22 February 2013
By Shelby Clemons, Staff Writer
On Sunday, February 10, artists gathered for what was supposed to be the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, but which ended up being one giant mesh of mismatched performances that dominated the whole show. Never mind the fact that we saw only 11 of the 81 total awards given, the Grammys honored the year’s most “talented” (I use this word loosely) artists.
Opening the show was an awkward Alice in Wonderland/circus-themed performance by Taylor Swift to “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (which included a subtle dig at her ex Harry Styles) that resembled something Lady Gaga might do. Then, host LL Cool J stepped out for the second year in a row with an inspiring speech that included special shout-outs to many of the nominees, but which lacked the humor that the show desperately needed.
Nominee Ed Sheeran and singer Elton John did an acoustic performance to Sheeren’s nominated song “The A Team,” which, despite the odd vocal pairing, was one of the best live performances of any of the artists. The first award was for Best Pop Solo Performance, which went to Adele for a live performance of “Set Fire to the Rain.”
Following that, fun. (who was nominated for six awards) gave a subpar performance of their song “Carry On” that included an onstage rainstorm. Then, because everyone had to be represented, there was a country performance by Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. Another performance followed, with Miguel (who?) and Wiz Khalifa pairing up to perform “Adorn,” and then for some reason the two gave the award for Best Country Solo Performance, which went to Carrie Underwood for “Blown Away.”
Two more country crooners, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, came out to present the award for Song of the Year, which unfortunately went to fun. for “We Are Young” and not the talented Ed Sheeran. Suddenly, Johnny Depp appeared to introduce Mumford and Sons, who gave an exciting, horn-filled performance of “I Will Wait.”
Some much-needed comedy came when Ellen Degeneres and Beyonce took the stage to announce Justin Timberlake’s return to the Grammy stage. For his performance, the screen turned black and white to match the old-school band playing his new song “Suit &Tie.” Jay Z graced the stage to sing his part in the collaboration, and it was a truly great performance.
The category of Best Urban Contemporary Album (what does that even mean?) had only three nominees, but the award went to Frank Ocean for Channel Orange, which got him a standing ovation and plenty of Internet buzz.
Up next, Dan Auerbach, a musical God and half of The Black Keys, was given a shout-out for winning the award for Producer of the Year (squeal) before going on to win the award for Best Rock Performance for “Lonely Boy” (bonus: he and Patrick Carney also took the award for Best Rock Album for El Camino earlier).
Then, LL Cool J bored us some more until Maroon 5 saved the day with a performance of “Daylight” followed by a duet with Alicia Keys, who rocked out on the drums to “Girl On Fire” (girl has lungs!). Somehow, Kelly Clarkson proceeded to beat out Florence and the Machine, Maroon 5 and P!nk for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Stronger,” and was as shocked as the rest of us.
Rihanna was then up to perform her song “Stay” and was joined by a random guy in a beanie (who was apparently Mikky Ekko, one of the writers of the song) to perform the slow, soulful song. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration went to Jay Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and The Dream for “No Church in the Wild,” and Frank Ocean was as nervous as when he first went onstage.
Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for (just me?): The Black Keys gave a bluesy performance of “Lonely Boy,” which, despite being performed with an odd gospel-inspired chorus, was still amazing as always. Then, Kelly Clarkson did some singing. Following that, Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna and Damien Marley paid tribute to Bob Marley.
The Lumineers and Jack White also performed before everyone remembered that it was an award show, then Katy Perry brought back the necessary comedy to present the Best New Artist award to fun., whose lead singer pointed out how long they have been around as America (just me again?) groaned.
This show was boring pretty much from the moment LL Cool J stepped out and got sleepier with the performances of Hunter Hayes and Carrie Underwood. Prince momentarily brightened it up when he presented the award for Record of the Year, which surprisingly went to Gotye for “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
Then some more performances happened (you’re not missing anything, don’t worry) and there was the usual tribute to artists who had passed followed by even more performances by anyone and everyone who was willing. Among them was Frank Ocean who performed “Forrest Gump” before Adele announced the winner for Album of the Year. The big award went to Mumford and Sons for Babel.
The final performance of the night was another mash-up that included LL Cool J, who changed out of his nice suit and into some leather pants. The only way I can describe the performance is that it’s like seeing your dad dress like he did in his 20’s and “rock out” as you watch uncomfortably. Luckily, it included a much-deserved tribute to Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA, the former Beastie Boy member that passed last year.
Basically, the Grammys were three and a half hours of confusing mash-ups and awards that anyone could win.
Photo courtesy of www.pigeonsandplanes.com