And that's it!
Adele reluctantly accepted the top Grammy accolades on Sunday night after edging Beyoncé’s Lemonade out for album, song and record of the year.
Her wins at the 59th annual Grammy awards in Los Angeles came after Adele repeatedly apologized for having to restart her tribute to George Michael during the show. She nearly apologized again after receiving the album of the year for 25.
You can read the full wrap here:
Updated
Here’s Adele’s speech in case you missed it:
Adele professes her love for Beyoncé and Lemonade while accepting her award for Album of the Year #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/ivMxaO1gjC
— sharon Bell (@sharonbell111) February 13, 2017
There’s a bit of a backlash brewing, understandably, on Twitter after Beyonce lost out to Adele:
Beyonce has won one nongenre Grammy. She's been nominated more than any woman ever: 62 times.
— nat adderley (@natalieweiner) February 13, 2017
Lemonade was an ALBUM. It was a cohesive, connected body of work. It was a story. It demonstrated influence and evolution.
— roxane gay (@rgay) February 13, 2017
Beyoncé is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice. #GRAMMYs
— Samy Nemir Olivares (@Samynemir) February 13, 2017
So as the Grammys end, DJ Khaled has only gone and released a song featuring both Jay Z and Beyoncé. Time to resurrect that Tidal subscription ...
#DJKHALED "SHINING" 🌟🌟 FT. beyonce & JAY Z!! PROD. by #DJKHALED & Co Produced by @only1DANJA my… https://t.co/11Bfr4NZBw
— DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) February 13, 2017
WINNER: Adele, 25 - album of the year
And she’s back! Arriving onstage again for the night’s big award, she’s tearful and unprepared. “As you can see it took an army to make me strong and willing again” she says as the crew who worked on the album enter the stage with her.
She talks about how difficult motherhood is and again talks about the importance of Beyonce. She says that Lemonade is a monumental, soul-bearing album and again drops a swear which gets bleeped out. “The way you make my black friends feel is empowering” - she says before thanking her family.
WINNER: Adele, Hello - record of the year
Country’s power couple Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have just presented the penultimate award to Adele who wins again for her big comeback single.
“You cut him off last time!” she shouts as she gives the microphone to her producer Greg Kurstin. She then returned to tell the crowd that she doesn’t love her dad and that she wants Bey to be her mommy.
John Legend and Cynthia Erivo sing God Only Knows
It’s been a typically patchy night for tributes but this is a rather lovely way to remember the long list of greats who have died in the past year.
The pair sing beautifully together and they act as a prelude to a montage of faces including Sharon Jones, Phife Dawg, Prince, Leonard Cohen and George Michael. It’s also a rather admirably extensive list, highlighting the lesser known figures as well.
Hilariously, James Corden just pretended Kanye was coming on but, get this, he isn’t! It’s Neil Portnow, the current president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and he’s talking the importance of unity.
“We are and always will be one people” - he’s talking about music being a unifying artform at a time such as this. Beyonce and Jay Z are both chewing gum while they watch, bored.
It’s a call to Trump essentially for him not to affect any laws that protect musicians and their rights. There’s even a hashtag!
Chance the Rapper sings No Problem
One of the night’s big winners shows why he’s been getting so much love from the Grammys this year with a rousing performance kicked off with an impressive verse filled with so many words that it seemed like his head might explode at the end.
Like some of the tracks on his album, there’s a gospel vibe on stage with a choir belting the tune out. There’s almost too much going on at times but it’s all good stuff at least. It’s always worth remembering, with a touch of bitterness perhaps, that Chance the Rapper is just 23 years old.
Pentatonix doing a rather heinous Jackson 5 cover now. But hey, it was mercifully short so someone is listening.
James Corden is now chatting to the audience again, showing that everyone is actually sitting on folding chairs. It still feels unlikely that Beyoncé wouldn’t be given a folding throne at least.
In case you missed it, here’s Adele’s troubled George Michael tribute
Prince tribute from The Time and Bruno Mars
“Ladies and gentleman, I defy you to stay in your seeats,” says Corden as he introduces The Time who are performing a tribute to their peer Prince. They go into Jungle Love with Morris Day on fine form – he’s demanding everyone gets up and the majority of people comply.
They then go into The Bird as Rihanna and Beyonce look on approvingly. They’ve not gone for the big hits here but people are losing it - even the yellow haired Twenty One Pilot is getting down.
