A night of glitz and glamour was also a night celebrated by both winners and losers.
The 2011 Grammy Awards aired live from the Staple Center in Los Angeles on February 13, rewarding the best in the music business for their celebrated talent and performances. However, there were few surprises in store.
Many winners seemed obvious: Eminem’s “Recovery” album won awards for Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Album. The artist, who was nominated for 10 awards at this year’s Grammys, walked away with just those two.
The rest of the awards in the rap category were presented to hip-hop mogul, Jay-Z. Walking away with awards for Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song awards, Jay-Z along with Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys dominated the rap group.
Other notable was Usher, who picked up awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Cee Lo Green and his electrifying “F*** You” won Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
Lady Gaga stunned the world with her provocative outfits and political messages. Now she has two Grammys under her belt to prove her talents: winning Best Pop Vocal Album, over the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Bad Romance,” in which she outshone artists like Beyonce.
Though Bruno Mars didn’t win the Record of the Year award he was nominated for, for “Nothin’ on You,” he did walk away with Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, ousting Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.
Rihanna took away the Best Dance Recording award with the help of her song, “Only Girl (In The World)”, dashing the hopes of Lady Gaga (who won in other categories) and La Roux.
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance went to Fantasia, who performed “Bittersweet.” In a category full of divas, Fantasia won against artists such as Jazmine Sullivan, Monica, and Faith Evans.
“Soldier of Love” by Sade dominated the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Though Sade beat artists John Legend and The Roots in this category, the legendary Roots and John Legend took it away for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Album. Legend himself won other awards for Best R&B Song with “Shine.”
The most shocking turn of events came when the winner for Best New Artist was announced. Instead of seeing Drake or Justin Bieber take the Grammy, Esperanza Spalding was crowned the winner. The 25-year-old jazz artist supposedly upset Bieber: in an interview with Chelsea Lately, he admitted he was “disappointed” for losing out, which launched a tirade of hate from Bieber fans on Spalding’s Wikipedia page. On YouTube, Twitter and other social networking sites, disappointed fans spewed out anger at award-winner Spalding.
The voters have spoken and the winners have been announced. It is only a matter of opinion or taste on whether or not these artists “deserved” their awards or not. You decide…
By Catherine
