rythm” and The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk sang the new hit, “I Feel it Coming”.
All the performances of the night were great, but there were 3 particular performances I have to highlight:
- Beyoncé’s chair-tipping performance: I have always been a fan of Queen Bey, but after she announced her pregnancy with twins, I had to see what her prego Grammy debut would be like. Beyoncé AKA “Mother ‘Yonce” looked like she came straight out the bible with her outfit, golden halo headdress and all. Her visual album, Lemonade, won a Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album and her performance brought me back it. She was one with the pre-recorded, visionary graphics blended perfectly behind her as she glowed like Mother Mary herself. This performance was great visually but I enjoy her singing and I felt it was lacking on that aspect. The best part of her performance was her chair-tip towards the end, giving me nostalgia of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Inception, which much like Beyoncé’s visuals and glow, was like a dream.
- I can’t mess this up for him”, Explained Adele as she stopped mid-song during her emotional performance paying tribute to recently passed music icon, George Michael. After spewing out a few f-bombs, Adele apologized to everyone for cursing and making the band start over. I was instantly reminded of Adele’s 2016 Grammy Awards performance where technical difficulties ruined her performance of hit song, “All I Ask”, probably shattering her Grammy confidence. This time around, she was not allowing any room for mistakes. She beautifully completed all of her arrangement of George Michael’s “Fastlove” with a standing ovation (on top of her 5 Grammy winnings for the night). I truly love this woman, her talent, personality, and for being completely herself and wanting to do things right: a true artist!
- What really made this year’s Grammy Awards stand out was definitely, without-a-doubt Bruno Mars’s tribute to the late music legend, Prince, who passed in 2016 from an accidental drug overdose. There are not many artists nowadays that can literally do it all and this man… MAN! I swear he’s the Michael Jackson of music today! This man has produced and written countless hits, plays just about every instrument, dances like he’s on air, and sings with that signature tone to some notes that would make me lose my voice by trying! Mars hit the stage for his Prince tribute with purple suit, ruffles, and even eyeliner as he performed the Prince hit, “Let’s Go Crazy”. This is when I could tell Bruno was serious about this Grammy performance (I think his biggest TV performance yet) because of his guitar solo paying homage to Prince. He made that guitar come to life and so perfectly I could tell he had to had practiced those guitar licks for countless hours. Even the band’s musicality was on point: arrangements, embellishments, and groove throughout the performance blew my mind and at that second I thought to myself: “Thank God for DVR!” As Bruno’s hit song, “Uptown Funk” says, “Don’t believe me? Just watch” this video of his tribute performance to Prince here!
The Grammy Awards has put themselves back on the map with this year’s eye-popping (and”ear-dropping”) performances. I feel the deserving people won in their respective categories (even Adele, who said herself that Beyoncé’s Lemonade album should have won Album of The Year. I had to disagree). What are your thoughts? Who do you think should have won and what award? What are your thoughts on the performances?
Vanessa Q Web Portfolio 
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