Bruno Mars is back to perform Let’s Go Crazy, which ups the glam from The Time but loses on authenticity points. Mars pulls off a decent guitar solo, and then gets intimate with his guitar’s neck.
A gif that is worth your attention
She real RT @theNFLchick: RT @BradySpears: Can we please just appreciate Rihanna for a second 😂 pic.twitter.com/SWLdkyIPQr
— A Popular Nobody (@ImNyce908) February 13, 2017
A Tribe Called Quest get political
Photograph: Jared Siskin/Getty Images
Solange introduces Anderson Paak and A Tribe Called Quest, who dedicate their performance to Phife Dawg and all the people around the world who are holding politicians to account.
They start with Award Tour with Paak on drums and vocals and then segue into Movin Backwards. Then Busta Rhymes comes out and thanks President Agent Orange (aka Donald Trump) for trying to implement the ‘muslim ban’, as the ensemble play We The People.
The group then bring out women in head scarfs and a crowd of people who look upset while they chant “resist!”. Definitely the most political moment of the night so far.
WINNER: Adele, Hello – song of the year
Celine Dion walks out, reminds everyone she won song of the year for My Heart Will Go on 18 years ago, and then presents the award which goes to …
Adele who comes to the stage looking a bit sheepish and apologises for saying the f-word before after the George Michael mess up. She says Hello is her favorite song and then they cut off Greg who wrote the song with her.
Bee Gees tribute
It’s here: the tribute which makes no sense - as Little Big Town, Demi Lovato, Tori Kelly, Little Big Town and Andra Day – so essentially artists who have nothing to do with the group or their sound, perform a medley.
Lovato knocks out Staying Alive before Little Big Town do How Deep Is Your Love. Barry Gibb is singing along, as is Rihanna. Andra Day comes in to give a full-blooded rendition of Night Fever, but she can’t quite reach those high notes.
After Adele tonight and Lady Gaga’s Bowie last year – should we put a moratorium on these things?
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The Dap Kings and Sturgill Simpson play All Around You
There are no such tech issues for Sturgill Simpson who has won best country album already and is up for the best album award later on, where he goes up as an underdog alongside Beyonce and Adele.
Backed by the Dap Kings who are most famous for their work alongside Sharon Jones and Amy Winehouse, he knocks out a soul country number that sums up why he’s in the running for that best album gong. It’s both rousing and pained.
Lady Gaga and Metallica play Moth Into Flame
Laverne Cox, introduces Gaga and Metallica, and gives some publicity to Gavin Grimm, who is a trangender teen going to the supreme court to take up his case for discrimination.
The sound is a disaster as James Hetfield’s mic fails to work. He adlibs and shares Gaga’s microphone as they sing Moth Into Flame from the metal icon’s latest album. Despite the technical issues this is impressive. Gaga’s metal chops are great, even as she shares a mic with one of the genre’s most intimidating figures who was clearly annoyed at the malfunctioning equipment.
He tossed his guitar in the direction of his guitar tech at the end.
WINNER: Chance The Rapper, Coloring Book – best rap album
Taraji P Henson is here to present the best rap album, highlighting that some of the genre’s biggest stars have walked away with the award in the past – and failing to acknowledge Drake and Kanye’s boycott.
It goes to Chance The Rapper, who is having a stellar night and perhaps benefiting from the no shows if we’re being honest. He thanks god again, this time for his friends and family. “It’s for every independent artist,” he says.
Great music, but work on those speeches maybe …
Updated
Adele stops her George Michael tribute halfway through
It’s a George Michael tribute now with Adele the unlikely choice to sing a new arrangement of Fast Love. The fast-paced track has been slowed down and she’s dressed in black while images of the late singer play in the background.
Sadly, it’s not really working very well and damn, even Adele knows it. She just stopped the performance halfway through as it was all sounding a bit off. She swore, of course, and demanded it start again.
Second time around and it’s improved but it still feels like a better concept than a performance and Adele, ever the perfectionist, remains a bit uncomfortable with an arrangement that doesn’t do her or the song any favors. She’s not happy, looking tearful at the end and it’s a shame that it wasn’t thought out a bit better.
Maren Morris and Alicia Keys sing Once
Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez has come on to introduce this duet between a country newcomer and a soul stalwart. It’s been decked out like the ballroom in Beauty and the Beast crossed with the masquerade ball from Fifty Shades Darker.
