It was quite a night at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards last night. Madonna the Matador tamed a heard of raging bulls and pulled a typically cheeky ‘Madonna’ stunt on the red carpet, but there was plenty of other surprises and best moments too…
The British might not have scored big at their own award ceremony, last night’s BAFTAs, but Londoner Sam Smith certainly made up for it by becoming the darling of the 57th Grammy Awards. Smith, a relative newcomer to the international music scene, having gotten his break by being featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single Latch in 2012, received the most Grammys, which included: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Song of the year went to his Stay With Me song that you can listen to below.
Kayne West caused a few people’s hearts to jump into their throats when he leapt onto stage when Beck won the Grammy for Album Of the Year (over Beyoncé) in what looked like a repeat of his Taylor Swift diss at the 2009 MTV VMAs. But he was only joking, sort of. After the show he had a typical Kanye rant to E! during which he called racism on Beck’s win saying: “I don’t even know what [Beck] said. I just know that, the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us… What happens is, when you keep on diminishing art, and not respecting the craft, and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration… And by the way, I got my wife, my daughter, and I got my clothing line, so I’m not going to do nothing that would put my daughter at risk, but I am here to fight for creativity. That’s why I didn’t say anything tonight, but you all knew what it meant when ‘Ye stepped on that stage.’”
The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, arrived mid-ceremony (albeit digitally), to deliver a very important public service announcement (PSA). He called on artists to use their public influence to raise awareness for violence against women and children saying: “Artists have a unique power to change minds and attitudes, to get us thinking and talking about what matters. All of us in our own lives have the power to set an example.” It’s perhaps not strange that the White House used this platform to ask people to pledge to this cause as the music industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to portraying women as sexual objects. Watch the PSA below:
Media shy songwriter and artist Sia recruited comedic actress Kristen Wiig and her regular artistic collaborator pre-teen dance prodigy Maddie Ziegler to give a dramatic performance of Chandelier. Zielger stars in the original video and also in the controversial Elastic Heart video in which she battles with Shia LeBeouf inside a giant cage. LeBeouf was present, but only got the chance to introduce the performance unfortunately. Watch it below:
The late Joan River’s would probably have something outrageously funny to say about the fact that she continues to win awards posthumously. She won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for her Diary Of a Mad Diva.
And last but not least, even Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai got a Grammy nod for the Best Children’s Album for I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World.
See who made the best dressed list here.
THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS:
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Stay With Me (Darkchild Version), Sam Smith
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Morning Phase, Beck
SONG OF THE YEAR
Stay With Me (Darkchild Version), James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith, songwriters (Sam Smith)
BEST NEW ARTIST
Sam Smith
BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Happy (Live), Pharrell Williams
BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Say Something, A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera
BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM
Cheek To Cheek, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
BEST DANCE RECORDING
Rather Be, Clean Bandit Featuring Jess Glynne
BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUM
Syro, Aphex Twin
BEST CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Bass & Mandolin, Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE
Lazaretto, Jack White
BEST METAL PERFORMANCE
The Last In Line, Tenacious D
BEST ROCK SONG
Ain’t It Fun, Hayley Williams & Taylor York, songwriters (Paramore)
BEST ROCK ALBUM
Morning Phase, Beck
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
St. Vincent, St. Vincent
BEST R&B PERFORMANCE
Drunk In Love, Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z
BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE
Jesus Children, Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm-Jamal Warner
BEST R&B SONG
Drunk In Love, Shawn Carter, Rasool Diaz, Noel Fisher, Jerome Harmon, Beyoncé Knowles, Timothy Mosely, Andre Eric Proctor & Brian Soko, songwriters (Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z)
BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Girl, Pharrell Williams
BEST R&B ALBUM
Love, Marriage & Divorce, Toni Braxton & Babyface
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE
i, Kendrick Lamar
BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
The Monster, Eminem Featuring Rihanna
BEST RAP SONG
i, K. Duckworth & C. Smith, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
BEST RAP ALBUM
The Marshall Mathers LP2, Eminem
BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE
Something In The Water, Carrie Underwood
BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Gentle On My Mind, The Band Perry
BEST COUNTRY SONG
I’m Not Gonna Miss You, Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond, songwriters (Glen Campbell)
