Grammy Live Blog: Mona's take on music's biggest night

buzzz worthy. . .

I'll be sharing my thoughts on  the 56th Annual Grammy Awards throughout the two-and-a-half hour show in shifts.

The 8:00 Hour

Jay Z and Beyonce kicked off the show with steamy romp through "Drunk in Love"  from Bey's surprise platinum selling album. Queen Bey showed the world she iss the queen of all forms of dropping it like its hot.

The Daft Punk fellas should have come down to earth for once and had a space carved into their helmets so they could speak. Newly minted Prodcuer fo the Year Pharell Williams spoke for the group in accepting the award for Best Collaboration.

In waht host L.L. Cool J called "a special Grammy collaboration" (aren't they all?),
Robin Thicke and  Chicago blurred the lines of R&B and big band sound and receiving a standing ovation after visiting a few Chicago diddies and finishing with "Blurred Lines."

Keith Urban Gary Clark, Jr. followed with a solid performance.

John Legend. One man dressed in all white, a piano, a voice.  "All of Me (Loves All of You).  The performance broke to monotony of collaborations, although they have all been super. Legend is legend for a singular reason. That smooth, well controlled voice"was made to love."

Charlie Wilson and Kevin Heart presented Best Rock Song to Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney.  They said the song came about from a jam session.

Taylor Swift. One woman, her voice and the piano.  Sound familiar? Like John legend, she captivated with the way her voice carries lyrics. I'm totally not in the bash Taylor Swift club and take nothing away from her talent.  She was good.  However, you can't just come after John legend in a similar set up and not be extra-amazing.  Mr. Legend was better.

The 9:00 Hour

Pink enters from the sky doing aerial gymnastics as a flashback to two years ago when she introduced this skill on the Grammys. Afterwards Nate Ruess (of Fun) and Pink perform "Love Again."  When most of us would have needed a water break, Pink only took enough of a break to ad a flowy black skirt to the lace one piece she wore while twirling in the air as she sang. Olympics or Cirque de Soleil? Pink is acrobatically talented enough to take her pick. By the time she made it to the stage the routine picked up the them form her music video. I'm impressed with this performance, but wouldn't want to see it again.  The novelty has worn off.

At 9: 24, a young goth rebel named Lorde walked onto the stage to receive the Grammy for Best Pop Song. She said this is the part of the night she least expected, thanked the other nominees in that category and walked off shyly.

Jamie Fox presented the award for Best Rap song and paused a few times to apologies to Jay Z for eyeing Beyonce backstage.  Jay Z won, thanking God adn the rest of the Universe for putting Beyonce in his life.  Toying with the award he would tell their daughter Blue Ivy, "Look daddy got a gold sippy cup for you."

Kendrick Lama r and Imagine Dragons, a marriage of rock and rap. SO here we Taylor Swift was on the front row getting her jam on This was he best mash up.  No shade to Best New Artists Macklemore and Ryan, Lamar was overlooked according to the Twitterverse.  His performance was on another level tonight, so maybe he'll get his moment in this mash up.

Julia Roberts introduced Paul McCartney and Ringo Star.  It was fun watching Mr. Star perform alone earlier in the show. The Beatles are celebrating 50 years together in 2014.

 The 10:00 Hour

"Unorthodox Jukebox" by Bruno Mars wins for Best Pop Vocal Album.  He dedicated the award to his deceased.

"Mammas Don't Let Your Baby's Grow Up to Be Cowboys" was the highlight of the country segment wit legends, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, joined by Blake Shelton.

The award for Best Country Album went to Kacey Musgraves for "Same Trailor Different Park. She said,  " Got to make a record that I poured my heart into and I'm so proud of."

Stevie Wonder, Daft Punk and Pharrell is the performance I've been waiting for all night.  The combination of Wonder's "For You" was unexpected. The crowd went wild.  The camera caught Katy Perry, Beyonce and Jay Z and Steven Tyler jamming.

I need a moment after this performance. . .Indeed! Carol King and Sara Barielles. *tears*  Thank you for this empowering song "Brave" Sara.  I Just wanna see every woman be beautiful and brave and to feel like a natural woman.  Carol King wrote "Natural Woman" (Yes the one made famous by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin).  They both played piano and sang.  Their energy together was cosmic.

One  biggest awards of the night, Song of the Year went to Lourde for "Royals."  John (missed the last name) joined Lourde on the stage and said they initially wrote the song to just give away.

Presented by Steven Tyler and Smokey Robinson, Recording of the Year also went to Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams.  Again he spoke on behalf of his French Alien cohorts and Nile Rogers, the guitar player in the song.

 In the 11:00 Hour

With Queen Latifah as the officiant, 33 couples of all persuasions lined an aisle of the Staples Center and chose to exchange vows during the performance of "Same Love" by Macklemore and Ryan.
Madonna emerged singing a verse of her classic "Open Your Heart To Me" to the beat of "Same Love."

Kent Knappenberger wins the very first  Grammy for Best Music Teacher.

This is a beautiful piano tribute to the late van Cliburn by the Classical Music Ambassador to China.

Album of the Year goes to Daft Punk

Various rock bands teamed up to rock out on the final performance of the evening.  That's a wrap!

Popular Posts