Just under 40 million people watched Adele get the biggest awards, an audience size topped only in 1984 when Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was named top album.
The Grammys, which had a bigger audience than the Academy Awards last year, cast aside their celebratory vibe Sunday to pay tribute to singer Whitney Houston, whose death over the weekend hung heavy over the 54th annual awards show.
Houston’s death in a Los Angeles hotel room Saturday put the Grammys into scramble mode, as they altered the telecast schedule and devised an appropriate tribute to the pop icon. “We’ve had a death in our family,” host LL Cool J said. He offered “a prayer for a woman we loved, for a fallen sister.”
Jennifer Hudson performed a stark version of the Dolly Parton song that Houston made her own, “I Will Always Love You”. Hudson, one of countless singers influenced by Houston’s pop-gospel sound, played it straight and true.
Until Saturday, the pre-show drama had focused on Adele and how the six-time-nominee would fare in her first public performance since canceling a tour and having surgery on her vocal cords.
A glowing Adele did not disappoint, nor was she disappointed. She won six Grammys, including the Big Three: Song and Record of the Year for “Rolling in the Deep,” and Album of the Year for “21.” Earlier in the night, she thanked “the doctors who brought my voice back.” That voice sound a touch raspy at points, but her resolve surged as she powered through “Rolling in the Deep.” Without much more than a few hand gestures and a couple of shy smiles, she commanded the screen like few performers during the 3 ½-hour nationally televised broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. A great song and a great voice will do that for you.
She described her winning album “21” as being about something “everyone’s been through … which is a rubbish relationship,” and that universality translated to the year’s biggest-selling and now most-acclaimed recording.
“This is ridiculous!”: So said Adele after receiving her fifth Grammy. The remark wasn’t directed at Nicki Minaj, who did some serious “Exorcist”-style button-pushing in a Gothic song-and-dance number, but could anyone blame her if it was?
Second-hand James Brown tribute: In gold suit and pompadour, Bruno Mars tried to channel the Godfather of a Soul, but I’m hearing the influence of his old tour mate, Janelle Monae, who makes the James Brown attitude her own. Mars did get off a good line, though, demanding that the audience “get off your rich (behinds) and let’s have some fun.”
Collaborations, some good, some bad: The Bonnie Raitt-Alicia Keys pairing on the Etta James tribute “Sunday Kind of Love” worked because both artists have a feel for blues-based ballads. But Rihanna was dancing and singing up a storm during “We Fell in Love in a Hopeless Place” before an acoustic duet with Coldplay’s Chris Martin prematurely killed her momentum.
Good vibrations, or not: The Beach Boys reunited with Brian Wilson for the first time in decades, but were compelled to share the stage with lightweights Foster the People and Maroon 5. Wilson isn’t what he used to be as a singer or performer, but he and his bandmates deserved the spotlight to themselves if only for the genius of his songs. “Good Vibrations” still sounds futuristic, like a surf song for Martians.
All is forgiven? Chris Brown performed, ending a three-year hiatus from the Grammys. On Feb 8, 2009, he turned himself in to police in connection with an assault on his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, and then withdrew from performing on that year’s Grammys. Lots of gyrating, thrusting, jumping, flipping and even more lip-synching. At least he didn’t get the standing ovation he seemed to be expecting.
A little dubstep, anyone? Electronic dance music has been blasting out of the clubs and into the arenas in recent years, and that transition was marked by three Grammys for dubstep’s DJ-of-the-moment, Skrillex (aka Sonny Moore). “This is the most surreal day of my life,” he said. It’s unusual for the Grammys to be in step with musical trends (as opposed to a few years behind), but the Skrillex hat trick suggests the Recording Academy has more than a few club-hoppers in its ranks.
Take that, Skrillex! Despite plenty of energetic head-banging, hand-clapping and Slayer T-shirt wearing from frontman Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters' performance still felt perfunctory. Then Grohl, in picking up one of the band’s five Grammys, asserted: “The human element of making music is most important. Singing into a microphone, learning to play your instrument … it’s not about being perfect… It’s not about what goes on in a computer, but what goes on in here and what goes on in here (points to head and heart).” Yet later on, the Foo Fighters participated in a live mash-up with DJ Deadmau5. So are computers cool or not, Dave?
A public farewell: Glen Campbell, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and is in the midst of his farewell tour, bid goodbye on the big stage with a performance of “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Campbell clearly enjoyed the moment, and the audience – fully understanding its significance – showered him with adulation. It also made me wish that the great jazz-funk poet Gil Scott-Heron had been able to enjoy a similar privilege before he died last year, in lieu of the brief, posthumous tribute he received.
Another Grammy first! In winning Best New Artist, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon provided what was likely the first-ever Grammy shout-out to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The Chicago story: Kanye West had a great night with four victories, but didn’t show up to claim any trophies. His “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” won for Best Rap Album and “All of the Lights” for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song. He also shared Best Rap Performance with Jay-Z for "Otis."
More information:
WSJ: "Anatomy of a Tear-Jerker"
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