53rd Grammy Award Winners

Better late than never right? So the biggest night in music came and went, and two days later, I’m still not entirely sure how I felt about it. I mean I love the Grammys – I love award shows in general – but this year’s show just seemed like such a mix bag, not just with the actual winners but the performances as well.

WINNERS

Album of the Year: Arcade Fire, “The Suburbs” – Shocker! Their win was surprising for two reasons. First, they beat Eminem and Lady Antebellum. I was almost certain Eminem was gonna take it, and then with the night Lady A was having, I thought maybe they were gonna sweep it all. Second, Arcade Fire didn’t even win in the Best Alternative Album category (that went to The Black Keys). Through the years that I’ve actually followed the Grammys, the AOTY winner didn’t win in their own category?

Record of the Year/Song of the Year: Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now” – They totally deserved it. I’ve said this many times before, but I fell in love with this song when they performed it at last year’s Grammys. One year later, I’m still not tired of it! (Except for maybe the dance remix that our local radio station insists on playing – that’s just annoying). Also, I totally called that Lady A would win ROTY purely because they were up against 4 hip-hop/rap songs which were all amazing, and it would’ve been hard to choose one.

Best New Artist: Esperanza Spalding – I’m sorry, but who are you? I’m happy Beiber didn’t win, but I was pulling for Drake all the way!

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance” – I was hoping for Sara Bareilles to win, but with Gaga nominated, I knew it wasn’t happening. Sara’s Grammy win will come one day.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: Bruno Mars, “Just the Way You Are” – I feel conflicted with Bruno Mars’ win. On the one side, he totally deserves it. It’s a great song. On the other side, now that he’s won a Grammy, he’s not eligible for Best New Artist next year.

Best Pop Performance by a Duo/Group: Train, “Hey Soul Sister (Live)” – I admit it, I’m biased, I wanted Maroon 5 to win. I always want my favs to win, so sue me. But “Hey Soul Sister” was undeniably EVERYWHERE in the past year or two so I guess they deserved to win. I’m gonna call it now though, Maroon 5 will at the very least be nominated next year for “Never Gonna Leave This Bed” (but then again, that’s me being biased.)

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Herbie Hancock and others, “Imagine” – I knew it! Throw a handful of artists together on one song, and nobody else stands a chance.

Best Pop Vocal Album: Lady Gaga, “The Fame Monster” – Was it really that much of a surprise? Nope.

Best Rock Album: Muse, “The Resistance” – Awesome album. Granted, that was the only album nominated in the category that I actually listened to.

Best Rap Album: Eminem, “Recovery” – At least Eminem won this one. He really should’ve won more Grammys though. Shame.

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Cee-Lo Green, “Fuck You” – Happy he won something for this song. Although the one thing I’ve got to say is how hilarious it was seeing how they handled the song title. The Grammys had to go the long route and call it “The song otherwise known as Forget You”. Too funny.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind” – It really was between this song and “Love the Way You Lie”. Don’t think there’s much else to say about it.

PERFORMANCES

Aretha Franklin Tribute – Not sure how I felt about it, which should’ve been an indication of how the rest of the night went. On paper, it should’ve been CRAZY AMAZING with all the voices involved (Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride, and Florence Welch). But with everyone trying to outdo one another with the vocal runs, it just seemed like overkill.

Lady Gaga – I’m not a Gaga fan so I really could’ve cared less. But “Born This Way” with its completely obvious similarities to Madonna’s “Express Yourself” and “Vogue” were so distracting.

B.o.B., Bruno Mars, and Janelle Monae – Their performance was, without a doubt, one of the best of the night. I definitely love it when artists change up their songs for award shows or televised performances because it gives us a fresher take on songs we hear all the time on radio.

Lady Antebellum – Some people may not have liked their stripped-down set, but it was a nice contrast to the flash of some of the other performances.

Cee-Lo Green, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the Muppets – It was just a great performance!  I kinda noticed when Gwyneth didn’t sing part of a line while she was getting up to stand on the piano, but hey, she got up on the piano with KILLER HEELS! Why there is some hate towards Gwyneth is unbelievable. She’s mad talented.

Eminem, Dr. Dre, with Rihanna, Adam Levine, and Skylar Grey – First thing’s first, I got totally excited when the Grammys announced that Adam was performing with Eminem and Dre. I mean how random but awesome is that?! Consider me disappointed when Adam was relegated to just accompanying Rihanna on “Love the Way You Lie (Part II).” I mean what a wasted opportunity. It reminds me of a few years back when John Mayer and John Legend only accompanied Alicia Keys and Fergie, on their respective songs. Anyways, the rest of the performance was awesome – like how could it not?

Katy Perry – I applaud her for starting off with “Not Like the Movies” but then she went into “Teenage Dream” which wasn’t really all that spectacular. We’ve heard her do this before. She could’ve changed it up a little. Heck, all she really needed to do was bring in Darren Criss.

Rihanna & Drake – Uhmmm, why did Rihanna get to perform twice? Rihanna was really only nominated for “Love the Way You Lie” (I know she was nominated and won for “Only Girl” but that was for Best Dance Recording…) and she got to perform it. I didn’t really see a need for her to come out again and perform “What’s My Name?”. They should’ve just let Drake do his own performance. Or you know, give Esperanza Spalding a chance to perform (outside of the Grammy Jazz Ensemble thing), so people would’ve sort of known who she was when she won?

So that’s all I’ve got. Here’s hoping next year’s show is better. Oh, and also, maybe let’s get a couple more awards handed out DURING the show? It is called the Grammy AWARDS, not Grammy CONCERT. Just puttin’ it out there.