We came into the Grammys knowing that it would be all about Beyonce and Adele. People tried to make it into a “diva showdown,” but the reality is that the world is big enough for Beyonce and Adele to both do their things and do it spectacularly. The reality is that there’s not much room for anyone else though, which is why this year’s Grammys felt like “this is just filler until we get to Beyonce and Adele.” You can see the full list of Grammy winners here, and I’ll be devoting individual posts to Beyonce and Adele. Here are some other highlights:
James Corden as host. I didn’t feel like he was too intrusive, although there were a few bits that went on too long. Corden is absolutely the drama/band camp geek who completely nerds out when he’s around his favorite artists, which is a vibe that worked. I sort of liked his opening. It was corny, extra and a little bit crazy.
Host James Corden makes a #GRAMMYs entrance to remember. pic.twitter.com/oPD2utiar5
— CBS Television (@CBS) February 13, 2017
Carpool Karaoke. We knew it had to happen, and so Neil Diamond, James Corden, Faith Hill, Jason Derulo, Jennifer Lopez and John Legend sang “Sweet Caroline.” Blue Ivy ran up and joined them and that was the best part.
James Corden's star-studded "Carpool Karaoke" closes with a Blue Ivy cameo! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/BrGD6ej1GI
— Mashable (@mashable) February 13, 2017
Adele’s opening. Adele opened the show, and I actually didn’t think that Adele would sing “Hello.” While I’ve listened to “Hello” a million times, I loved this live performance. She sounded great and she seemed relieved.
Adele performed a tribute to George Michael. She chose “Fastlove” because it’s apparently one of her favorite songs. But much like her performance last year, there were some technical issues so instead of just rolling with the problems, she stopped it and took a mulligan on live TV. The audience was with her too. When she stopped, she cursed (I think she said “it’s f–ked up”?) and then said, “I’m sorry. I can’t mess it up for him.” They started over.
Adele swept the Grammys. She won Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. When she won Album of the Year, she cried and dedicated the award to Beyonce. This honestly made me cry.
21 Pilots were in their underwear when they won.
So about Twenty One Pilots and their underwear… #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/ZAOZgDtCVA
— Mashable (@mashable) February 13, 2017
The Weeknd & Daft Punk. My unofficial consensus is that people aren’t really feeling the 2017 version of The Weeknd, but this was a decent performance of an okay song.
Ed Sheeran performed his new song. The song is “Shape of You” and I’m on record as not hating it. I actually kind of like it because it’s so catchy.
BEYONCE WAS PEAK BEYONCE. Beyonce came out and performed about an hour into the show and she did Beyonce-poetry, “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles.” It was everything. I’ll talk about it more in Bey’s individual post.
Gary Clarke Jr. performed. I love and adore Gary Clarke Jr. to a crazy degree (“Numb” is a go-to song when I need to get through a workout) and he slayed. He performed “Born Under a Bad Sign” with William Bell (who wrote the song). It was badass.
Katy Perry did her new song. And I almost didn’t mention it because that’s how forgettable it was.
Lady Gaga & Metallica. I don’t know. I wasn’t feeling it? There were technical problems but I didn’t even notice because it sucked.
The Bee Gees Tribute. It was a total mess. I felt bad for everyone involved. The Grammys always do that – they throw together a bunch of people who have no business doing a tribute to one particular person.
A Tribe Called Quest. I enjoyed the vintage flavor (I listened to a lot of Tribe when I was in college) and the full-on black power vibes. They even called Donald Trump “Agent Orange” and shouted #RESIST.
A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes call Trump "President Agent Orange" https://t.co/SIjs8yWeZf pic.twitter.com/RsdQmQHYiX
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 13, 2017
All in all, the Grammys were okay in spite of the consistently bad production choices. The first few hours went by quickly, but by 10 pm, everything started to drag and I was like “Jeez, another tribute?” And you know what? I love Adele too, but every single person at the Grammys knew that Beyonce’s Lemonade was much, much, much better than Adele’s 25. I mean… come on.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
I know it’s “just” an award show and not important in the grand scheme of things but I’m weary. Lemonade had a 92 metascore, an impact on pop culture, implemented rock, reggae and country and still couldn’t win AOTY. We were told that it’s about artistry not sales, well this time Beyonce’ showed growth and any interview with the main songwriters on Lemonade clearly states that she was very involved with the process with melodies or co-writing just as Adele was as stated by Bruno Mars and Max Martin.
