As the Grammy’s entered its 59th year, it brought out performances that caused a wave of emotions, social media response and nostalgia for past years. Emotions ran high as tributes blazed the night: A determined Adele stopped her tribute performance to George Michael to start again because she wanted to “do it right.” The British singer took home some big awards for the night, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. She won in categories against artists like Beyoncé, Drake and Lukas Graham.
Bruno Mars paid homage to Prince after his performance of his hit “What I Like” off of his album 24K Magic.
Dipped in purple and sequins, the stage gained a foggy haze as Mars had every audience member singing along to a medley of “Jungle Love/The Bird” into “Let’s Go Crazy.” Not to forget the white electric guitar that added an extra “Prince-ness” the performance needed to go beyond most people’s expectations.
Katy Perry took the stage with Skip Marley, grandson of reggae superstar Bob Marley, and performed “Chained to the Rhythm.” The lyrics of “Are we crazy? Living our lives through a lens. Trapped in our white picket fence.” filled the Staples Center as Perry circled around a mobile stage with a half built house with a pure white picket fence.
The gutted part of the house eventually revealed Marley as they ended the song hand in hand, with a light overlay of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution on them.
For most of the night, political statements and positions were only hinted at; until a Tribe Called Quest came to the stage. The dynamic rap group was joined by Consequence, Busta Rhymes and Anderson .Paak: also nominated for Best New Artist.
They performed “We The People” a song that blatantly protested the current political climate. Busta Rhymes stated “I want to thank President Agent Orange for your unsuccessful attempt of the Muslim ban. When we come together, we the people, we the people, we the people, we the people.”
Beyoncé took home wins such as Best Music Video for “Formation” and Best Urban Contemporary album for “Lemonade.” Surprisingly, during Adele’s acceptance speech for Best Album of the Year, she expressed how much “Lemonade” meant to her and that Beyoncé should have taken home this award.
But before this, Ms. Carter graced the stage with stage generated images of herself, Tina Lawson and Blue Ivy before physically appearing on stage. With “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles,” she chose the songs that moved the album from the “accusation” stage, to “reconciliation.”
However, through all of these show stopping performances, it was the unsigned rapper from south-side Chicago that stole the night and our hearts.
Chance The Rapper has made history as the first artist to ever be nominated for a Grammy without any physical album or record sales and to be unsigned to any record label. He has now become the only artist in Grammy history to win under these circumstances. Chance took home Best New Artist, Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance against established rappers such as Kanye West and Drake.
Tears filled the eyes of some as Chance brought out his cousin Nicole (who also vocals on his mixtape “Coloring Book”) who opened with “How Great.” The song is filled with lyrics that reference everything from Harry Potter, a small slave rebellion in Georgia and the debate between Judaism and Christianity.
He then segwayed into “All We Got” and brought out an entire gospel choir, and gospel recording artists Kirk Franklin and Tamela Mann. Chance found a middle ground between creative lyrics, traditional black gospel and rap as we know it, something that has not be accomplished too many times before.
Society is unintentionally in a new era for the 59-year-old music awards, and there is no doubt that it is only going to get better from here.