A teenager from New Zealand and two French “robots” shall lead them.
Here are some of the thrills and clunkers the 56th annual Grammy Awards offered:
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Beyonce and Jay Z are the First Couple of music these days, and the opening duet on “Drunk in Love” proved why. Terrific lighting effects and cool performance, and if Bey is in love with her body a little too much, she’s done the work to earn it. Smooth acceptance by Jay Z when he picked up a Grammy for his collaboration with Justin Timberlake, telling his daughter that “Daddy got a gold sippy cup for you.”
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: An emotional performance of “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Mary Lambert, featuring dozens of couples exchanging vows. Guest Madonna seemed a bit wobbly, but her “Open Your Heart” fit nicely with the sentiment.
SOUR NOTE: What’s the point of assembling an odd rock super group with Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age and Lindsey Buckingham for the finale and cutting them off mid-song?
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: That stellar funk jam with Daft Punk, Williams, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder, mixing in pieces of Chic’s “Le Freak” and Wonder’s “Another Star.” It achieved what many of these collaborations often can’t, illustrating the music that inspired a modern hit and paying tribute to the artists who blazed the trail.
SOUR NOTE: Then again, there’s Metallica and Lang Lang. Metallica can make enough noise on its own, thank you.
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Pharrell Williams and Giorgio Moroder acting as onstage interpreters for Daft Punk as they piled up trophies. Williams had fun with the inherent ridiculousness of sharing the stage with two tuxedoed guys in metallic masks. “Of course, they want to thank their families,” Williams said. Daft Punk wasn’t alone in weird headgear: Williams looked like he was auditioning to be a park ranger.
SOUR NOTE: Can’t understand why the Grammys gave such a spotlight to Hunter Hayes and a bombastic song that nobody knows. His voice wasn’t up to it, and the onscreen quotes by Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp and the like were bewildering. Major reason why the show was slow to gain momentum; Legend, Swift and the usually dependable Katy Perry didn’t help, either.
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Robin laid it on a little too Thicke in his duet with Chicago, taking over and showboating through some of that band’s hits. When they broke into Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” however, that famous horn section gave the song an extra punch, adding a little nod to James Brown in the process.
SOUR NOTE: Carole King and Sara Bareilles was an inspired choice for a duet, but they never quite clicked. Pink and Nate Ruess made for a much better twosome on “Just Give Me a Reason,” but Pink opening her segment with acrobatics was a waste since we’ve seen it before.
SOUR NOTE: We love Paul McCartney. We love Dave Grohl. But if “Cut Me Some Slack” is the best rock ‘n’ roll had to offer last year, the genre’s in some real trouble.
SOUR NOTE: Not to blame Taylor Swift, but it seemed we saw more camera shots of her dancing in the front row to Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons than we saw of Imagine Dragons. Odd irony considering that being upstaged herself at an awards show was such a key moment in her career.
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Let’s give credit to the camera operators, though, for that shot of Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon dancing to Paul McCartney singing “Queenie Eye,” with Ringo Starr on drums. Forty-five years of history, and tons of water under the bridge, went into that image. The 80-year-old Ono grooved to “Get Lucky,” too.
SOUR NOTE: Where was Timberlake, anyway? He was omnipresent in the commercials, but not on the show.
SOUR NOTE: LL Cool J has proven himself as a rapper and actor. As a major awards show host, not so much. Perhaps it was his fate to follow so quickly after Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on the Golden Globes, but it was a journeyman’s job. His opening monologue about music’s universality showed he wasn’t going to poke even mild fun at his fellow musicians. He was irrelevant thereafter.
MUSIC TO OUR EARS: That moment when Merle Haggard delivered the opening line to “Okie From Muskogee” — “we don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee” — with a knowing glance at Willie Nelson on the side of the stage.
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David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on Twitter@dbauder. His work can be found at https://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.
Select winners from the 56th annual Grammy Awards
Select winners from the 56th annual Grammy Awards
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Winners in selected categories at the 56th annual Grammy Awards announced Sunday during ceremonies at the Nokia Theatre and Staples Center:
— Album of the year: “Random Access Memories,” Daft Punk.
— Record of the year: “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
— Song of the year: “Royals,” Lorde.
— New artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
— Pop solo performance: “Royals,” Lorde.