Both are effortlessly excellent singers so it’s all very slick and note perfect. The collaborations so at least differentiate the songs from what can seem like concert performances but it’s not a moment folks will be chatting about tomorrow. Praying for a few more risks in the last 90 minutes and with Gaga on the way, that’s entirely possible.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s arguably the only standout moment tonight so far:
Beyonce's full performance at the #GRAMMYs 2017. You're welcome. pic.twitter.com/VRGRt3esEQ
— Wolé II (@Kingwole) February 13, 2017
This is incredibly likely:
The new I Got The Receipts meme pic.twitter.com/TRmUsM55Wk
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) February 13, 2017
WINNER: Beyoncé - Lemonade - best urban contemporary album
Ooh this is better. Gary Clark Jr is performing a duet with William Bell. It’s stripped down and wisely so. Focused on two strong performers without the need for gimmicks.
And that was just an introduction to Bey who was the unsurprising winner. She’s reading from notes which is a slight surprise but she is eloquent as ever. She said the album existed to confront difficult issues and name-checked the White House.
“I think it’s vital that we learn from the past” she says with a delicately political speech.
Katy Perry sings Chained to the Rhythm
Little Big Town on stage right now singing, ermmm, Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. Oh they’re just doing this to introduce Perry who is singing her new song. Thank God for that.
She’s decided to perform what is a relatively high energy pop song in a rather odd revolving house surrounded by a picket fence that keeps getting taller. What does it all mean??
The house keeps revolving but other than some screensaver images being projected, there’s not much else going on.
Oh wait the constitution has made a last minute appearance at the end. Politics! Nice try but a bit too little too late.
Like music but also like dresses? Well here’s a set of pics you might enjoy gawping at:
Bruno Mars sings That's What I Like
Bruno Mars is up doing one of his many wedding songs. There’s an energy on stage that’s been missing from some of the other performances tonight but it’s still lacking something. It feels like a song during a Bruno Mars concert rather than a Grammys performance.
Oh no, he’s coming into the audience to try and impress the women. Jennifer Lopez is dancing like an unsure girl at a school disco while Rihanna appears to be silently praying he doesn’t bother her.
A bit meh but then he did just come after Bey ...
Oh lord James Corden is doing a carpool karaoke with Jennifer Lopez, Neil Diamond, John Legend, Keith Urban, Jason DeRulo, Blue Ivy etc etc.
They’re singing uncomfortably and all looking like they would rather be literally anywhere else. It’s a thinly disguised attempt to replicate Ellen’s selfie and, depressingly, probably will go viral in some way, like a disease.
WINNER: Marren Morris, My Church - best country solo performance
In a female-dominated category (that’s four women vs one man), newcomer Maren Morris beat out some of her more recognizable competitors.
“My mom is my date tonight” was the highlight of a speech that didn’t get cut off, unlike most of the others so far. She’s got a live performance coming up later in case you still have no idea who she is.
Beyonce takes center stage
Tina Knowles, Beyonce’s mum, talks about her daughters and why she’s so proud of them. Solange has won an award tonight and now Tina is introducing Beyonce. “With a mother’s pride, my daughter, Beyonce,” she says.
Beyonce appears on a video screen, heavily pregnant (obvs) and dressed in an outfit that could come straight from Michael Jackson’s Do You Remember The Time. There’s a prolonged spoken word segment, and this feels pretty self indulgent as images of a running Blue Ivy surround her. Has she jumped the shark?
She finally goes into Love Drought, as her chair tilts back and is suspended in air as her dancers impersonate a human wave. This feels like an artist who knows she is head and shoulders above her peers and can do whatever she wants.
She’s backed by a very minimal arrangement: it’s essentially a scattered trap snare and a few chords that linger in the background. Things segue into another monologue from Lemonade, as Beyonce looks into the camera before sitting down to perform Sandcastles.
It’s just her and a piano, accompanied sporadically by backing singers. This is a homage to womanhood, and Lemonade who many have backed for album of the year. We’ll see, but that was anything but pedestrian.
Lukas Graham and Kelsea Ballerini keep it downbeat
Ryan ‘Mr Redcarpet’ Seacrest gives out the gong for music educator award to Keith Hancock, before swiftly moving on to Lukas Graham and Kelsea Ballerini who are performing a duet version of 7 Years Old which, just to keep in line with tonight’s funereal feel, is miserable and downbeat. Is anyone going to do something fun tonight?
