By Aman Mittal
Grammys are done. I don’t know why but I felt weird typing Grammys. Grammies? Well, moving on from the shenanigans. The 56th Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 26th 2014. It was a romantic affair between the awards and the nominees just like it should be.Like everyone I was a bit bias towards some and so some of the results surprised me.
Grammys are done. I don’t know why but I felt weird typing Grammys. Grammies? Well, moving on from the shenanigans. The 56th Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 26th 2014. It was a romantic affair between the awards and the nominees just like it should be.Like everyone I was a bit bias towards some and so some of the results surprised me.
By the way, Carole King was awarded MusiCares Person of the Year on 24th January, two days prior to the official Grammy date. This year a new category was included this year, “Best American Song” which would include genres like Americana, folk, blues and regional music. The Rock and Metal categories were also divided this time into – Best Metal Performance and Best Rock Performance. From whatever I saw of the Grammys live and now over the internet, all the performances were good and this is one time of the year when almost everyone tries to perform their best and look their best in the music industry. Doesn’t matter if you are a hippie every other day but this night, you have to be a classy hippie. Even the worst dressed or ‘decent’ performers up their game. After all it is the freaking Grammys. A Grammy looks good, don’t they Mr. Paul McCartney? Daft Punk was the pick for me, they won 5 awards and Ryan Lewis and Macklemore were awarded 4 trophies. Led Zeppelin bagged the best Rock album trophy much to my delight with Black Sabbath won the Best Metal Performance for 'God is Dead?' .
Before I mention all the winners, I would like to mention that it was good to see Metallica perform “One” but this time with a twist. What was it? It was Mr. Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist performing with him. On a personal level, I think even if it was rehearsed; he overplayed his hand and it kind of messed up the melody of the song. By no means , am I judging his skills, but I found the two ( the band and the pianist ) forcing their way to work out a melody even on stage and Lars seemed lethargic with his drumming. Tell me with what you think in the poll at the end of the article.
Here is the video of Metallica performing One. Do watch it before the poll.
Here is the video of Metallica performing One. Do watch it before the poll.
Here are the winners :
· Album of the year: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk.
· Record of the year: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
· Song of the year: Royals, Lorde.
· New artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
· Pop solo performance: Royals, Lorde.
· Pop vocal album: Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars
· Pop/duo group performance: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.
· Rap/sung collaboration: Holy Grail, Jay Z with Justin Timberlake.
· Rock song: Cut Me Some Slack, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.
· Country album: Same Trailer Different Park, Kacey Musgraves.
· Traditional pop vocal album: To Be Loved, Michael Buble.
· Rap performance: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
· Rap song: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
· Rap album: The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
· R&B performance: Something, Snarky Puppy with Lalah Hathaway.
· Traditional R&B performance: Please Come Home, Gary Clark Jr.
· R&B song: Pusher Love Girl, James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley and Justin Timberlake.
· R&B album: Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys.
· Urban contemporary album: Unapologetic, Rihanna.
· Rock performance: Radioactive, Imagine Dragons.
· Rock album: Celebration Day, Led Zeppelin.
· Hard rock/metal performance: God is Dead, Black Sabbath.
· Alternative music album: Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend.
· Dance recording: Clarity, Zedd featuring Foxes.
· Dance/electronica album: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk.
· Producer of the year, non-classical: Pharrell Williams.
· Latin pop album: Vida, Draco Rosa
· Latin rock, urban or alternative album: Treinta Dias, La Santa Cecilia.
· Latin jazz album: Song for Maura, Paquito D'Rivera and Trio Corrente.
· Tropical Latin album: Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Pacific Mambo Orchestra.
· Country solo performance: Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker.
· Country duo/group performance: From This Valley, The Civil Wars.
· Country song: Merry Go 'Round, Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne.
· Gospel song: If He Did It Before ... Same God (Live), Tye Tribbett
· Gospel album: Greater Than (Live), Tye Tribbettlatin
· Blues album: Get Up!, Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite.
· Folk album: My Favorite Picture of You, Guy Clark.
· Americana album: Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.
· Bluegrass album: The Streets of Baltimore, Del McCoury Band.
· Reggae album: Ziggy Marley in Concert, Ziggy Marley.
· World music album: Live: Singing for Peace Around the World, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Savor Flamenco, Gypsy Kings (tie).
· Children's album: Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well, Jennifer Gasoi.
· Spoken word album: America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, Stephen Colbert.
· Comedy album: Calm Down Gurrl, Kathy Griffin.
· New age album: Love's River, Laura Sullivan.
· Jazz vocal album: Liquid Spirit, Gregory Porter.
· Jazz instrumental album: Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, Terri Lyne Carrington.
· Large jazz ensemble album: Night in Calisia, Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic.
· Pop instrumental album: Steppin' Out, Herb Alpert.
· Compilation soundtrack album: Sound City: Real to Reel, Dave Grohl and various artists, Butch Vig.
· Score soundtrack album: Skyfall, Thomas Newman, composer.
· Song written for visual media: Skyfall, Adele and Paul Epworth.
· Musical theater album: Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Sammy James Jr., Stephen Oremus and William Wittman.
· Producer of the year, classical: David Frost.
· Instrumental composition: Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orechestra, Clare Fischer.
