14 DAY TRIAL // Over the weekend, President and CEO of The Recording Academy Neil Portnow promised that the 2015 edition of the Grammy Awards would be a memorable one, seeing how it would be packed with impressive performances and surprising duets, but also with surprise appearances.
He did not lie. The Grammys are the music industry’s biggest night - and the 2015 gala, which wrapped just a short while ago, definitely lived up to that name.
However, while we knew to expect an amazing show as far as live acts went, some of the winners of the night turned out to be huge surprises. Let’s just put it this way: Sam Smith is officially the biggest name on the scene.
Sam Smith, Beck, Eminem, Beyonce win big
Some time before the gala, Sam Smith promised on several occasions that, if he ended up winning Album of the Year for “In the Lonely Hour,” he would personally call Beyonce to arrange a meeting and hand the award over to her, because no one deserved it more than she did, for the work she put in on the studio album named “Beyonce.”
He will have to postpone that meeting for one of the future editions, because he didn’t win. The award surprisingly went to Beck for the album “Morning Phase,” and fans online are none too happy about it: while no one is debating the high quality of Beck’s material, voices are saying that Beyonce or Sam should have won. As in, deserved to win. Cue the “they got robbed!” outraged cries.
Even so, it’s not like either went home empty-handed: Sam won 4 awards, the most of all the nominees, for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Beyonce won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for her collaboration with husband Jay Z, “Drunk in Love,” but also Best Surround Album for the “Beyonce” album.
Surprisingly, Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea, considered favorites as well, won nothing.
Eminem picked up the award for Best Rap Album for “The Marshall Mathers LP2” and Best Sung Collaboration for “Monster,” his most recent duet with pop princess Rihanna.
Speaking of Rihanna, she was on hand to debut live her brand new song, a collaboration with Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney, “FourFiveSeconds.” Kanye also performed solo, thus making his first appearance on the awards circuit after a 6-year hiatus a truly special one.
But we’ll talk about the performances more later on. In the meantime, below is the list of winners in the major categories: check it out to see if your favorite took home a Grammy or not.
The winners
Album of the Year: Beck, “Morning Phase” Record of the Year: Sam Smith, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” Song of the Year: Sam Smith, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)” Best New Artist: Sam Smith Best Pop Vocal Album: Sam Smith, “In the Lonely Hour” Best Pop Solo Performance: Pharrell Williams, “Happy” Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera, “Say Something” Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, “Cheek to Cheek” Best Country Album: Miranda Lambert, “Platinum” Best Country Solo Performance: Carrie Underwood, “Something in the Water” Best Country Duo/Group Performance: The Band Perry, “Gentle on My Mind” Best Country Song: Glen Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” Best Urban Contemporary Album: Pharrell Williams, “G I R L” Best R&B Album: Toni Braxton & Babyface, “Love, Marriage & Divorce” Best R&B Performance: Beyonce feat. Jay Z, “Drunk in Love” Best Traditional R&B Performance: Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm Jamal Warner, “Jesus Children” Best R&B Song: Beyonce feat. Jay Z, “Drunk in Love” Best Rock Album: Beck, “Morning Phase” Best Rock Performance: Jack White, “Lazaretto” Best Metal Performance: Tenacious D, “The Last in Line” Best Rock Song: Paramore, “Ain’t It Fun” Best Rap Album: Eminem, “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” Best Rap Solo Performance: Kendrick Lamar, “I” Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Eminem feat. Rihanna, “The Monster” Best Rap Song: Kendrick Lamar, “I” Best Dance/Electronic Album: Aphex Twin, “Syro” Best Dance Recording: Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne, “Rather Be” Best Gospel Performance/Song: “No Greater Love,” Smokie Norful; Aaron W. Lindsey & Smokie Norful Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song: “Messengers,” Lecrae Featuring For King & Country; Torrance Esmond, Ran Jackson, Ricky Jackson, Kenneth Chris Mackey, Lecrae Moore, Joseph Prielozny, Joel Smallbone & Luke Smallbone Best Gospel Album: “Help,” Erica Campbell Best Contemporary Christian Music Album: “Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong.” For King & Country Best Roots Gospel Album: “Shine for All the People,” Mike Farris Best Improvised Jazz Solo: “Fingerprints,” Chick Corea Best Jazz Vocal Album: “Beautiful Life,” Dianne Reeves Best Jazz Instrumental Album: “Trilogy,” Chick Corea Trio Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: “Life in the Bubble,” Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band Best Latin Jazz Album: “The Offense of the Drum,” Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Best Reggae Album: Ziggy Marley, “Fly Rasta” Best Alternative Music Album: St. Vincent, “St. Vincent” Best American Roots Performance: “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash Best American Roots Song: “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal (Rosanne Cash) Best Americana Album: Roseanne Cash, “The River & The Thread” Best Bluegrass Album: “The Earls Of Leicester,” The Earls Of Leicester Best Blues Album: “Step Back,” Johnny Winter Best Folk Album: “Remedy,” Old Crow Medicine Show Best Regional Roots Music Album: “The Legacy,” Jo-El Sonnier Best World Music Album: “Eve,” Angelique Kidjo Best Latin Pop Album: “Tangos,” Rubén Blades Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album: “Multiviral,” Calle 13 Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano): “Mano A Mano - Tangos A La Manera De Vicente Fernández,” Vicente Fernández Best Tropical Latin Album: “Más + Corazón Profundo,” Carlos Vives Best Children’s Album: “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai),” Neela Vaswani Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: “Frozen” Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: “The Grand Budapest Hotel” Best Song Written for Visual Media: Frozen, “Let It Go” (Idina Menzel) Best Spoken Word Album: Joan Rivers, “Diary of a Mad Diva” Best Comedy Album: “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Mandatory Fun” Best Musical Theater Album: “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” Best Music Video: Pharrell Williams, “Happy” Best Music Film: Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill, “20 Feet from Stardom” Best Instrumental Composition: “The Book Thief,” John Williams (John Williams) Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: “Daft Punk,” Ben Bram, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Kirstie Maldonado & Kevin Olusola (Pentatonix)