#GRAMMYs: The Winners List + Highlights + Recap

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.

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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.

https://vine.co/v/OUvaqAPEltt

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”.

William Phillips, James Napier, Sam Smith — Source: The Guardian

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.

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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