By Jessica Jacobs

Staff Writer

artsent.asp@gmail.com

February 17, 2015

On Sunday Feb. 8, the 57th annual Grammy Awards took place in Las Angeles at the Staple Center. The show attracted 28.5 million viewers according to CNN, which means a lot of people had opinions on the very melancholy award show that took place this year.

The Grammys had a show filled with a surprising amount of very serious performances, including a Stevie Wonder tribute performed by Usher, and a duet including Jessie J and Tom Jones performing “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,” which led to a very somber night. However, there were a few acts thrown in to keep the party going.

The Grammys opened with powerhouse AC/DC, who started with a newer song from their latest album “Rock or Bust.” This was followed by the popular 1979 hit “Highway to Hell.” As soon as Angus Young belted out the opening lyrics to the song, the audience jumped to their feet and proceeded to put up their “devil horns.” The performance was “devilishly good” according to host LL Cool J.

Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj were anything but normal when they presented Madonna as“their bitch” when introducing her to the stage.  Madonna performed a lively version of “Living for Love” that included many men with horns on their heads. The highly anticipated performance that included Rihanna, Paul McCartney, and Kanye debuting “FourFiveSeconds,” had a very similar vibe to their music video that aired earlier that week, but the performance was fantastic overall.

Sia took the stage to perform her single “Chandelier” with her face turned towards a wall to block it from the cameras, as per usual, but what no one expected was actress Kristen Wiig to join Sia’s sidekick, 12-year-old Maddie Ziegler, dancing in a nude body suit and blond wig.

Ed Sheeran kept the mellow pace of the night going with his new song “Thinking Out Loud,” a beautiful song that left women everywhere swooning. John Mayer added a twist during the performance by providing background vocals and guitar.

The performance that had everybody’s attention to the screen was the magnificent performance by Sam Smith and Mary J Blige singing “Stay With Me.” Smith had a huge night at the Grammys, picking up four awards, three of them being in the major categories of Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. What resonated in the viewer’s minds was his acceptance speech. When Smith picked up his second award of the night his speech touched the hearts of many when he described his journey to the Grammy stage.

“Before I made this record I was doing everything to try and get my music heard,” Smith said. “I tried to lose weight and I was making awful music. It was only until I started to be myself that the music started to flow and people started to listen.”

He went on to advise people everywhere to be yourself, and you will find success. But that was not the only speech that Smith had gotten attention for. When picking up his final award of the night for Best Record, Smith made it apparent as to where his music came from, and who he was thankful for.

“I want to thank the man who this record is about, who I fell in love with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.” The audience roared in applause as he exited the stage.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett joined together to perform Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek.” The two are known to perform together and are recognized to having a “friendship,” but everyone was shocked to see Gaga not wearing a meat suit. The random duets continued with Hozier performing his smash single “Take Me to Church” and segueing into “I Put a Spell on You” with Annie Lennox joining him on to stage.

President Barack Obama appeared on the screen during the Grammy awards to bring up a very serious topic of domestic violence. The broadcast was to talk about his new “It’s On Us” initiative to end sexual assault on college campuses.

Following Obama’s speech, a domestic abuse survivor named Brooke Axtell shared her story of an abusive relationship. She shared that no one should be afraid to get the help they need and to get out of any toxic relationships. The woman then introduced Katy Perry’s performance of “By the Grace of God.”.

Picture a gloomy Perry, dressed head to toe in white, performing her post-divorce tune which was written in her “lowest moments after splitting with ex-husband Russell Brand.”

Prince presented the Grammy for Album of the Year. He opened the award by saying “Like books and black lives, album do matter.” Prince read the nominations and presented the award to Beck’s “Morning Phase,” which had him, and many others in the audience surprised. Although it was a surprise, it was well deserved. What was not deserved was Kim Kardashian’s husband to act like a child when Beyoncé did not win, and “jokingly” try to commemorate the stunt he pulled at the 2009 Video Music Awards with Taylor Swift. It seemed like people were amused by this stunt, but Jay-Z’s reaction was caught on camera, and he looked mortified.

Beck went on to accept the award and thanked everyone involved with the production of the record, including his kids who allowed him to keep them awake while he was recording.

Eric Church came on stage to perform his song “Give Me Back My Hometown.” Footage of riots from the Ukraine, Iran, and several other locations played on the video screens. According to Twitter users, people were confused about why there was such a serious scene playing in the background while Church’s lyrics included a reference to Pizza Hut. Evidently, the Grammy for Best Country Album was awarded to Miranda Lambert for her album “Platinum.” Winning was nothing new to Lambert, but she seemed very pleased to be picking up a Grammy for her latest work.

The Grammys had a very “church like” vibe to it, especially since the final eight minutes of the show were straight out of church. Beyoncé performed “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”

Common and John Legend took the stage to perform “Glory.”

However, one of the most talked about things to happen during the Grammys was an ad that included 3/5 of One Direction, promoting the new talk show featuring James Cordon.