On February 12th, 2017, music celebrated its biggest night of the year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. The ceremony honored the best in music for the year 2016. The ceremony was a star-studded event that honored musicians of today and paid tribute to the many musicians who influenced them.
The Grammys were kicked off with a performance by Adele singing her number 1 hit "Hello." Up for five Grammy Awards, Adele was considered a favorite to win big after her almost five-year hiatus away from music. It was great to see Adele back where she belongs and continuing to amaze everyone with her sheer talent. She also performed the George Michael tribute later on in the show and even restarted the performance of Michael's "Fast Love" after singing in the wrong key and wanted to make the performance right for George.
The ceremony was hosted by late night host James Corden, who's hilarious opening montage (seriously, watching him fall the stairs had me on the floor) had me hooked from the start. He even brought his carpool karaoke to the awards that involved Jennifer Lopez, Neil Diamond, John Legend, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill to sing Neil Diamonds "Sweet Caroline" to which no one knew the words.
Another performance that caught my eye was Ed Sheeran. The British musician took a year away from music only to come back with his new album Divide and two new songs. One of which, "Shape of You," was performed at the Grammys and showcased Sheeran's pure talent.
Beyoncé, who had the most nominations at the Grammys with nine, stunned everyone with her beautiful visuals and stunning outfit. She performed "Love Drought" and "Sandcastles" and picked up two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video for "Formation" and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade.
Other great performances of the night included Metallica and Lady Gaga teaming up to perform "Moth into Flame." Although there were some technical issues with James Hetfield's microphone, the performance was incredible! Gaga showed that she could practically dominate in any music genre she pleases.
Bruno Mars killed it on stage when he joined The Time to pay tribute to Prince, who tragically passed away in April of 2016. The Time performed first with their hits "Jungle Love" and "The Bird," while Mars performed "Let's Go Crazy."
Chance the Rapper, who picked up awards for Best New Artist and Best Rap Album, took everyone to church when both he and Kirk Franklin performed "How Great" and "All I Got."
Probably the most controversial performance of the night (which will probably have many conservatives talking) came from Busta Rhymes while he was performing with legendary rap group A Tribe Called Quest. Rhymes referred to President Donald Trump as "President Agent Orange" and criticized the president for his Muslim Ban.
In the end, it would be Adele who would win big at the Grammy's by taking home five Grammy Awards. She took home Song and Record of the Year for "Hello" and Album of the Year for 25. During her acceptance speech, Adele gave thanks to Beyoncé for being a big influence on her career that Adele was ready to give the award to Beyoncé. (She actually broke the award. She pulled a Cady Heron).
The Grammy's are always full of surprises. We never know what great performances we are going to see, and if our favorite artist will win. Music is what brings everyone together. This is extremely important to remember today. It is important that we continue education in the music and the arts so that we can see the future musicians take the stage during musics biggest night of the year.
