2016 Grammy Awards
The 2016 Grammy Awards is the 58th annual awards ceremony celebrating excellence in music. Double Grammy Award winner, LL Cool J returned for the fifth consecutive year to host the festivities.
Taylor Swift opened the program on their mammoth stage with a performance of her hit Out of the Woods. She welcomed the audience to the broadcast in the middle of her song and walked to a circular stage in the middle of the audience to finish her performance.
LL Cool J Begins
Then it was LL Cool J’s turn to take the stage to welcome the audience and thank Taylor for her Grammy moment. He introduced Adele and Lionel Richie in the audience and introduced to a few videos of past performances by Adele, Lady Gaga, and Elton John.
He then threw to Steve Colbert who announced that he will be introducing the live Broadway performance of the Grammy-nominated Musical Hamilton.
The first award was for Best Rap Album and presented by Ice Cube, and his son O’Shea Jackson Jr. The Grammy went to Kendrick Lamar for To Pimp a Butterfly. He was a top nominee for this year awards receiving 11 Grammy nominations.
The next performance was Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt performing Take Your Time.
Ariana Grande was the next presenter. She joking sang some of the Weeknd’s lyrics as she introduced him performing his mega-hit Can’t Feel My Face. He also sang In The Night.
Selena Gomez was up next to introduce the performance by Audra Day who sang Rise Up. She was joined by Ellie Goulding who sang Love Me Like You Do. They sang beautifully together.
Cam and Gary Sinise were the next presenters. Gary sent a shout-out to all the U.S. military forces servicing our country all around the world. Their category was Best Country Album and Chirs Stapleton won for Traveler. Before thanking his family, he thanked Taylor Swift for glitter-bombing him earlier in the evening.
Lionel Richie is Person of the Year
The 2016 Grammy Awards continued with James Corden host of the Late Late Show and LL Cool J as they introduced a group of performances in honor of Lionel Richie’s Person of the Year Award. John Legend started with Easy. Demi Lovato followed with Hello. Luke Bryan sang Penny Lover. Meghan Trainor sang You Are the Sun, You Are the Rain. Tyrese Gibson sang Brick House. Then Lionel finally took the stage and sang All Night Long. He got a standing ovation and it was well deserved.
Ryan Seacrest introduced the next performance by Little Big Town who sang Girl Crush.
Stevie Wonder Reads the Winner
Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix sang an A cappella tribute to Maurice White and Earth Wind and Fire. Great touch, it was fantastic. They also introduced the nominees for Song of the Year. But before giving out the Grammy, Stevie Wonder made a joke to the group about reading Braille, because he was the one to read the winner. He teased them saying, “You guys can’t read this. You can’t read Braille.” He also and gave a shout-out to all people with disabilities. The Grammy went to Ed Sheeran for Thinking Out Loud with Amy Wadge. Amy didn’t get a chance to add to the acceptance speech. The program rolled right into the next performance which was the Eagles performing Take It Easy. They also got a standing ovation too.
Anna Kendrick introduced a performance by Tori Kelly and James Bae who sang Let It Go and Hollow.
Hamilton Live
Next was the live performance from Broadway of the new musical hit Hamilton from the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York. It was a great glimpse of the stage performance! The Broadway audience gave them a rousing standing ovation.
Don Cheto introduced Kendrick Lamar who performed an elaborate stage performance of Hol’ Up, and Alright just a few of his raps that garnered him 11 Grammy nominations this year.
Seth MacFarlane introduced the nominees for the Best Musical Theater Album, and the Grammy went to Hamilton. The performers accepted the award live from Broadway. The star of the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda delivered the acceptance speech for the group in rap.
Gwen Stephani had an elaborate video Grammy moment for her new song, Make Me Like You, full of lots of red costume changes and roller skating. It looked more like a commercial.
Miguel performed She’s Out of My Life in honor of Michael Jackson and announced the nominees for Best Rock Performance, and the Grammy went to Alabama Shakes for Don’t Want to Fight.
Bruno Mars introduced Adele performing All I Ask. They experienced a slight audio issue at the beginning of her performance.
Kaley Cuoco introduced the acoustic guitar performance of Love Yourself by Justin Beiber joined by Skrillex & Diplo for Where Are U Now.
Best New Artist
Best New Artist was next and Sam Smith was the presenter. The Grammy went to Meghan Trainor for Like I’m Going to Lose You. She was shocked and in tears for the win. She thanked LA Reid for seeing her as an artist and her mom and dad for always believing in her.
Ed Sheeran introduced Lady Gaga’s performance in honor of David Bowie. She began with Space Oddity and moved into Changes followed by several more of his major hits including Let’s Dance and Fame. The audience gave her the seal of approval with a standing ovation.
Bonnie Raitt introduced a tribute to Ruth Brown and then honored B.B. King with Gary Clark Jr. and Chris Stapleton. They sang “The Thrill is Gone.”
LL Cool J was back to carry the 2016 Grammy Awards through to its end and introduced a performance of Don’t Wanna Fight by three-time Grammy Award winners Alabama Shakes.
Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry took rock to another level performing several songs including Ace of Spades.
Grammy CEO and Common
Neil Portnow President and CEO of the Grammy’s and Common took the stage together to express the importance of music and introduced the youngest Grammy nominee Joey Alexander on the piano, a 12-year-old jazz prodigy from Indonesia. They also approached the issue of low royalties associated with streaming music.
The In Memoriam segment followed and highlighted all the talent we lost in 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
Earth Wind and Fire recognized Maurice White and presented the award for Album of the Year. The Grammy Award went to Taylor Swift for Bad Blood. She was shocked as usual, but this was a tough category. She is the first woman to win Album of the Year twice and she encouraged other women to go for it mixed in with a veiled response to Kanye West, and thanked everyone for her Emmy moment.
A montage followed of winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award including Earth Wind and fire and Run DMC.
Record of the Year
Beyonce presented the Record of the Year Award and the Grammy went to Bruno Mars for Uptown Funk. Another big surprise win of the evening. They thanked George Clinton, James Brown and Earth Wind and Fire.
LL Cool J introduced Pitbull, Travis Barker, and Robin Thicke’s performance to close the show.
The 2016 Grammy Awards was another great one!
The after parties will be crazy!
Tanya Hart
