Four Grammys for Sam Smith and Kanye creates controversy

by commentnewspaper

By Lilly Devine

Comment Columnist

Graphic by Rae Belanger.
Stars celebrate their victories at the Grammy Awards on February 8. Graphic by Rae Belanger.

 

Feb. 8 was the 57th Annual Grammys, where the big winners included Sam Smith, Beck and Pharrell.  AC/DC opened the show performing “Rock or Bust”/“Highway to Hell” and Common and John Legend closed the show with “Glory” from the movie “Selma.”

Sam Smith was the big winner of the night, taking home four awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Song of the Year. He then performed his hit “Stay With Me” with Mary J. Blige on stage later in the night.

Beck took home two awards, including Album of the Year, which already has started controversy. During Beck’s acceptance of the Album of the Year award, Kanye West pretended to jump on stage to reenact his Taylor Swift interruption at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. It was laughed off, but West later interviewed with E! News and said it was not intended to be a joke.

He said to the E! News team that “when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration.”

Beck later commented on how he thought Beyonce should have won, and still believes Kanye West is a genius. Beyonce took home three Grammys that night, including Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Drunk in Love,” featuring Jay-Z.

Sia performed her hit song “Chandelier,” featuring Dance Mom’s Maddie Ziegler, who stars in the music video, and Kristen Wiig. No, this is not a typo. The choreography was a mashup between “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart,” where the duo danced their heart out while Sia’s back was against the crowd, featuring a messy room set.

Other performances included Beck and Chris Martin performing “Heart is a Drum,” Beyonce performing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney performing “FourFiveSeconds” and Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Questlove and Herbie Hancock performing “Thinking out Loud.”

 

 

Lilly Devine is a Comment Columnist. Follow her on Twitter @lillykdevine

 

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