· Orchestral performance: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4, Osmo Vanska, conductor.
· Opera recording: Ades: The Tempest, Thomas Ades, Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, Alan Oke, Jay David Saks.
· Choral performance: Part: Adam's Lament, Tonu Kaljuste, conductor.
· Short-form music video: Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z, David Fincher, Timory King.
· Long-form music video: Live Kisses, Paul McCartney, Jonas Akerlund, Violaine Etienne, Aron Levin and Scott Rodger.
· Historical album: The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums of Bill Withers, Leo Sacks, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Tom Ruff and Mark Wilder, and Charlie is My Darling, Teri Landi, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Rosenthal and Bob Ludwig.
I hope I have been attentive enough to include all the winners. My apologies to the readers and the artists if I haven’t. Though I think I have it all. Make sure you do the poll.
Image sources :
Picture 1 : http://www.trbimg.com/img-52e2c2b1/turbine/lat-grammyrehearsal-la0014430728-20140123/574
Picture 2 : http://cdn.hiphopwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pharell-williams-grammy-ranger-hat-featured.jpg
· Album of the year: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk.
· Record of the year: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
· Song of the year: Royals, Lorde.
· New artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
· Pop solo performance: Royals, Lorde.
· Pop vocal album: Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars
· Pop/duo group performance: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.
· Rap/sung collaboration: Holy Grail, Jay Z with Justin Timberlake.
· Rock song: Cut Me Some Slack, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.
· Country album: Same Trailer Different Park, Kacey Musgraves.
· Traditional pop vocal album: To Be Loved, Michael Buble.
· Rap performance: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
· Rap song: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
· Rap album: The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
· R&B performance: Something, Snarky Puppy with Lalah Hathaway.
· Traditional R&B performance: Please Come Home, Gary Clark Jr.
· R&B song: Pusher Love Girl, James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley and Justin Timberlake.
· R&B album: Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys.
· Urban contemporary album: Unapologetic, Rihanna.
· Rock performance: Radioactive, Imagine Dragons.
· Rock album: Celebration Day, Led Zeppelin.
· Hard rock/metal performance: God is Dead, Black Sabbath.
· Alternative music album: Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend.
· Dance recording: Clarity, Zedd featuring Foxes.
· Dance/electronica album: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk.
· Producer of the year, non-classical: Pharrell Williams.
· Latin pop album: Vida, Draco Rosa
· Latin rock, urban or alternative album: Treinta Dias, La Santa Cecilia.
· Latin jazz album: Song for Maura, Paquito D'Rivera and Trio Corrente.
· Tropical Latin album: Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Pacific Mambo Orchestra.
· Country solo performance: Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker.
· Country duo/group performance: From This Valley, The Civil Wars.
· Country song: Merry Go 'Round, Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne.
· Gospel song: If He Did It Before ... Same God (Live), Tye Tribbett
· Gospel album: Greater Than (Live), Tye Tribbettlatin
· Blues album: Get Up!, Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite.
· Folk album: My Favorite Picture of You, Guy Clark.
· Americana album: Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.
· Bluegrass album: The Streets of Baltimore, Del McCoury Band.
· Reggae album: Ziggy Marley in Concert, Ziggy Marley.
· World music album: Live: Singing for Peace Around the World, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Savor Flamenco, Gypsy Kings (tie).
· Children's album: Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well, Jennifer Gasoi.
· Spoken word album: America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, Stephen Colbert.
· Comedy album: Calm Down Gurrl, Kathy Griffin.
· New age album: Love's River, Laura Sullivan.
· Jazz vocal album: Liquid Spirit, Gregory Porter.
· Jazz instrumental album: Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, Terri Lyne Carrington.
· Large jazz ensemble album: Night in Calisia, Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic.
· Pop instrumental album: Steppin' Out, Herb Alpert.
· Compilation soundtrack album: Sound City: Real to Reel, Dave Grohl and various artists, Butch Vig.
· Score soundtrack album: Skyfall, Thomas Newman, composer.
· Song written for visual media: Skyfall, Adele and Paul Epworth.
· Musical theater album: Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Sammy James Jr., Stephen Oremus and William Wittman.
· Producer of the year, classical: David Frost.
· Instrumental composition: Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orechestra, Clare Fischer.
· Orchestral performance: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4, Osmo Vanska, conductor.
· Opera recording: Ades: The Tempest, Thomas Ades, Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, Alan Oke, Jay David Saks.
· Choral performance: Part: Adam's Lament, Tonu Kaljuste, conductor.
· Short-form music video: Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z, David Fincher, Timory King.
· Long-form music video: Live Kisses, Paul McCartney, Jonas Akerlund, Violaine Etienne, Aron Levin and Scott Rodger.
· Historical album: The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums of Bill Withers, Leo Sacks, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Tom Ruff and Mark Wilder, and Charlie is My Darling, Teri Landi, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Rosenthal and Bob Ludwig.
I hope I have been attentive enough to include all the winners. My apologies to the readers and the artists if I haven’t. Though I think I have it all. Make sure you do the poll.
Image sources :
Picture 1 : http://www.trbimg.com/img-52e2c2b1/turbine/lat-grammyrehearsal-la0014430728-20140123/574
Picture 2 : http://cdn.hiphopwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pharell-williams-grammy-ranger-hat-featured.jpg