58TH GRAMMY AWARDS:
THE WINNERS
The 58th Grammy Awards were short on surprises Monday, as the big four awards were spread across four acts—Taylor Swift, Mark Ronson, Ed Sheeran and Meghan Trainor—while the genre categories were dominated by single acts. Kendrick Lamar was the night’s top winner with five Grammys.
Swift, who won two other awards, became the first woman to win two Album of the Year Grammys. In her acceptance speech, for 1989, she encouraged all young women to “focus on the work and don’t let people sidetrack you.”
Ronson’s "Uptown Funk," featuring Bruno Mars, earned Record of the Year after earlier behind honored with Pop Duo/Group Performance. Song of the Year went to Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge’s "Thinking Out Loud." The song also won Sheehan the Pop Performance award. Epic’s Meghan Trainor was named Best New Artist, an honor she accepted while fighting back tears throughout her speech.
In the genre categories, Alabama Shakes dominated rock, Lamar was the king of rap, The Weeknd and RCA’s D’Angelo reined over R&B and Mercury Nashville’s Chris Stapleton and “Girl Crush” waved the country banners.
TDE/Interscope’s Lamar won five awards, including the four rap categories and music video. ATO’s Alabama Shakes took home rock song, rock performance, alternative music album and their Sound + Color received the Best Engineered Album trophy for Shawn Everett and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig.
Stapleton's rapid star ascendancy since his stellar CMA performance continued with Country Album and Country Solo Performance wins; “Girl Crush” won Country Song for its writers and the Country Duo/Group Performance award for Little Big Town.
XO/Republic's The Weeknd snared Best R&B Performance, for "Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)" and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Beauty Behind the Madness. RCA’s D'Angelo scored the R&B Album and Song trophies.
Tributes ruled the three-and-a-half-hour broadcast, highlighted by a raven-haired Lady Gaga’s 10-song David Bowie medley that started with “Space Oddity,” concluded with “Heroes” and included multiple layers of Bowie-esque imagery. Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr. and Bonnie Raitt acutely connected with the pain and catharsis of B.B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone,” and Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix dove deep into the soulfulness of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “That's the Way of the World” that had Verdine White, brother of EWF’s late founder Maurice White, tearing up. A high-spirited tribute to Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor served as the TV debut of The Hollywood Vampires (Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp).
Jackson Browne led Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Bernie Leadon and Timothy B. Schmit through a tempered reading of “Take It Easy” as a salute to Glen Frey; John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor and Tyrese paid tribute to the MusiCares Person of the Year Lionel Richie before the singer-songwriter joined them for an “All Night Long” sing-along. Just over 50 people were featured in the In memoriam segment, which closed with 15 seconds of Natalie Cole’s 1992 performance of “Unforgettable” on the Grammys.
Ballads and midtempo songs were the rule for the first 90 minutes of the show after Taylor Swift opened with “Out of the Woods.” There were clear highlights: The Weeknd ratcheting up the tension on “In the Night”; and Little Big Town artfully staged with a string section surrounding them as they solemnly sang “Girl Crush.” Lamar, Alabama Shakes and the cast of Hamilton provided energetic moments in the show’s second half.
Album of the Year: 1989, Taylor Swift
Record of the Year: "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
Song of the Year: "Thinking Out Loud," Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
New Artist: Meghan Trainor
Pop Vocal Album: 1989, Taylor Swift
Pop Solo Performance: "Thinking Out Loud," Ed Sheeran
Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
Traditional Pop Vocal Album: "The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern," Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap
Rock Song: "Don't Wanna Fight," Alabama Shakes, songwriters (Alabama Shakes)
Rock Performance: "Don't Wanna Fight," Alabama Shakes
Rock Album: "Drones," Muse
Alternative Music Album: "Sound & Color," Alabama Shakes
Metal Performance: "Cirice," Ghost
R&B Performance: "Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)," The Weeknd
Traditional R&B Performance: "Little Ghetto Boy," Lalah Hathaway
R&B Song: "Really Love," D'Angelo and Kendra Foster, songwriters (D'Angelo and The Vanguard)
Urban Contemporary Album: "Beauty Behind the Madness," The Weeknd
R&B Album: "Black Messiah," D'Angelo and The Vanguard
Rap Album: To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar
Rap Song: "Alright," Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears and Pharrell Williams (Kendrick Lamar)
Rap Performance: "Alright," Kendrick Lamar
Rap/Sung Collaboration: "These Walls," Kendrick Lamar featuring Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat
Country Album: "Traveller," Chris Stapleton
Country Solo Performance: "Traveller," Chris Stapleton
Country Duo/Group Performance: "Girl Crush," Little Big Town
Country Song: "Girl Crush," Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose (Little Big Town)
Dance Recording: "Where Are U Now," Skrillex and Diplo with Justin Bieber
Dance/Electronic Album: Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U, Skrillex and Diplo
Musical Theater Album: "Hamilton"
Music Video: "Bad Blood," Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar; Joseph Kahn, video director; Ron Morhoff, video producer
Music Film: "Amy," Amy Winehouse; Asif Kapadia, video director; James Gay-Rees, video producer
Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me" (Julian Raymond)
Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: "Birdman," Antonio Sanchez
Song Written for Visual Media: "Glory," Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith and John Stephens (Common and John Legend, Selma)
American Roots Performance: "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," Mavis Staples
American Roots Song: "Something More Than Free," Jason Isbell
Americana Album: Something More Than Free, Jason Isbell
Bluegrass Album: The Muscle Shoals Recordings, The Steeldrivers
Blues Album: Born to Play Guitar, Buddy Guy
Folk Album: Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn
Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: "Uptown Funk (Dave Audé Remix)," Dave Audé (Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars)
Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals: "Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)," Maria Schneider (David Bowie)
Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," Ben Bram, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Kirstin Maldonado and Kevin Olusola (Pentatonix)
Album Notes: Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting to Be Danced, Joni Mitchell, (Joni Mitchell)
Historical Album: The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11, Steve Berkowitz, Jan Haust & Jeff Rosen, compilation producers; Peter J. Moore & Mark Wilder, mastering engineers (Bob Dylan and The Band)
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Jeff Bhasker
