2013 Grammy Awards
The 55th Grammy Awards were broadcast live on CBS from the Staple Center in Los Angeles. LL Cool J hosted the 2013 Grammy Awards for the 
second time and again he knocked it out of the park. Taylor Swift opened the show with her wildly popular song, ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’, Ed Sheeran and Elton John performed Sheeran’s hit ‘The A-Team’, and Fun, with six Grammy nods, performed their hit ‘Carry On’.
The big flap of the 2013 Grammy Awards was the surprising dress code memo, but what was more surprising is that most performers adhered to Grammy’s request. One exception was J Lo. Jennifer Lopez wore another barely-there dress that barely slipped by the Grammy dress code. Katy Perry was popping out too. Surprisingly Rihanna, who you would expect to stretch the 
limits, did better than Jennifer in terms limiting her exposure. J Lo joked about the dress code memo when she came to the stage baring lots of leg to present the Best Solo Performance Award to Adel; meanwhile, Adel graciously delivered a short and sweet acceptance speech for the award.
Honoring Country Music, Dierks Bentley, and Miranda Lambert performed a medley of songs. Dierks huge hit this year is ‘Home’ nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, and Miranda was nominated for Best Country Album for ‘Four the Record’.
Wiz Khalifa and Miguel tore up the stage performing ‘Adorn’ before the nominees for the Best County Solo Performance were announced. Carrie Underwood took the Grammy in that category for ‘Blown Away’.
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw announced the nominees for Song of The Year, and the Grammy went to Fun for ‘We Are Young’.
Johnny Depp, looking very much like his pirate character, introduced Mumford & Sons performing their mega-hit ‘I Will Wait for You’.
The unlikely duo of Beyonce and Ellen DeGeneres came to the stage to announce the Grammy moment of Justin 
Timberlake performing his latest hit ‘Suit & Tie’ in black and white film reel style. Jay Z walked out of the audience and joined Justin on stage. Justin rocked it with a live band.
Kelly Rowland also pushed the limit on the Grammy dress code when she came out in a dress with lots of cut-outs accompanied by Rapper Naz to announce the nominees for the Best Urban Contemporary Album. Frank Ocean took the Grammy in this category.
Dave Growl, the front man for the ‘Food Fighters’ announced that the award for Producer of the Year went to Dan Auerbach, and Best Rock Performance went to ‘The Black Keys’.
Maroon Five’s Adam Levine started his set with ‘Day Light’ and transitioned to Alicia Keys performing ‘Girl on Fire’, and Kelly Clarkson took a surprise win for Pop Vocal Album over Florence and The Machine saying, ‘I didn’t think I was going to win’.
Rihanna sang ‘Stay’ when she took the stage dressed in a very tasteful floor-length black gown, as the camera caught a quick shot of what looked like a tear in Chris Brown’s eye.
It was a big night for Jay Z and Frank Ocean as they won the category of Rap/Sung Collaboration for ‘No Church in the Wild’, The Black Keys returned to perform ‘Lonely Boy’ which they just won the Grammy for Rock Performance earlier in the show, and Kelly Clarkson returned to perform a medley of songs before announcing the nominees for Best Country Album. The Grammy went to the Zac Brown Band, for ‘Uncaged’.
The 2013 Grammy’s also carved out a tribute to reggae legend Bob Marley starting off with Bruno Mars singing his hit “Locked Out of Heaven’ and joined by rock legend Sting. Sting took over singing his song ‘Walking on the Moon’, but the tribute really heated up with surprise guests Ziggy Marley and Damian Marley who were joined by Rihanna singing Marley’s hit ‘Could You Be Loved’.
Best New Artist nominees the Luminaires sang their hit song “Ho Hey’, followed by Jack White performing ‘Love Interruption’, Katy Perry presented the Best New Artist award to Fun, and Carrie Underwood performed a two-song set in a dress that digitally changed animated patterns throughout her performance.
Seven-time Grammy winner Prince, carrying a cane, removed his sunglasses long enough to present the award for Record of the Year to Gotye for ‘Somebody That I Use to Know’. It was certainly a highlight of the evening.
Frank Ocean’s big Grammy moment came toward the end of the broadcast, followed by Adel’s announcing that the Album of the Year Award goes to Mumford & Sons for ‘I Will Wait For You’.
The show was packed with star performances, including Elton John returning to perform with Mavis Staples and a stage full of stars in memory of the Sandy Hook Victims.
And LL Cool J couldn’t let the show end without getting into the act as he rocked the Grammy close with Chuck D performing his hit ‘What Up’.
The 55th Grammy Awards gave out over 80 awards, but only 10 awards were presented during the broadcast. Even though the show was 3 ½ hours long, it still delivered a formula that works. The Grammy’s is more of a show than an awards ceremony, while the others are more of an awards ceremony than a show. It may be time to take some notes.
Tanya Hart
