The 58th Grammy Awards wrapped up this past weekend in Los Angles, California—cementing another (very) memorable night in the music industry.
Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar were some of the top winners of the night; taking home a combined eight Grammy awards with both receiving one for their work on Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video.
The Grammy’s this year was full of unexpected surprises and tributes to some of music’s greats.
The music industry lost some of its most influential artists this past year including David Bowie, B.B King, Glenn Frey and Maurice White, to name only some. The recent passing of Bowie, Frey and White made scheduling difficult for the upcoming awards show.
“We had a good deal of the show laid out around the end of 2015. Of 20 slots, 11 or 12 acts were booked, and we were filling the others. With the exception of B.B. King, all of these passings happened since then. It became a challenge to do the proper thing and, at the same time, not let the show turn into a series of tributes,” said longtime producer Ken Ehrlich.
Lady Gaga performed a touching tribute to Bowie just days after the star posted on her snap story a picture of her getting David Bowie’s face tattooed on her side, with a caption that said “It begins. This was the image that changed my life.”
Kendrick Lamar stunned the crowd with his performance, singing a remix of his Grammy Award winning song “Alright” and “The Blacker the Berry.” The piece as a whole spoke out on the treatment of African Americans, as Lamar and his backup dancers entered the stage in handcuffs while they shuffled through a jail, all of them African American.
Meghan Trainor took home best new artist, beating out James Bay, Tori Kelly, Sam Hunt and Courtney Barnett.
Ed Sheeran also took home two Grammy’s for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year for “Thinking Out Loud.” Although he has been nominated in prior years, this was Sheeran’s first time taking home an award. He joked during his acceptance speech that his parents “have come out for four Grammy’s, and every year they said 'Maybe next year.'”
Adele was set to perform her song “All I Want” which was written with Bruno Mars—when her audio cut out just as she began her piece. The world soon learned that the microphone, which was set on the piano that was accompanying her, had fallen down, leading her to be pitchy on certain notes. “I was so embarrassed. I cried pretty much all day.” But she insisted that she was OK and treated herself to a beer and burger after the show.
The true show-stopper didn’t come though until Album of the Year was announced. Taylor Swift won the award for her album “1989” and become the first woman in history to win Album of the Year twice.
As Taylor stood in front of the microphone, the world waited in anticipation for what she would say. Just days before the Grammy’s Kanye West released his album “The Life of Pablo” and stated in his song “Famous,” “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that (explicit) famous.” Sparking backlash and controversy around the world. This happened after West stormed on stage during Swift’s acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards in 2009 to proclaim Beyoncé “had one of the best videos of all time!”
"As the first woman to win album of the year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you’ll know it was you and the people who love you who put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world," said Swift as she accepted her award.
“Uptown Funk” won for Record of the Year, and closed out a very eventful and memorable evening at the 58th Grammy Awards.
