That was the Grammys 2016
2016 will not be remembered as a stellar year for the Grammys.
Adele struggled with technical issues; Rihanna and Lauryn Hill didn’t show up due to illness; Gaga paid tribute or butchered Bowie depending on your point of view; Pitbull recreated Benny Hill with Sofia Vergara and Taylor Swift put Kanye in his place. Lamar didn’t completely clean up either, beaten by the twin pop powers of Taylor Swift and Mark Ronson.
Here’s a snippet from our wrap:
Taylor Swift’s 1989 took the album of the year awards at the 58th Grammy awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday night. Having opened the show with a version of her hit Out of the Woods, the singer made a defiant acceptance speech which seemed to allude to her argument with Kanye West earlier in the week. The rapper’s new song Famous, referring to Swift, claims: “I made that bitch famous.”
Swift pointed out in her speech that she is the first woman to win album of the year twice and added: “I want to say to all the young women out there –there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”
Thanks so much for your comments and tweets and see you next year for more performances from Adele. Byeeeee!
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Pitbull! It's Pitbull time!
Mr Worldwide is here to perform El Taxi, ostensibly a cover of Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus and Pliers. He’s doing a Benny Hill-style chase across the stage featuring Sofia Vergara. Robin Thicke is here, as is Joe Perry and Travis Barker.
This is so random I honestly don’t know what is in front of my eyes. It’s like the producers just pulled names of no-longer-relevant white male musicians out of a hat and couldn’t be bothered to think about how it would look.
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WINNER: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson - record of the year
Ronson thanks George Clinton, Earth, Wind and Fire and all the other funksters.
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WINNER: 1989 – Taylor Swift - album of the year
She thanks Max Martin, and then talks about how being a woman in the industry is difficult because people will try to take credit for putting you where you are. A clear reference to Kanye? Yeah and a more general legitimate comment on the state of music. Björk said something very similar last year.
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Bowie, Maurice White, Lemmy and co all get a mention but they choose to finish on Natalie Cole this year.
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Neil Portnow, the academy’s CEO, and Common are here to talk about letting nothing stop people making music. Portnow references the Paris attacks, and now Common – who has made a habit of meaningful speeches at awards shows – introduces Joey Alexander, a pianist who is about 5 years old and is impressing Herbie Hancock, Jidenna and everyone else. It was great, but a solo piano performance with 20 minutes to go is a strange call.
Now they’re making the case for streaming services to pay more. They say young Joey wants to have a future, so give musicians more money! That was like a terrible Ted talk. We’re into the In Memoriam section now.
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Hollywood Vampires' Lemmy tribute
Dave Grohl is talking about the importance of Lemmy now, he’s got an Ace of Spade tattoo, and says the influence of the band can’t be overstated. Now it’s Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, and the Hollywood Vampires.
Alice Cooper is wearing a white shirt splattered with what looks like blood, while Johnny Depp’s sideburns are taking over a part of the stage. Joe Perry quite happy noodling away, and this is ... strangely compelling.
Ok, they’re doing Ace of Spades now and this isn’t good. Half a dozen men in clothes that don’t fit them singing songs from the 70s. It sounds like Vinyl.
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