Now a two-time victor of Album of the Year (and 10 Grammys overall), Taylor Swift had a few important things to say when she accepted her esteemed award.
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But her win for album of the year brought her to the podium – and she let loose with a rousing speech.
He won best rap album for “To Pimp a Butterfly” as well as rap performance, rap song, rap/sung performance and music video.
That claim dates back to 2009, when West commandeered the stage at MTV’s VMAs as Swift was collecting a trophy for best female video.
Said Mars: “We wouldn’t be up here if it wasn’t for the people dancing to this song”.
Stapleton’s “Traveller” won best country album and Alabama Shakes’ “Don’t Wanna Fight” won best rock performance. Stevie Wonder read from a Braille card as he announced Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud as song of the year.
Even years later, that’s not the end of their feud. “Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that b**** famous'”.
– Record of the year: “Uptown Funk”, Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars.
Meghan Trainor won best new artist and reacted with joyful tears. After all, she was in the middle of accepting an award for her talents the moment Kanye interrupted her.
Moreover, Lady Gaga will pay homage to David Bowie with an “experiential tribute” and “multisensory testament”, and Eagles Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Bernie Leadon, joined by “Take It Easy” co-writer Jackson Browne, will salute Glenn Frey.
She opened the performance dressed as Ziggy Stardust, complete with newly dyed red hair, singing Space Oddity before breaking into Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Rebel Rebel, Fashion, Fame, Let’s Dance and Heroes. The record’s release dovetailed with the emergence of Black Lives Matter – a movement, a mantra, and a credo for the kind of social justice that too often evades disenfranchised communities in this country. He was Motorhead. He was a legend and I was proud to call him my friend.
He gave special thanks to his parents, who were in the audience, saying that they come to the show every year. “As Lemmy taught us in Ace Of Spades, the pleasure is to play”. “And some will be moved”, she said, seeming to speak to those who were critical of her Super Bowl performance of the anthem, “Formation”.
Kendrick Lamar’s cinematic and energetic performance shined at a Grammys show full of slow songs and ballads.
Later, she tweeted an explanation, telling her 25.2 million Twitter followers: “The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that’s what the guitar sound was”.
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The Compton native took the stage shackled in chains with other black men on a prison block-style set, segued to native African tribal dancers, and also referenced the death of Trayvon Martin as he performed his songs “Alright” and “The Blacker the Berry”.
