Mars seemed to predict his win when he shouted “let’s go Beyonce, let’s do it”, as she paused before announcing the victor.
Advertisement
The other big victor was the smash hit “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, which took Record of the Year.
In the key categories, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and the Weeknd have earned top nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Los Angeles rap phenom Kendrick Lamar gave a rousing performance that meandered through songs from his album “To Pimp a Butterfly”, which won the award for Best Rap Album. “I made that bitch famous”.
The latter was only a partial honor for Lamar. Lead singer Brittany Howard, during a performance of “Don’t Wanna Fight”, conveyed more power and emotion in just her voice than the noisy Hollywood Vampires supergroup of Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry did with a mess of tattoos, flames, flashing lights and loud guitars.
Swift opened the ceremony with a rendition of her song Out of the Woods and was one of many who performed during the show, along with Adele, Ellie Goulding, James Bay and The Weeknd.
The American singer, 26, became the first woman to win album of the year twice, and had a message for “all the young women out there”. During the event, Stevie Wonder teased the audience by flashing the victor of Song of the Year – written in braille.
Taylor Swift’s official switch from country to pop with her multi-hit, best-selling “1989” album brought the singer her second Grammy Award win for album of the year.
Here is a lovely song by Stapleton from the album by the same name.
Avi Kaplan, from left, Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi and Kevin Olusola, of Pentatonix, pose in the press room with the award for best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella for “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ” at the 58th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, in Los Angeles. The band also won alternative music album for “Sound & Color”.
“Two Grammys in one day?” Much of the action tonight has been in the form of tributes. Richie is the MusiCares Person of the Year.
A breathless Gaga received a standing ovation from the crowd at the end as she embraced Chic’s Nile Rodgers, one of Bowie’s producers who joined her for the performance. It will feature tributes to David Bowie, B.B. King, the Eagles’ Glenn Frey, Natalie Cole, Lemmy Kilmister and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White.
Considering there were only eight categories presented live, the first award came early. It will qualify for awards at the 2017 ceremony. Thank you to the Grammys.
Kanye West, who released his new album, “The Life of Pablo”, on Saturday, isn’t scheduled to perform, but he’s been raising eyebrows for days with his tweets.
“Daily Show” host Trevor Noah couldn’t help but reference Kanye West, who was probably setting fire to his keyboard after watching Lamar.
For that, he’ll have to wait.
Advertisement
West, 38, and Swift have a history together.
