Good luck to everyone who got covered by Taylor Swift’s glitter bomb; it will never wash off.
The 2016 Grammys took place Monday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Like every other year, it was filled with memorable moments, heartfelt tribute performances, and unexpected controversies.
The award show kicked off with Taylor Swift’s opening performance of “Out of the Woods” alongside Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote the song. At the end of her performance, Swift bombarded everyone with an enormous, and equally magical, glitter bomb.
As one of the night’s most nominated artists, Swift was presented with the album of the year award for 1989.
During her acceptance speech, Swift took the opportunity to hit back at Kanye West, who recently caused controversy when he released an explicit song claiming to be responsible for her rise to fame. She encouraged everyone to work hard and not let themselves be sidetracked.
“I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” said Swift in her speech.
Another controversial event that night took place when Kendrick Lamar gave a powerful performance of his song “The Blacker the Berry.” Lamar took the stage donning prison attire in front of a jail-like background. Joining him were back-up performers dressed in similar attire, and the men were all joined together by shackles around their wrists.
As he made his way further down the stage, Lamar stood before a bonfire, where he was surrounded by dancers donning African garb and neon body paint.
The night was also filled with touching tributes to many musical legends.
John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, and Tyrese Gibson joined their voices to honor Lionel Richie – who later joined them on stage to perform “All Night Long.”
Lady Gaga also took the stage to honor the late David Bowie by delivering a lengthy and touching medley of Bowie’s hit songs.
The cast of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton also delivered – via live satellite from New York – an amazing performance of the play’s first song, “Alexander Hamilton.” They later took home a Grammy for best musical theater album and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda rapped the acceptance speech as someone held up the Puerto Rican flag – it was awesome.
When Adele went on stage to perform her song “All I Ask” things took a turn for the worst. At first everyone thought their ears were broken, because there is no way Adele would ever be flat. However, the singer later clarified the situation on Twitter, saying “The piano mics fell on to the piano strings; that’s what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. [Expletive] happens.”
Another surprise came in the form of Johnny Depp, who performed with his star-stuuded band, the Hollywood Vampires. During their performance, they honored Motörhead front man Lemmy Kilmister.
The Grammys is no stranger to controversy, and we can only imagine what next year will bring.