— Pop vocal album: “Unorthodox Jukebox,” Bruno Mars
— Pop/duo group performance: “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.
— Rap/sung collaboration: “Holy Grail,” Jay Z with Justin Timberlake.
— Rock song: “Cut Me Some Slack,” Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.
— Country album: “Same Trailer Different Park,” Kacey Musgraves.
— Traditional pop vocal album: “To Be Loved,” Michael Buble.
— Rap performance: “Thrift Shop,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
— Rap song: “Thrift Shop,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
— Rap album: “The Heist,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
— R&B performance: “Something,” Snarky Puppy with Lalah Hathaway.
— Traditional R&B performance: “Please Come Home,” Gary Clark Jr.
— R&B song: “Pusher Love Girl,” James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley and Justin Timberlake.
— R&B album: “Girl on Fire,” Alicia Keys.
— Urban contemporary album: “Unapologetic,” Rihanna.
— Rock performance: “Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons.
— Rock album: “Celebration Day,” Led Zeppelin.
— Hard rock/metal performance: “God is Dead,” Black Sabbath.
— Alternative music album: “Modern Vampires of the City,” Vampire Weekend.
— Dance recording: “Clarity,” Zedd featuring Foxes.
— Dance/electronica album: “Random Access Memories,” Daft Punk.
— Producer of the year, non-classical: Pharrell Williams.
— Latin pop album: “Vida,” Draco Rosa
— Latin rock, urban or alternative album: “Treinta Dias,” La Santa Cecilia.
— Latin jazz album: “Song for Maura,” Paquito D’Rivera and Trio Corrente.
— Tropical Latin album: “Pacific Mambo Orchestra,” Pacific Mambo Orchestra.
— Country solo performance: “Wagon Wheel,” Darius Rucker.
— Country duo/group performance: “From This Valley,” The Civil Wars.
— Country song: “Merry Go ‘Round,” Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne.
— Gospel song: “If He Did It Before … Same God (Live),” Tye Tribbett
— Gospel album: “Greater Than (Live),” Tye Tribbett.
— Blues album: “Get Up!,” Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite.
— Folk album: “My Favorite Picture of You,” Guy Clark.
— Americana album: “Old Yellow Moon,” Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.
— Bluegrass album: “The Streets of Baltimore,” Del McCoury Band.
— Reggae album: “Ziggy Marley in Concert,” Ziggy Marley.
— World music album: “Live: Singing for Peace Around the World,” Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and “Savor Flamenco,” Gypsy Kings (tie).
— Children’s album: “Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well,” Jennifer Gasoi.
— Spoken word album: “America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t,” Stephen Colbert.
— Comedy album: “Calm Down Gurrl,” Kathy Griffin.
— New age album: “Love’s River,” Laura Sullivan.
— Jazz vocal album: “Liquid Spirit,” Gregory Porter.
— Jazz instrumental album: “Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue,” Terri Lyne Carrington.
— Large jazz ensemble album: “Night in Calisia,” Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic.
— Pop instrumental album: “Steppin’ Out,” Herb Alpert.
— Compilation soundtrack album: “Sound City: Real to Reel,” Dave Grohl and various artists, Butch Vig.
— Score soundtrack album: “Skyfall,” Thomas Newman, composer.
— Song written for visual media: “Skyfall,” Adele and Paul Epworth.
— Musical theater album: “Kinky Boots,” Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Sammy James Jr., Stephen Oremus and William Wittman.
— Producer of the year, classical: David Frost.
— Instrumental composition: “Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orechestra,” Clare Fischer.
— Orchestral performance: “Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4,” Osmo Vanska, conductor.
— Opera recording: “Ades: The Tempest,” Thomas Ades, Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, Alan Oke, Jay David Saks.
— Choral performance: “Part: Adam’s Lament,” Tonu Kaljuste, conductor.
— Short-form music video: “Suit & Tie,” Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z, David Fincher, Timory King.
— Long-form music video: “Live Kisses,” Paul McCartney, Jonas Akerlund, Violaine Etienne, Aron Levin and Scott Rodger.
— Historical album: “The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums” of Bill Withers, Leo Sacks, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Tom Ruff and Mark Wilder, and “Charlie is My Darling,” Teri Landi, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Rosenthal and Bob Ludwig.
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Online:
https://grammy.com