The 2016 Grammy Awards

The 58^th Annual Grammy Awards were filled with excitement, jealousy and disappointment. Most of all they were filled with technical difficulties. Monday, February 15^th saw countless stars waiting anxiously to hear if they won a Grammy. Between announcements, famous acts took the stage to perform. However, many of these performances were a let down to the audience and the artists themselves.

A few days after the Grammy’s Adele stated that the day after the Grammy’s she, “cried pretty much all day.” Her performance was disturbed by a microphone falling into the piano, which sounded a little bit like guitar strumming, and was a little pitchy, partially just due to how her voice sounds, but mostly because the microphones were occasionally cutting out making it appear as though she was simply not singing for short periods.

Several other artists also experienced this cutting in and out, making the performances sound choppy but no one else seemed to have it quite as bad as Adele. Notable performances that sounded almost perfect were, Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt & Gary Clark Jr.’s Tribute to B.B. King with “The Thrill is Gone” and Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie.

Lady Gaga performed a mash up of “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Suffragette City,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Fame,” “Fashion,” “Let’s Dance,” “Under Pressure,” “Heroes”, making her the artist with the most songs performed at this year’s Grammy awards.

Rihanna, who was originally slated to perform, had to pull out last minute due to a case of Bronchitis and doctor’s orders to not perform, which was a disappointment to the audience and viewers at home.

However, in addition to the performances that were either technical nightmares or stunning perfection, there were the awards themselves. There were too many winners to include them all but there were some especially notable ones, including Taylor Swift for 1989 (Best Album of the Year), “Uptown Funk” for Best Record, Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” as Best Song, Kendrick Lamar with To Pimp a Butterfly for Best Rap Album, and Meghan Trainor as Best New Artist.

As the first woman to win the Best Album of the Year twice, Taylor Swift gave an inspiring speech, “I want to say to all the young women out there—there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame, but if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be greatest feeling in the world.”

Her words were delivered full of emotion and appeared to be a response to Kanye West’s controversial lyrics of his new song, “Famous,” which state “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b**** famous.”

Perhaps the most exciting award for the audience was Kendrick Lamar winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly. As he stood to receive his award and make his speech, an exuberant audience gave him a standing ovation.

Tune in next year for the 59^th Annual Grammy’s to see if they get their tech figured out and to see whom this coming year’s stars will be. Overall, the 58^th Annual Grammy Awards was a night filled with excitement, music, and just a few dozen technical difficulties but at the end of the day, many artists went home clutching newly acquired Grammy’s and others left simply with hope for next year.