LAMAR, SHEERAN HAVE THAT GOLDEN TOUCH
Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Chris Stapleton, Alabama Shakes also shine
Winning song of the year was a highlight for Ed Sheeran at Monday night’s Grammy Awards. Picking it up from Stevie Wonder was the cherry on top.
Sheeran took the big song prize as well as pop solo performance for Thinking Out Loud at the 58th annual Grammys, and he said he’d have been amazed by being handed an award by Wonder “at 11 years old, at 5 years old, at any age, really.” Sheeran also thanked his parents for coming to the show for the fourth time he has been nominated: “Every time I lose they go, ‘Maybe next year!’ ”
He was also nominated for record of the year, but that top prize went instead to the Uptown Funk duo of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Uptown also won for best pop duo/group performance and non-classical remixed recording.
Kendrick Lamar won best rap album for To Pimp a Butterfly, one of four honors for the artist that also included best rap performance and best rap song for
Alright, and best rap/sung collaboration for These Walls with Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat.
“This is for hip-hop. This is for Ice Cube. This is for Snoop Dogg. This is for Nas,” Lamar said when accepting his rap album award Monday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “We will live forever, believe that.”
Taylor Swift took home another of the night’s top prizes with
1989 winning album of the year. She struck earlier with two awards in a pre-show ceremony: best pop vocal album for 1989 and best music video for Bad Blood. She also started off the night’s main ceremony with a rendition of her hit Out of the Woods.
Alabama Shakes shook up the rock categories and took three awards: alternative music album for Sound & Color as well as rock song and rock performance for
Don’t Wanna Fight.
“Never thought I’d be here doing this,” said lead singer Brittany Howard. “When we started this, we were in high school. … We just did it for fun. We didn’t think we’d be getting any awards or recognition like this.”
Other artists and groups who won multiple honors: The Weeknd with best urban contemporary album for Beauty Behind
the Madness and R&B performance for Earned It; Skrillex and Diplo with best dance recording for Where Are Ü Now, a collaboration with Justin Bieber, and top dance/electronic album for
Skrillex And Diplo Present Jack Ü. Chris Stapleton took country album and solo performance for
Traveller.
Little Big Town won best country duo/group performance for
Girl Crush, which won best country song.
Lips were movin’ as teary pop singer Meghan Trainor could hardly get through her acceptance speech for one of the night’s top awards: best new artist.
“I’m a mess. I have to go cry,” Trainor said, making sure she thanked record executive L.A. Reid “for looking at me as an artist and not a songwriter.”
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, a track off a cappella group Pentatonix’s That’s Christmas to Me, won a best-arrangement award, and best album notes went to Joni Mitchell’s Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced.
Jason Isbell captured a couple of Grammys — best American roots song for 24 Frames and Americana album for Something
More Than Free. And married couple Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn won best folk album for their self-titled effort. “When we realized we were pregnant, we decided we should finally make a record together,” Washburn said.
The Amy Winehouse documentary Amy won for best music film, the soundtrack for the doc
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be There garnered a compilation Grammy, the
Selma track Glory captured best song, and Birdman composer An- tonio Sanchez won the bestsoundtrack Grammy. Broadway’s
Hamilton won in the musical theater album category.
Mavis Staples won for best American roots performance with See That My Grave Is Kept Clean. Buddy Guy’s Born to Play Guitar won best blues album.