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Platinum, Miranda Lambert
BEST NEW AGE ALBUM
Winds Of Samsara, Ricky Kej & Wouter Kellerman
BEST IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO
Fingerprints, Chick Corea, soloist
BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM
Beautiful Life, Dianne Reeves
BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Trilogy, Chick Corea Trio
BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM
Life In The Bubble, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band
BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM
The Offense Of The Drum, Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE/SONG
No Greater Love, Smokie Norful
BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE/SONG
Messengers, Lecrae Featuring For King & Country
BEST GOSPEL ALBUM
Help, Erica Campbell
BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC ALBUM
Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong, For King & Country
BEST ROOTS GOSPEL ALBUM
Shine For All The People, Mike Farris
BEST LATIN POP ALBUM
Tangos, Rubén Blades
BEST LATIN ROCK, URBAN OR ALTERNATIVE ALBUM
Multiviral, Calle 13
BEST REGIONAL MEXICAN MUSIC ALBUM (INCLUDING TEJANO)
Mano A Mano – Tangos A La Manera De Vicente Fernández, Vicente Fernández
BEST TROPICAL LATIN ALBUM
Más + Corazón Profundo, Carlos Vives
BEST AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE
A Feather’s Not A Bird, Rosanne Cash
BEST AMERICAN ROOTS SONG
A Feather’s Not A Bird, Rosanne Cash
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
The River & The Thread, Rosanne Cash
BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM
The Earls Of Leicester, The Earls Of Leicester
BEST BLUES ALBUM
Step Back, Johnny Winter
BEST FOLK ALBUM
Remedy, Old Crow Medicine Show
BEST REGIONAL ROOTS MUSIC ALBUM
The Legacy, Jo-El Sonnier
BEST REGGAE ALBUM
Fly Rasta, Ziggy Marley
BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM
Eve, Angelique Kidjo
BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai), Neela Vaswani
BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM (INCLUDES POETRY, AUDIO BOOKS & STORYTELLING)
Diary Of A Mad Diva, Joan Rivers
BEST COMEDY ALBUM
Mandatory Fun, “Weird Al” Yankovic
BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Frozen
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat, composer
BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Let It Go, Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, songwriters (Idina Menzel) (Track from: Frozen)
BEST INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITION
The Book Thief, John Williams, composer (John Williams)
BEST ARRANGEMENT, INSTRUMENTAL OR A CAPPELLA
Daft Punk, Ben Bram, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Kirstin Maldonado & Kevin Olusola, arrangers (Pentatonix)
BEST ARRANGEMENT, INSTRUMENTS AND VOCALS
New York Tendaberry, Billy Childs, arranger (Billy Childs Featuring Renée Fleming & Yo-Yo Ma)
BEST RECORDING PACKAGE
Lightning Bolt, Jeff Ament, Don Pendleton, Joe Spix & Jerome Turner, art directors (Pearl Jam)
BEST BOXED OR SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION PACKAGE
The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume One (1917-27), Susan Archie, Dean Blackwood & Jack White, art directors (Various Artists)
BEST ALBUM NOTES
Offering: Live At Temple University, Ashley Kahn, album notes writer (John Coltrane)
BEST HISTORICAL ALBUM
The Garden Spot Programs, 1950, Colin Escott & Cheryl Pawelski, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Hank Williams)
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, NON-CLASSICAL
Morning Phase, Tom Elmhirst, David Greenbaum, Florian Lagatta, Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, Robbie Nelson, Darrell Thorp, Cassidy Turbin & Joe Visciano, engineers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer (Beck)
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL
Max Martin
BEST REMIXED RECORDING, NON-CLASSICAL
All Of Me (Tiesto’s Birthday Treatment Remix), Tijs Michiel Verwest, remixer (John Legend)
BEST SURROUND SOUND ALBUM
Beyoncé, Elliot Scheiner, surround mix engineer; Bob Ludwig, surround mastering engineer; Beyoncé Knowles, surround producer (Beyoncé)
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem; Symphony No. 4; The Lark Ascending, Michael Bishop, engineer; Michael Bishop, mastering engineer (Robert Spano, Norman Mackenzie, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
Judith Sherman
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
Adams, John: City Noir, David Robertson, conductor (St. Louis Symphony)
BEST OPERA RECORDING
Charpentier: La Descente D’Orphée Aux Enfers, Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Aaron Sheehan; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble; Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble)
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
The Sacred Spirit Of Russia, Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Conspirare)
BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
In 27 Pieces – The Hilary Hahn Encores, Hilary Hahn & Cory Smythe
BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
Play, Jason Vieaux
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM
Douce France, Anne Sofie Von Otter; Bengt Forsberg, accompanist (Carl Bagge, Margareta Bengston, Mats Bergström, Per Ekdahl, Bengan Janson, Olle Linder & Antoine Tamestit)
BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
Partch: Plectra & Percussion Dances, Partch; John Schneider, producer
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
Adams, John Luther: Become Ocean, John Luther Adams, composer (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Happy, Pharrell Williams
BEST MUSIC FILM
20 Feet From Stardom, Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill
Image: Getty