At this point it’s clear that the Grammys enjoy black music as long as it’s blue-eyed soul, so they’ll award Sam Smith, Adele and Timberlake for making good music that made by a black artist would NEVER win major categories. Are soul/r&b and hip-hop less worthy of major categories than rock, pop and country? Because last time it won was 2004. People always bring up Beyoncé
and Kanye winning 24 and 21 Grammys as if they didn’t win mostly in their genres categories. Maybe black artists should give less credence to these awards like Frank did.
Adele was very sweet and gracious talking about the impact that Lemonade had, she also had two beautiful performances
Agreed. Even though I love Adele, I really felt like Beyoncé deserved to win album of the year this time for Lemonade.
I can’t believe 25 won AOTY. I’m so done with the grammys. Where’s Kanye when You need him?
I love Adele but I also agree that Lemonade was a better Album overall. Well congrats to both ladies, they looked fabulous.
Btw: I loved loved Adele’s green dress !
Wow, even Busta Rhymes looks like he’s expecting twins.
Aleast Beyoncé got something, Rihanna 8 nominations and completely snubbed. Though she didn’t seem to have a car in the world.
I think both albums are very overrated really (though ofcourse not bad) and I’ve gotten rather tired of the constant Beyonce worship, she’s talented, but hardly the most innovative artist of all time. I’m just sad Blackstar wasn’t even nominated for AOTY, Bowie blows both of them out of the water.
Well yes, i wholeheartedly agree! Blackstar should have won!
Blue Ivy and the other kid running up to the car like that was adorable
Yes carpool karoke was the best part. I also liked the Prince tribute!
Twenty One Pilots are adorable, and their music is deceptively deep. Love that they won, and kinda didn’t mind the underwear bit all that much.
Right? I saw so many people trashing them without having any idea of who they were, or what they do…I’m very happy for their win, as well. I don’t think they were expecting it.
I saw their joke was that every year they have watched the Grammy’s at home in their underwear and they vowed if they ever won they’d do it in their underwear. i think it’s actually a kind of cute story.
the tribute to George Micheal was awful. Bad arrangement of the song, it was to depressive and it sounded like Adele song. That is selfish.
Bruno Mars did good job, Bowie got awards, which is weird and I think he would laugh, cos he is above all the awards in the world, but I do feel like Beyonce made more impact than Adele and Adele’s songs are all the same. Yes, her voice is beautiful, but change style once in a while.
I did not like what Bey wore. She should be above it.
I did not mind Gaga and Metallica… Weird, but OK.
Absolutely agree on the George Michael tribute. It should have been a medley, or at least, an upbeat song. George would have wanted people dancing. There were other ballads that could have worked if they needed to do a slow song.
I never watch any of the millions of pat on the back award shows anymore. When I checked this morning to see if one of my favorite bands ever finally won, I was pleased. Megadeth! Real music! Congratulations, you deserve it!
The Bee Gees are not one person.
I cant believe you forgot Bruno D: he was the best last night.
RIGHT??!?!? I thought they might save it for a separate post…but nope.
Bruno is always the best. 😀
No comment on Morris Day and The Time? Bruno too…Bruno brings it every time. He was great on the guitar, I forgot he plays like six instruments. Bruno is such a great entertainer, it was a nice tribute.
I only watched bits and pieces and I saw the BeeGees tribute. Watching it I thought, “Didn’t a bunch of Brit bands do these songs better 20 years ago?” And after some youtubing, I found much better performances. Why Demi and Tori Kelly? It was so random and terrible.
OMG the Bee Gees tribute was painful. Demi Lovato screeched through the whole thing. Sorry they should have gotten someone who can do a decent falsetto to do these songs. Maybe Timberlake?
The country band that sung How Deep is Your Love were the best ones. Poor Barry Gibb had to sit and grin through these people massacring his songs.
HOW COME NO POSTS OR MENTIONS OF BRUNO MARS?!?!?! HE WAS ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I love James Corden, but you could have removed him completely from the ceremony and it wouldn’t have matter. I don’t know why the Grammys need a host, they get lost among all the big music numbers. His talent would be better used somewhere else.