Grammy’s 60th
The 60th annual GRAMMY AWARDS returned to NEW YORK CITY for the first time in 15 years, and while rap ruled the night, it turned out JAY Z and KENDRICK LAMAR split the rap vote and allowed BRUNO MARS to sweep SONG (“That’s What I Like”), RECORD (“24K Magic”) and ALBUM OF THE YEAR (“24K Magic”), winning six GRAMMYs in all.. KENDRICK LAMAR won five GRAMMYS, and arguably stole the show with his opening salvo.
LAMAR WAS joined by U2 for a snippet of “American Soul” and DAVE CHAPPELLE for some on-stage encouragement for a rousing opening tonight.
LAMAR got the evening off to a fiery start with his jolting rap, which included snippets from “XXX,” “DNA,” “The Heart Part 4” and even JAY ROCK’s “King’s Dead,” whiile comedian DAVE CHAPPELLE, up for a GRAMMY in the BEST COMEDY ALBUM category, was amazed at the opening salvo. “The man is taking enormous chances,” he said as an aside.
LADY GAGA went straight into a medley of “Joanne” and the GRAMMY-nominated “Million Reasons” at a LIBERACE-like white piano festooned with feathers left over from Victoria’s Secret with producer MARK RONSON before TONY BENNETT and JOHN LEGEND presented the evening’s first award, BEST RAP/SUNG PERFORMANCE to KENDALL LAMAR’s “Loyalty,” with featured vocalist RIHANNA joining him to accept. “She gassed me on my own record,” said KENDRICK, now up to four GRAMMYs and ready to claim the night.
SAM SMITH in a long, white jacket that looked like a lab coat, was up next with a stirring “Pray,” complete with gospel choir, before KELLY CLARKSON and NICK JONAS gave out the BEST NEW ARTIST award to a remarkably poised ALESSIA CARA, beating out favorite SZA for the night’s first big honor. LITTLE BIG TOWN rounded out the segment with a performance of the GRAMMY-nominated TAYLOR SWIFT collab, “Better Man,” against a glittering NEW YORK skyline.
GUY CLARK JR. and NEW ORLEANS native JOHN BATISTE from STEPHEN COLBERT’s late-night band then paid tribute to CHUCK BERRY and FATS DOMINO with spirited versions of “Maybelline” and “Ain’t That A Shame.”
ED SHEERAN then won BEST POP SOLO VOCAL PERFORMANCE for “Shape Of You,” and proved a no-show, perhaps an answer to his being snubbed in the major categories, before CHILDISH GAMBINO performed “Terrified” with soprano JD McCRARY, his young Simba co-star from “The Lion King,” who sang the song on the BEST ALBUM contender, “Awaken, My Love!” “ATLANTA” creator and actor DONALD GLOVER is just a true renaissance man.
PINK took the stage next, in dressed-down T-shirt and jeans with a sign language interpreter, singing ,”There’s not enough rope to tie me down,” But this time, the gravity-defying flier stayed grounded and delivered a powerful “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” in one of the evening’s highlights.
DAVE CHAPPELLE then presented KENDRICK LAMAR with his second GRAMMY of the night, and fourth overall for BEST RAP ALBUM for “DAMN.,” while CHAPPELLE took home BEST COMEDY ALBUM, presented to him by TREVOR NOAH, who noted the category hadn’t been televised in the past. “Because ADELE didn’t put out a comedy record,” he mused.
CARDI B then grabbed the evening by the throat with a wild primary color rap, all oranges, reds, greens and yellows, joined by a high-stepping BRUNO MARS for their remix of “Finesse,” another show-stopper. STING and SHAGGY, who appeared in a brief, amusing film with JAMES CORDEN in which they tried to busk on a subway, then came on, with the former’s “Englishman in New York” wrapped around their sprightly reggae collab. “Don’t Make Me Wait.”
CHRIS STAPLETON then took home BEST COUNTRY ALBUM for “From A Room, Volume 1,” giving him a total of three GRAMMYs for the night.
DJ KHALED was the hype man and cheerleader for “Wiild Thjoughts,” but it was RIHANNA and BRYSON TILLER who stole the show with their sultry pas de deux. ERIC CHURCH, MAREN MORRIS and the BROTHERS OSBORNE paid tribute to those who died at the LAS VEGAS massacre last summer with “Tears In Heaven,” ERIC CLAPTON’s GRAMMY WINNER.
The evevning’s most poigjnant moment came with JANELLE MONAE’s impassioned introduction to KESHA, “Undo the culture that does not serve us well,” leading up to an emotionally potent performance of “Praying,” her DR. LUKE rebuke, her raging vocals offset by the support of CYNDI LAUPER, BEBE REXHA, CAMILLA CABELLO, JULIA MICHAELS and AUDRA DAY.
U2’s taped performa nce of “Get Out of Your Own Way” set against the backdrop of the Statue of Librerty turned into a plea for enlightened immigration policies, one of the evening’s pointed political topics.
Then it was time for STING to present SONG OF THE YEAR, won by BRUNO MARS and THE STEREOTYPES for “That’s What I Like,” a category KENDRICK LAMAR wasn’t nominated for, so he’s still on tap for seven.
ELTON JOHN, who recently announced his imminent retirement from touring, got behind the keys for “Tiny Dancer,” welcoming a game MILEY CYRUS, resplendent in a long maroon gown, playing the doting KIKI DEE role.
Paying tribute to BROADWAY, the LEONARD BERNSTEIN/ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER tribute proved a crowd-pleaser with a pair of standing ovations for BEN PLATT’s “Somewhere” and PATTI LuPONE’s GRAMMY winning “Don’t Cry For Me ARGENTINA.”
SZA’s dazzling “Broken Clocks” performance more than made up for the fact she was shut out of awards, even though the leading female nominee with five. The GRAMMYs may rue overlooking her for BEST NEW ARTIST.
ALICIA KEYS then presented BRUNO MARS with RECORD OF THE YEAR for “24K Magic,” meaning he won two of the night’s top awards for different songs.
CHRIS SINGLETON and EMMYLOU HARRIS performed TOM PETTY’s “Wildflowers” as part of the evening’s In Memoriam segment, while LOGIC, ALESSIA CARA and KHALID performed “1-800-273-8255,” the suicide prevention anthem as the closing number before U2’s BONO and THE EDGE presented BRUNO MARS with the night’s biggest award.
This Article Was Originally Posted at www.allaccess.com