58th Grammy Awards Full Show

[Bridget Peral]

The58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015.[2] The "pre-telecast" ceremony, officially known as the Premiere Ceremony, in which the majority of awards were presented, was held at the nearby Microsoft Theater. It was the 16th Grammy ceremony to be held at the Staples Center, tying the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for hosting the most Grammy ceremonies. It also marks the latest date for a Grammy ceremony since 2003, which were held on February 23.

Unlike previous years, where it was held on a Sunday, the 2016 edition was held on a Monday for the first time to take advantage of the U.S. Presidents' Day long weekend.[3] The ceremony was televised in the United States by CBS; for the first time, CBS affiliates in the West Coast and U.S. territories outside the continental region, including Hawaii and Alaska, had the option of broadcasting the Grammys live from the East coast feed, in addition to an encore in local primetime.[4]

Nominations for the 58th Grammy Awards ceremony were announced on December 7, 2015, returning to the traditional format of an immediate press conference/release reveal of all nominees rather than the "all-day event" unveiling attempted by The Recording Academy and CBS over the previous few years. Kendrick Lamar received the most nominations with 11, and became the rapper with the most nominations in a single night, and second overall behind Michael Jackson (12 nominations in 1984).[5] Taylor Swift and The Weeknd received seven nominations each. Producer Max Martin received the most nominations for a non-performing artist, with six.[6] LL Cool J hosted for the fifth consecutive year.[7] As part of a commercial break on the U.S. broadcast paid for by Target, Gwen Stefani also presented a live music video for her new single "Make Me Like You".[8][9]

Kendrick Lamar led the winners with five trophies, including Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly. Taylor Swift won three awards, including Album of the Year for 1989, becoming the first female artist to win Album of the Year twice as main credited artist. Alabama Shakes also won three including Best Alternative Music Album for Sound & Color. Ed Sheeran won two including Song of the Year for "Thinking Out Loud". Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" won for Record of the Year and Meghan Trainor won for Best New Artist.

Last Sunday night the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences pulled out a fresh pair of batteries and fired up the LL Cool J 2000 for the 58th Grammy Awards, a show that seems to lead the charge in award show mediocrity. Through flat performances and a myriad of tributes and lifetime achievement awards, the Academy only managed to hand out eight awards during the three hour span of the show. Although there were shining moments of relevancy, the show as a whole was an exercise in proving how outdated and deflated awards shows have become.

The image of Kendrick Lamar and other black men linked together with chains during his performance of "The Blacker The Berry" and "Alright" at the 58th GRAMMY Awards made me tremble. I couldn't stop shaking. I started to tear up. I couldn't keep still and I couldn't take my eyes off of my TV screen for too long.

This moment reminded me of the first time I interned at a Public Defender's Office. One day while walking down an unusually quiet courthouse corridor, I heard the sound of shackles and chains rattling. I was then commanded to move to the other side of the hallway to let the inmates walk by. I remember a sea of orange and black men of various shades, men who could have easily have been my brothers, cousins, father and uncles. Some of their eyes stared at my sixteen year old self intently as I tried not to look too hard. Even though it was a brief moment in time, the encounter felt like forever, as the sound of the chains rang in my ear long after the inmates walked past me.

The sounds and the imagery on my TV grew more vibrant, more exciting, and even more important by the minute, as Kendrick captivated everyone on my Twitter timeline with his unapologetic and needed statement on the beauty and strength of Black folks. The reports that said that Kendrick's performance was going to be controversial were, in my opinion, understated. His performance was inspiring, musically and visually on point, and truly powerful on that big stage. He added a bigger spark to a revolutionary movement: my generation's Black Renaissance.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe that every artist that was nominated this year is creative. But, when we have artists winning off of astronomical album sales, their influence/buzz, and even their skin tone, I have a problem with it. This isn't something that solely happens at the GRAMMYs, but it's something that artists, especially members of The Recording Academy, should think about when they vote for the winners. Winning a GRAMMY shouldn't be about those things; it should be about the talent and creative energy of a work.

