The 57th GRAMMY Awards was one helluva fun award show to watch, mostly because the winners and the performers of the night have delivered some of the best music performances in the recent years. Presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States, the GRAMMYs is an accolade to recognise an outstanding achievement in the music industry. The award show was held on 8th Feb 2015 (9th in Malaysia) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Rapper LL Cool J returned to host the 57th GRAMMY Awards, marking his 4th consecutive year as a host of the show. Australian hard rock band AC/DC kicked off the night by performing some of their hit singles including last year’s “Rock or Bust” and “Highway to Hell”.
It was an explosive opening performance from the band, in which the host LL Cool J said that the energy level is only going up from there. Clearly, he was right because we were treated with amazing musical duets and collaborations that made up a lot of the three-and-a-half-hour show.
Check out the highlights of the 57th GRAMMY Awards below:
Wedding Ceremony’s Dream Team (Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Questlove, Electric Light Orchestra)
Although it’d be nice to invite Maroon 5 to “crash” your wedding ceremony, this year’s GRAMMYs may have given us suggestions on who we should invite to perform at your wedding ceremony instead. British musicians Ed Sheeran and John Mayer formed a dream team at the 57th GRAMMY Awards by performing their smooth rendition of Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Herbie Hancock and Questlove.
Ed Sheeran, who was up for “Album of the Year” that night, then joined Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne for a rendition of the band’s 1977 hit singles “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Evil Woman”. The result? We caught Paul McCartney rocking out to their performance before realising that he was the only one standing.
Watch:
A Message From US President Barack Obama & Katy Perry’s Emotional Performance
US President Barack Obama made a “surprise appearance” at the award ceremony through a video recording of his message about sexual assault. The message was part of “It’s on Us”, an anti-domestic violence campaign the Obama administration launched in 2014. In the recorded speech, he said that rape is “not OK – and it has to stop” before asking the award attendees to join his pledge to protect women from rape and domestic violence.
His speech led into Katy Perry’s emotional but beautiful performance of “By the Grace of God”, followed by a touching segment about domestic abuse from Brooke Axtell. And no, no left shark was in sight.
Watch:
Pharrell Williams’ Weird Rendition of “Happy”
Pharell hasn’t stopped winning since the release of his widely popular song, “Happy” and thus, it is best to assume that the singer eventually got bored of singing the same song over and over again. Why, you ask ? Well, after nabbing the “Best Music Video” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” awards, the singer performed a rather odd rendition of “Happy” with veteran film composer Hans Zimmer and pianist Lang Lang.
He swapped his usual choice of hats and was decked out in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”-inspired outfit for the dark and dramatic performance of his “Despicable Me 2” soundtrack.
Watch:
Paul McCartney, Rihanna, & Kanye West Stole The Show
On the heels of their recent collaboration, Paul McCartney, Rihanna. and Kanye West gathered at the ceremony to perform their collaboration track “FourFiveSeconds”. Needless to say, it was the performance of the year as Rihanna truly showed how she was capable of stealing the show with her amazing vocal skills.
Watch:
Kanye West Almost Crashed The Stage Again
Imma let you finish but did Kanye almost crash the stage again? Yeah, he totally did but this time around, the lad was just trying to be funny. The rapper truly knows how to steal the show with a little bit of attention ever since he jumped on stage and announced to the audience that Beyoncé should have won instead of Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs.
During the 2015 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé was in contention to win the “Album of the Year” with her album of the same name but she was ultimately beat out by Beck’s “Morning Phase”. It came as a surprise for everyone, even Beck looked shocked when he heard his name being called. All of the sudden, Kanye West also ran up to stage and tried to grab the mic. One could only hope that this is not another outrage from Kanye West but fortunately, the rapper backed down and let Beck finish his speech.
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Sam Smith Is The Biggest Winner Of The Night
Newcomer Sam Smith led the way by becoming the biggest winner of the night. The Brit singer won 4 awards which included the “Record of the Year”, “Best New Artiste”, “Best Pop Vocal Album”, and “Song of the Year.” When he was receiving the award, he spoke of the struggles he had been through in an effort to be accepted. He then said, “It was only when I started to be myself that the music started to flow and people started to listen.”
The singer later joined forces with the R&B queen, Mary J. Blige, to perform his hit single, “Stay With Me”.
The complete nominations list for the 57th GRAMMY Awards was earlier announced in December 2014 and a total of 83 GRAMMY Awards were presented at the show.
Presenters of the show included Taylor Swift, Dierks Bentley, James Corden, Jamie Foxx, Barry Gibb, Dave Grohl, Jennifer Hudson, Enrique Iglesias, Nick Jonas, Anna Kendrick, Shia LaBeouf, Katharine McPhee, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pentatonix, Smokey Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Gina Rodriguez, Meghan Trainor, Keith Urban, The Weeknd, and Stevie Wonder.
