Last night saw the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards take place at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, a night filled with more than a few surprises. The biggest winner of the night was country group Lady Antebellum, who took home five awards including record and song of the year for Need You Now. The top award, album of the year, was won by Arcade Fire for their album The Suburbs, beating Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Eminem, and Lady Atebellum. Eminem was nominated for the most awards, 10 in total, yet only took home two: best rap album and best solo rap performance. The biggest surprise of the night came when Esperanza Spalding won best new artist ahead of Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & The Machine, and Mumford & Sons.
The awards raised a few doubts with industry experts, particularly surrounding the underachievement of Eminem and Lady Gaga. With more than 4 million copies of Recovery sold, compared to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs which sold 484,000, the night was more a commentary on what the recording industry has become. With a new generation of people working in the music industry, the majority coming from the 1980s and 90s indie-rock revolution, Arcade Fire are seen to inspire these insiders, as they represent a look to the future, rather than the Grammy's more familiar tendency to reward older career artists. Eminem's relatively disappointing night could be put down to his controversial lyrics and behaviour, the same could be said for Lady Gaga, who despite her creativity, takes a lot of risks and is seen as offensive to some.
Despite the numerous shocks from the night, there were a number of stellar performances from the likes of Bruno Mars, B.O.B, Janelle Monae, Rihanna, Eminem, Cee-Lo Green, Usher, Justin Bieber, as well as Lady Gaga hatching out of her egg. Bruno Mars, B.O.B and Janelle Monae all took to the stage together to perform a rendition of their songs whilst the others took turns on percussion, in what was an incredible set. Cee-Lo Green took to the stage with Gwyneth Paltrow and some of Jim Henson's muppets to perform Forget You in his exuberant style. Dre returned to the big stage last night as he performed with Skylar Grey, Eminem and Rihanna. You can check out some of the performances below, and you can see the full list of winners on The Grammys site.
I even included the Bieber, but don't worry, I've not got the Bieber Fever!
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