Blue Ivy update
oh
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) February 13, 2017
my
god
Blue Ivy is dressed as Prince pic.twitter.com/7fEoW6d6aB
WINNER: David Bowie, Blackstar – best rock song
“I should have worn my glasses,” says tallest Chainsmoker man, who reads out the wrong award.
The gong goes to David Bowie, which means that the Chainsmokers shuffle off awkwardly as no one knows quite what to do.
Ed Sheeran plays Shape Of You
Corden does a Twenty One Pilot and turns up in only hi pants to introduce Ed Sheeran who is singing Shape of You, a new pop song.
You’ve got to hand it to Sheeran, he can pull off a great performance using some loop pedals, an acoustic and his natural chops - this isn’t a man who needs a fake iceberg or a rejected Mel B b-side.
Shape Of You is a bit like Robin S’s Show Me Love mixed with some Dre Skull dancehall - melodic, catchy and a bit too raunchy for Ed Sheeran to be singing.
WINNER: Twenty One Pilots - best pop duo/group performance
Nick Jonas hands out the gong to the Pilots. They’ve all got their pants off on stage. One of them has yellow hair, and this night is just getting weirder.
“As we were watching we noticed every single one of us were in our underwear,” says the non-yellow headed Twenty One Pilot who is reminiscing about a crucial night in the band’s life. He explains that they once watched the Grammys in their undies and committed to turning up with their pants off if they ever won. Dreams come true!
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Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood play new song The Fighter
John Travolta is at an award show and he’s doing his awards show shtick again. “I’m excited to be here,” he says, after muttering on about his bling and not being able to read the prompter.
He trails the Bee Gees tribute that’s coming later on before setting the stage for Keith and Carrie - “the hottest couple since Danny and Sandy” according to J Trav.
This is like a couple of country stars covering Mel C and Bryan Adam’s classic Baby When You’re Gone, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. The Fighter is the song they’re debuting and it might only be for their hardcore fans.
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The Weeknd and Daft Punk on a make-believe iceberg!
The Weeknd and the robots from Paris come to the stage grasping what appears to be a magical crystal or a bit of kryptonite. They’re doing Starboy on a stage that looks a bit like Mr Freeze’s lair from Batman and Robin.
Like Adele this is very pedestrian and constrained. Essentially, it’s a man singing with two fully grown men dressed as Darth Vader’s skinny cousins on a fake iceberg. Music’s biggest night or terrible circus attraction? You decide.
WINNER: Chance The Rapper, best new artist
J-Lo says: “Our voices are needed more than ever … there is no room for fear,” while introing the best new artist winner, which goes to Chance The Rapper. The second reference to president Trump so far tonight.
The Chicagoan rapper thanks god for an extended period before dedicating the win to his hometown and his parents.
“Independence means freedom,” he says before being played off. That was strange.
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A slow start?
That was a dull start, but here comes James Corden.
Hello, @Adele: Watch her kick off the 2017 #GRAMMYs https://t.co/ruIyRe5mmX pic.twitter.com/YUeCiPB1sR
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 13, 2017
He’s suited and booted and possibly way in over his head. The first gag is a bit of slapstick – the motorised lift which takes him to the top of the stairs is malfunctioning, and now he’s rolling down the stairs. Everyone google Norman Wisdom for a frame of reference.
He’s rapping now (with only one shoe), and it’s a bit like that scene from Ghost Dog when the mafia boss knocks out some Public Enemy. No one is impressed by this: poor Sturgill Simpson is a cringe away from death.
It’s finally over and here’s J-Lo to present the first award of the evening.
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And … we're off
Things kick off with Adele singing Hello. Lets hope she doesn’t have those technical difficulties which ruined her turn last year.
Its really understated – almost as if she’s sung Hello 13,000,019 times in the last 18 months. There are no mistakes or cock ups like 12 months ago.
Will this be her year for best album? The pre-event chat has all been about her v Beyonce.
Lady Gaga has arrived. No meat, no egg, but full on dystopian Showgirls vibe instead:
SHE HAS ARRIVED!! @LadyGaga at the #grammys2017 Right now! pic.twitter.com/El7d0e3EBe
— Ladygagarazzi (@ladygagarazzi) February 13, 2017
Since there are so many damn awards tonight, a number of them have already been handed out. Here are some of the bigger winners so far:
Best rap song: Drake - Hotline Bling
Best R&B song: Maxwell - Lake by the Ocean
Best country album: Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Best jazz vocal album: Gregory Porter - Take Me to the Alley
Best dance/electronic album: Flume - Skin
Best dance recording: The Chainsmokers - Don’t Let Me Down
Best music video: Beyoncé - Formation
Best song written for visual media: Justin Timberlake -Can’t Stop the Feeling
Best score soundtrack for visual media: John Williams - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
You can check out a fuller list here.
