By AARON KREIN
Features Editor
The 58th Annual Grammy Awards took place last Sunday live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on CBS. Rapper LL Cool J hosted the ceremony for the fifth consecutive year.
Kendrick Lamar was the big winner of the night, delivering the most powerful performance and walking home with five awards. Taylor Swift garnered her second win for Album of the Year for “1989,” making her the first female artist to do so.
Ed Sheeran won his first two Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, both for “Thinking Out Loud.” Meghan Trainor nabbed Best New Artist while Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” was named Record of the Year.
Swift opened the show with the performance of her current single, “Out of the Woods.” Despite the gorgeous nature scenery in the background, the performance was lacking and not a grand way to open the show. Swift walked back and forth across the stage and twirled a couple of times.
When you look back at past Grammy openers like Lady Gaga in 2010 and the Aretha Franklin tribute in 2011, this performance doesn’t hold up. Swift also won for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Music Video for “Bad Blood.” It has since been announced that the “1989” bonus track, “New Romantics,” will serve as Swift’s next single.
The Weeknd performed his number-one hit “Can’t Feel My Face” along with his current single, “In The Night.” The performance was solid but felt like there was something missing. It was later reported that eight-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill was supposed to duet with The Weeknd on the latter song but dropped out at the last minute.
Hill later joined The Weeknd on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” last Friday to perform the intended duet. The Weeknd received two Grammys, Best R&B Performance for “Earned It” and Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Beauty Behind the Madness.”
2017 Album of the Year frontrunner Adele performed the ballad, “All I Ask,” despite having a microphone malfunction that tampered with the strings of the piano. Despite the mishap, I still feel Adele was magnificent even though you could tell by her body language on stage that something wasn’t right.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar had the most elaborate setup of the night’s performances with his medley of “The Blacker the Berry,” “Alright,” and “Untitled #3.” The set consisted of jail cells, pyrotechnics in the background and a variety of dancers. It was quite the most moving and yet upbeat moment of the night. The majority of the performances at the Grammys this year consisted of softer and midtempo songs.
There were multiple performances featuring two stars who made a melody of each of their current hits. The first was country stars Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood, who sang “Take Your Time” and “Heartbeat.” The second was British artists Andra Day and Ellie Goulding, who sang “Rise Up” and “Love Me Like You Do.” The last duet was singer-songwriters James Bay and Tori Kelly, who sang “Let It Go” and “Hollow.”
Of the three, the most memorable in my opinion was Day and Goulding. I was very surprised by this choice of collaboration, but found that the ending result was amazing to watch. The other two performances lacked, with one sounding off key, that being Hunt and Bay.
MusicCares Person of the Year Lionel Richie received a tribute from a plethora of stars across music genres. John Legend opened with a satisfactory performance of “Easy” which transitioned into one of the most unexpected moments of the night. Demi Lovato sang “Hello” and knocked it out of the park. I was absolutely blown away, just like many others who expressed as such on social media. This was proof that Lovato’s vocal chops exceed her current music output.
The rest of the tribute consisted of covers from Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, and Tyrese. However, none of the performers could compare to Lovato’s set. Lionel Richie joined the rest of the performers towards the end and performed “All Night Long.”
There were several tributes that night, including Stevie Wonder and Penatonix’s brief tribute to Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire, Miguel’s unexplained tribute to Michael Jackson, The Eagles’ tribute to their fallen member Glenn Frey, and a B.B. King commemoration from Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark, Jr., and Bonnie Raitt. The Hollywood Vampires, consisting of Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, and Johnny Depp, delivered a tribute to Lemmy of Möterhead as well.
There was backlash from the family of late singer Natalie Cole, who felt that she deserved a full tribute on the show. Cole was the first African American artist to win Best New Artist in 1976, Album of the Year for “Unforgettable” in 1992, and seven other Grammy awards.
However, the most-discussed tribute of the night had to be Lady Gaga’s extensive set in memory of David Bowie. Gaga, dressed in Ziggy Stardust-like fashion, performed 10 of Bowie’s hits, including “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” and “Heroes.” I found it a moving tribute from a star deeply influenced by the late musician. However, Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, was unimpressed by Gaga’s tribute and sait it was “excessive.”
Little Big Town performed their hit, “Girl Crush,” which won Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song. The cast of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” performed “Alexander Hamilton” live from the Richard Rodgers Theatre and later received the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album on the telecast.
Alabama Shakes performed “Don’t Wanna Fight,” which took home Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. This was just two of the three Grammys the group took home, along with Best Alternative Music Album for “Sound & Color.” Justin Bieber performed an acoustic version of the current number-one single in the country, “Love Yourself,” which segued into “Where Are Ü Now” with Diplo and Skrillex. The latter song received a rockier treatment than the original and also gained Bieber his first Grammy for Best Dance Recording.
Out of all the live performances of the night, my favorite wasn’t even on the stage but rather a Target commercial. Gwen Stefani broke barriers by recording her music video to her current single, “Make Me Like You,” on live television in one take. The video was very bright and involved a car wreck, a beauty salon, a nightclub, and a roller rink. The song is very catchy and is definitely the best we’ve heard since her comeback last year.
Overall, the 58th Grammys had the lowest ratings, with 24.9 million viewers, since the 2009 ceremony, which had 19 million viewers. Rihanna was scheduled to perform “Kiss It Better” from her new album, “Anti,” but pulled out last minute due to an unexplained meltdown. With no standout performances and fairly predictable winners, the 2016 Grammys will be one that few will remember.
