Are the Grammys really music's biggest night? Metro.us

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Katy Perry, pictured here with some guy who used to play music a lot but hasn’t much lately, (John Mayer? Is that his name?). Anyway, Perry was the main attraction, almost breaking Grammy dress code laws. (CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)

To varied effect, the Grammys continued with its tradition of pairing young musicians with legends. This works well on playlists when you want to make a local act seem on par with stadium-filling rock stars, but the problem with doing it year after year in live performance is that it cheapens the innovative approach into novelty.
The formula did work occasionally, such as when the Black Keys augmented their usual bare bones duo sound with Dr. John and the wall of horns that is the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The tribute to The Band, featuring Alabama Shakes, Elton John, Mavis Staples and multiple Mumfords was a hit too.

But elsewhere, the jams were disjointed and uncomfortable, as with Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 doing “Girl on Fire” together. And Elton John added little more to Ed Sheeran’s Song of the Year-nominated, “The A Team” than giving host LL Cool J a chance to make a joke at a young Twitter who needed to look up #sireltonjohn.

While it is admirable that the Grammys attempt to bridge musical gaps, there are some valleys that are just too wide. Miguel and Wiz Khalifa delivered one of the early successful pairings last night with a brief mash-up performance of the former’s Song of the Year-nominated “Adorn.” But having them announce the winner for Best Country Solo Performance made no sense.

Let’s get together and feel all right

One of the fun things about the Grammys is watching these famous people interact with and address each other. Here are our favorite moments from last night, where stars called each other by name.

Host LL Cool J tries out a hip-hop nickname on Taylor Swift: “I’m happy to say that my friend T-Swizzle has already won an award.”

Adele calls J. Lo her good luck charm

Neil Patrick Harris introduces fun.: They’re so awesome that they might want to change the period in their name to an exclamation point.

Kelly Clarkson learns a little something about new R&B: “Miguel, I don’t know who the hell you are, but we need to sing together.”

And the Grammy goes to…

The awards portion of the show were mostly what people expected. At least they were what we expected. In our Grammy predictions story on Friday, we correctly forecasted two thirds of the night’s biggest winners. We called it that Gotye would win Record of the Year and that fun. would win Song of the Year, but in what was a surprise win of sorts, Mumford & Sons won Album of the Year for “Babel.” Below is a complete list of winners.

Record of the Year

“Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye, featuring Kimbra

Album of the Year

“Babel,” Mumford & Sons

Song of the Year

“We Are Young,” fun. and Janelle Monáe (Songwriters: Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost and Nate Ruess)

New Artist

fun.

Pop Solo Performance

“Set Fire to the Rain (live),” Adele

Pop Performance, Duo or Group

“Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye, featuring Kimbra

Pop Instrumental Album

“Impressions,” Chris Botti

Pop Vocal Album

“Stronger,” Kelly Clarkson

Dance Recording

“Bangarang,” Skrillex and Sirah

Dance/Electronica Album

“Bangarang,” Skrillex

Dance Recording

“Bangarang,” Skrillex and Sirah

Traditional Pop Vocal Album

“Kisses on the Bottom,” Paul McCartney

Rock Performance

“Lonely Boy,” the Black Keys

Hard Rock/Metal Performance

“Love Bites (So Do I),” Halestorm

Rock Song

Dan Auerbach, Brian Burton and Patrick Carney (“Lonely Boy,” the Black Keys)

Rock Album

“El Camino,” the Black Keys

Alternative Music Album

“Making Mirrors,” Gotye

R&B Performance

“Climax,” Usher

Traditional R&B Performance

“Love on Top,” Beyoncé

R&B Song

Miguel Pimentel (“Adorn,” Miguel)

R&B Album

“Black Radio,” Robert Glasper Experiment

Rap Performance

“___ in Paris,” Jay-Z and Kanye West

Rap/Sung Collaboration

“No Church in the Wild,” Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and The-Dream

Rap Song

“___ in Paris,” Jay-Z and Kanye West (Songwriters: Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis, Kanye West and W. A. Donaldson)

Rap Album

“Take Care,” Drake

Urban Contemporary Album

“channel ORANGE,” Frank Ocean

Country Solo Performance

“Blown Away,” Carrie Underwood

Country Performance, Duo or Group

“Pontoon,” Little Big Town

Country Song

Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins (“Blown Away,” Carrie Underwood)

Country Album

“Uncaged,” Zac Brown Band

New Age Album

“Echoes of Love,” Omar Akram

Improvised Jazz Solo

“Hot House,” Gary Burton and Chick Corea

Jazz Vocal Album

“Radio Music Society,” Esperanza Spalding

Jazz Instrumental Album

“Unity Band,” Pat Metheny Unity Band

Large Jazz Ensemble Album

“Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You),” Arturo Sandoval

Latin Jazz Album

“¡Ritmo!,” The Clare Fischer Latin Jazz Big Band

Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance

“10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),” Matt Redman

Gospel Song

Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell and Warryn Campbell (“Go Get It,” Mary Mary)

Contemporary Christian Music Song

Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman (“10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),” Matt Redman)

Gospel Album

“Gravity,” Lecrae

Contemporary Christian Music Album

“Eye on It,” TobyMac

Latin Pop Album

“MTV Unplugged Deluxe Edition,” Juanes

Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album

“Imaginaries,” Quetzal

Regional Mexican or Tejano Album

“Pecados y Milagros,” Lila Downs

Tropical Latin Album

“Retro,” Marlow Rosada y La Riqueña”

Americana Album

“Slipstream,” Bonnie Raitt

Bluegrass Album

“Nobody Knows You,” Steep Canyon Rangers

Blues Album

“Locked Down,” Dr. John

Folk Album

“The Goat Rodeo Sessions,” Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile

Regional Roots Music Album

“The Band Courtbouillon,” Wayne Toups, Steve Riley and Wilson Savoy

Reggae Album

“Rebirth,” Jimmy Cliff

World Music Album

“The Living Room Sessions Part 1,” Ravi Shankar

Children’s Album

“Can You Canoe?,” The Okee Dokee Brothers

Spoken Word Album

“Society’s Child: My Autobiography,” Janis Ian

Comedy Album

“Blow Your Pants Off,” Jimmy Fallon

Musical Theater Album

“Once: A New Musical,” Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, artists; Steven Epstein and Martin Lowe, producers; Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, composers/lyricists

Instrumental Composition

“Mozart Goes Dancing,” Chick Corea (Chick Corea and Gary Burton)

Instrumental Arrangement

“How About You,” Gil Evans (Gil Evans Project)

Producer of the Year, Nonclassical

Dan Auerbach

Producer of the Year, Classical

Blanton Alspaugh

Remixed Recording, Nonclassical

“Promises (Skrillex and Nero Remix),” Skrillex, remixer

Classical Instrumental Solo

“Kurtág & Ligeti: Music for Viola,” Kim Kashkashian