Talent and creativity should also reflect in each artist's GRAMMY performance. Outside of Kendrick, the only performance that was captivating in every aspect was Lady Gaga's David Bowie tribute...and I expected that from her. There were SO MANY slow song selections and not much done visually or in sound. Many of the performances were unmemorable, and a few of the ones that were memorable were memorable because of glitches and bad vocals. However, powerhouse vocals from Alabama Shakes, Tori Kelly, Demi Lovato and Andra Day kept me interested. Plus, the tributes from Stevie Wonder & Pentatonix for Earth Wind & Fire's Maurice White, and B.B. King's tribute done by Gary Clark, Jr., Bonnie Raitt and Chris Stapleton were pretty awesome.

But, to get back to Kendrick: this was truly his awards show this year. Leading the nominations with 11 and a growing speculation about his performance made him the main attraction. Even though Kendrick walked away with 5 of the 11 (3 from To Pimp A Butterfly and 2 from his collaboration with Taylor Swift on the "Bad Blood" remix), it was still his night. No matter how people feel about the message, you can't deny how memorable his performance was and how important his nominations and wins were, especially for hip-hop.

With all that said, I'm not asking for artists to make a statement that's racially charged or even as bold and aggressive as what Kendrick did. I'm asking artists to continue honing in on their talent, go beyond their comfort zone by tapping more into their creativity for their performances, and do better in rewarding talent and creativity at the GRAMMYs. This point is even more important in rap -- and even R&B --categories, where some artists are, like I mentioned earlier, winning off of popularity, not off of talent and creativity. One particular artist (*cough* The Weeknd *cough*) was nominated for and won in a category where, truthfully, all of the other nominees were better than him, but maybe that's just me. I hope the GRAMMY voting members do better in nominating with their ears and heart instead of their eyes and Billboard charts, because if we're being honest, this year's Album of the Year GRAMMY belonged to someone else: a person who performed in chains.

Meghan Trainor performs "You Are" as Demi Lovato (L) watches during a medley honoring Recording Academy Person of the Year Lionel Richie at the 58th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles February 15, 2016.

Tyrese performs "Brick House" as John Legend (L) and Demi Lovato sing along during a medley honoring Recording Academy Person of the Year Lionel Richie at the 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles February 15, 2016.

Stevie Wonder (4th from L) and Pentatonix perform "That's the Way of the World" as a tribute to Earth Wind and Fire singer Maurice White (shown on screen at left), who died in 2016, at the 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles February 15, 2016.

Although Gaga had a major 2009, following the chart-topping success of her debut album, The Fame, her earlier nod for "Best Dance Recording" for "Just Dance" barred her from being considered for "Best New Artist" at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. In light of the "Gaga situation", the Recording Academy has announced that artists who have received previous nominations may still be eligible for the "Best New Artist" award.

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 8, 2009. Lady Gaga received her first Grammy nomination in the category of "Best Dance Recording" for her single, "Just Dance".

Lady Gaga performed her The Fame Ball Tour set list for the concert. There were no changes fashion wise between this Fame Ball concert and the previous one at KISS 95.7 Summer Kick Off. Gaga did wear a new shoulder length fringe wig for this occasion though.

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast. The remaining awards were given during the un-televised portion of the ceremony which preceded the broadcast. Lady Gaga's nominations were for "Album of the Year" and "Best Electronic/Dance Album" for The Fame and "Song of the Year", Record of the Year", and "Best Dance Recording" for "Poker Face". Of these, she won in the categories of "Best Electronic/Dance Album" and "Best Dance Recording".

Lady Gaga arrived on the red carpet wearing a dress that resembled an orbit and carrying a star. All of her outfits that night were space themed, as Giorgio Armani, the designer, had recently released a spaced theme collection.

The performance was opened with a monologue by Elijah Kelly, describing the wants to have a perfect pop star and singling Lady Gaga out as one. Lady Gaga then appears out of the "Fame Factory" and begins singing "Poker Face". She began singing the song acoustically, and then jumped off her platform and is caught by her dancers. At which point, the album version of the song begins playing. During the performance, Lady Gaga is swept up and dropped in a pit of flames into the Fame Factory. She soon reemerges from the Fame Factory with Elton John on both sides of the dual monster claw piano. They then being to perform a mash up of "Speechless" and "Your Song". An audio file of the performance was released online via iTunes, along with a video, under the title, "Poker Face / Speechless / Your Song (feat. Elton John) [Live from the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards] - Single".

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