Check out the winners list below:
Lifetime Achievement Awards
The Bee Gees and the late George Harrison
Best Spoken Word Album
“Diary of a Mad Diva” by the late Joan Rivers
Album of the Year
- Morning Phase, Beck – WINNER
- Beyoncé, Beyoncé
- x, Ed Sheeran
- In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
- G I R L, Pharrell Williams
Record of the Year
- Fancy, Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX
- Chandelier, Sia
- Stay With Me, Sam Smith – WINNER
- Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
- All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor
Song of the Year
- All About That Bass
- Chandelier
- Shake It Off
- Stay With Me – WINNER
- Take Me to Church
Best New Artiste
- Iggy Azalea
- Bastille
- Brandy Clark
- Haim
- Sam Smith – WINNER
Best Pop Vocal Album
- Ghost Stories, Coldplay
- Bangerz, Miley Cyrus
- My Everything, Ariana Grande
- Prism, Katy Perry
- x, Ed Sheeran
- In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith – WINNER
Best Dance Recording
- Never Say Never, Basement Jaxx
- Rather Be, Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne – WINNER
- F For You, Disclosure featuring Mary J. Blige
- I Got U, Duke Dumont featuring Jax Jones
- Faded, Zhu
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
- Fancy, Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX
- A Skyfull of Stars, Coldplay
- Say Something, A Great Big World with Christina Aguilera – WINNER
- Bang, Bang, Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
- Dark Horse, Katy Perry Featuring Juicy J
Dance/Electronic Music
- Syro, Aphex Twin – WINNER
- While (1<2), deadmau5
- Nabuma Rubberband, Little Dragon
- Do It Again, Röyksopp & Robyn
- Damage Control, Mat Zo
Best Rock Performance
- Gimme Something Good, Ryan Adams
- Do I Wanna Know?, Arctic Monkeys
- Blue Moon, Beck
- Fever, The Black Keys
- Lazaretto, Jack White – WINNER
Best Metal Performance
- Neon Knights, Anthrax
- High Road, Mastodon
- Heartbreaker, Motörhead
- The Negative One, Slipknot
- The Last In Line, Tenacious D – WINNER
Best R&B Performance
- Drunk In Love, Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z – WINNER
- New Flame, Chris Brown Featuring Usher & Rick Ross
- It’s Your World, Jennifer Hudson Featuring R. Kelly
- Like This, Ledisi
- Good Kisser, Usher
Best R&B Song
- Drunk In Love – WINNER
- Good Kisser
- New Flame
- Options (Wolfjames Version)
- The Worst
Best Urban Contemporary Album
- Sail Out, Jhené Aiko
- Beyoncé, Beyoncé
- X, Chris Brown
- Mali Is… Mali Music
- Girl, Pharrell Williams – WINNER
Best Rap Performance
- 3005, Childish Gambino
- 0 To 100 / The Catch Up, Drake
- Rap God, Eminem
- I, Kendrick Lamar – WINNER
- All I Need Is You, Lecrae
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
- Blak Majik, Common Featuring Jhené Aiko
- The Monster, Eminem Featuring Rihanna – WINNER
- Tuesday, I Love Makonnen Featuring Drake
- Studio, Schoolboy Q Featuring BJ The Chicago Kid
- Bound 2, Kanye West & Charlie Wilson
Best Pop Solo Performance
- All Of Me (Live), John Legend
- Chandelier, Sia
- Stay With Me (Darkchild Version), Sam Smith
- Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
- Happy, Pharrell Williams – WINNER
Best Rap Song
- Anaconda
- Bound 2
- I – WINNER
- We Dem Boyz
- 0 To 100 / The Catch Up
Best Rap Album
- The New Classic, Iggy Azalea
- Because The Internet, Childish Gambino
- Nobody’s Smiling, Common
- The Marshall Mathers LP2, Eminem – WINNER
- Oxymoron, Schoolboy Q
- Blacc Hollywood, Wiz Khalifa
Best Country Solo Performance
- Give Me Back My Hometown, Eric Church
- Invisible, Hunter Hayes
- Automatic, Miranda Lambert
- Something In The Water, Carrie Underwood – WINNER
- Cop Car, Keith Urban
Best Country Album
- Riser, Dierks Bentley
- The Outsiders, Eric Church
- 12 Stories, Brandy Clark
- Platinum, Miranda Lambert – WINNER
- The Way I’m Livin’, Lee Ann Womack
Best Music Video
- We Exist, Arcade Fire
- Turn Down For What, DJ Snake & Lil Jon
- Chandelier, Sia
- Happy, Pharrell Williams – WINNER
- The Golden Age, Woodkid Featuring Max Richter
Best Music Film
- Beyoncé & Jay Z: On The Run Tour
- Ghost Stories (Coldplay)
- 20 Feet From Stardom – WINNER
- Metallica Through The Never
- The Truth About Love Tour: Live From Melbourne (Pink)
Best Traditional R&B Performance
- As – Marsha Ambrosius & Anthony Hamilton
- I.R.S. – Angie Fisher
- Nobody – Kem
- Hold Up Wait A Minute (Woo Woo) – Antonique Smith
- Jesus Children – Robert Glasper – WINNER
Best Alternative Music Album
- This Is All Yours, alt-J
- Reflektor, Arcade Fire
- Melophobia, Cage the Elephant
- St. Vincent, St. Vincent – WINNER
- Lazaretto, Jack White
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
- Cheek to Cheek, Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett – WINNER
- Sending You a Little Christmas, Johnny Mathis
- Nostalgia, Annie Lennox
- Partners, Barbra Streisand
- Night Songs, Barry Manilow
Best Rock Song
- “Ain’t It Fun,” Paramore – WINNER
- “Blue Moon,” Beck
- “Fever,” The Black Keys
- “Gimme Something Good,” Ryan Adams
- “Lazaretto,” Jack White
Best R&B Album
- Islander, Bernhoft
- Lift Your Spirit, Aloe Blacc
- Love, Marriage & Divorce, Toni Braxton & Babyface – WINNER
- Black Radio 2, Robert Glasper Experiment
- Give The People What They Want, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
So, which performance was your favourite? Which artiste do you wish to see in the next GRAMMY Awards? Let us know in the comment box below!
For the complete list of winners and for more information, visit its official website.
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