Adele’s ‘Hello’ Wins Song of the Year; Beyoncé Celebrates Motherhood
Beyoncé appeared as a goddess of femininity, and Adele endeared the crowd with her humanity, flaws included. Both stole the Grammys. Adele opened the show singing her hit “Hello,” in a performance that was somewhat shaky at first but still showed her power as a vocalist.
Later, in a tribute to George Michael, she started to sing his song “Fastlove” but stopped it abruptly, cursing into the microphone and apologising that she needed to start over to get it right.
After finishing, she teared up as the celebrities in the front row applauded her in support. She later apologised while accepting the award for best song, for “Hello.” Then there was Beyoncé, who, true to form, offered a jaw-dropping performance that was a multimedia homage to motherhood. After an introduction by her own mother, Tina Knowles, that praised her daughter’s maternal instincts, Beyoncé appeared as a fertility goddess with her pregnant belly highlighted, and, at one point, her five-yearold daughter, Blue Ivy, ran around her. Surrounded by dancers, and with projections of herself in saffron robes, Beyoncé performed the songs “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” from her album “Lemonade.” At the end of the segment, she stared directly into the television camera as a recording of her voice rang through with a message to women that “if we’re going to heal, let it be glorious.” In the audience, Jay Z, her husband, smiled broadly and clapped vigorously; when the camera returned to him, it showed that he had his hands on the shoulder of their daughter, with Tina Knowles next to him. For the music industry, Adele represents a supreme form of success in what has become the old model: selling millions of CDs to her fans. But as if a demonstration of the quick changes that are coming over the business, her performance was immediately followed by the best new artist prize to Chance the Rapper, who has fully embraced streaming and become a sensation without a record company behind him. “I know people think that independence means you do it by yourself,” Chance said onstage, “but independence means freedom.” This year the Grammys had a new host, James Corden of “The Late Late Show,” as well as a historic showdown between Beyoncé and Adele. They were facing off in each of the top three categories — album, record and song of the year — and the way that voters choose to reward them will be scrutinised. Before the show even started, Adele took two awards, best pop solo performance (for her song “Hello”) and pop vocal album (for “25”), while Beyoncé won one but lost three, adding even more tension for the show’s final moments. (Seventy-five of this year’s 84 total Grammys were handed out before the television coverage began). Source: New York Times