Beyonce might break the Grammys tonight after breaking the whole damn internet with her belly pics the other week. She could become the most awarded female artist in Grammys history. She’s already won 20, well 21 now as she’s just won best music video for Formation, and could beat previous record-holder Alison Krauss who has 27.
Also if she wins album of the year, she’ll be the first black female to win that award since Lauryn Hill in 1999.
Tonight’s host is, look away British people, James Corden! He’s still a thing over here despite being a not very popular thing in his home country. Here’s a tease of what’s in store:
While there’ll be a load of stars in attendance tonight, there will also be some notable no-shows, including Kanye and Frank Ocean. Here’s your man Frank on why he deems the awards irrelevant:
DAMN FRANK OCEAN WENT IN ON THE GRAMMYS pic.twitter.com/Ba8FdcjwTo
— sabrina (@strange_mercyy) February 12, 2017
Jennifer Lopez is here and she’s rumored to be dating Drake who is in Manchester remember Broski. But Seacrest pressed her for some gossip and well, this is what we got: “I love Drake. He’s so brilliant and talented ... we hung out ... I have so much love for that boy”
John Legend just told Seacrest that he’ll be singing God Only Knows tonight as a tribute to the many artists that have died in the past year. He’ll also be doing a La La Land medley at the Oscars in a couple of weeks.
Drake’s celebrating in Manchester! Broski!
.@Drake congratulates @chancetherapper on his #GRAMMYs win for Best Rap Performance with "No Problem" pic.twitter.com/DXIoXYhppI
— HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) February 13, 2017
And yeah Cee-Lo also wore a poor man’s cosplay outfit to a pre-Grammys party last night as well ...
Singer Joy Villa, nope no idea either, is wearing a Donald Trump-themed dress which is going down super well on Twitter ...
Oh and Katy Perry just swore on E!’s red carpet show which caused a frantic Ryan Seacrest to say how much he loves her “candor” before pushing her far away from him
Katy Perry is on the red carpet and said a) she took a musical break to protect her “mental health” and b) her new hair color is the only color left on the Pantone chart she hadn’t tried
Katy Perry is here. #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/YKnxp3NUzZ
— Music News & Facts (@Musicnews_feed) February 13, 2017
Some sad news this morning as Grammy-winning jazz singer Al Jarreau died at the age of 76. He won seven Grammys over a 50 year career:
Santigold is unlikely to face any “who wore it better” problem tonight because she’s got a three-headed dragon on her dress:
Unlike 7-Eleven, there doesn’t appear to be a “no shirts” rule at the Grammys because Desiigner ain’t bloody wearing one and it’s totally okay:
So yeah, this just happened:
Cee-Lo showed up looking like an angry Ferrero Rocher. pic.twitter.com/bNMf8s9HRv
— ItsTheReal (@itsthereal) February 13, 2017
Ryan Tedder claims the start of the ceremony will be “the funniest opening” of the Grammys in recent memory and this is a guy who knows comedy
Preamble
Welcome to the 2017 Grammys live blog.
The Baftas have just finished over in the UK so if you’re staying up for a double feature then bravo to you, if not you can catch up on all the coverage here.
The majority of tonight’s gongs have already been handed out. We’ve started our list of winners and will be updating it throughout the evening.
There’s also our predictions which we rolled our during the last few days. You can compare and contrast to see how we got on.
In a way, the awards are the b-side with live performances, some of them are genuinely mind-boggling, offering the a-side.
Here’s a full list of who will be performing:
Adele
Kelsea Ballerini
Chance the Rapper
Katy Perry
Bruno Mars
Lady Gaga and Metallica
The Weeknd and Daft Punk
Maren Morris and Alicia Keys
Anderson .Paak and A Tribe Called Quest
Lukas Graham
Carrie Underwood & Keith Urban
Demi Lovato, Andra Day and Tori Kelly
Sturgill Simpson
John Legend and Cynthia Erivo
Little Big Town
Gary Clark Jr and William Bell
Updated
Tonight’s host is, look away British people, James Corden! He’s still a thing over here despite being a not very popular thing in his home country. Here’s a tease of what’s in store:
Updated
