Last year’s GRAMMY Awards made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Each GRAMMY special is usually a weird mix of every music genre with some performances more memorable than others. This year’s presentation was much more calmer and dare I say, classier in comparison?
The night began with a trip on the Highway to Hell with AC/DC’s first GRAMMY performance ever, which made some of us concerned about what we were going to see this year. Madonna’s performance began with an army of horn-wearing male dancers which looked like another tribute to the devil, but instead, they were resprenting a herd of bulls and Madonna a matador. She sang her new single, “Living for Love” which was surprisingly uplifiting. At the end of song, she was joined on stage by a choir of gospel singers and Madonna was hoisted up into the air. The only thing really offensive was the tacky introduction by Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj.
One of the night’s more clever performances was that of Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer performing Williams’ “Happy,” which also won the best pop solo performance. They took the theme song from the animated Despicable Me and gave it a classical touch. Other performances included a tasteful performance by Lady GaGa and Tony Bennet (who won for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album) and a duet with Jessie J and Tom Jones singing “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin.'”
About halfway through the show, a message was given from President Obama about violence toward women. A survivor of domestic violence then spoke briefly before a beautiful performance by Katy Perry singing the song, “By the Grace of God,” which is ironic since Perry has made it clear that she no longer believes in God.
Newcomer Sam Smith walked away from the award show with four awards including Best New Artist and Song of the Year. Beck won for Album of the Year, Carrie Underwood won for Best Country Solo Performance for “Something in the Water,” Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond won Best Country Song “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” the late Joan Rivers won Best Spoken Word Album and Disney’s Frozen won two awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
This year’s gospel and contemporary Christian music categories held some surprise winners. Best Gospel Performance/Song went to Smokie Norful for “No Greater Love,” Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song went to Lerae featuring For King & Country for “Messengers,” Best Gospel Album went to Erica Campbell’s “Help,” Best Contemporary Christian Music Album went to For King & Country’s “Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong.” and Best Roots Gospel Album went to Mike Farris’ “Shine For All the People.”
To see the full list of winners, go to Grammy.com.