From Lady Gaga to Maren Morris, the 59th annual award show saw plenty of performances. Some good, a lot bad.
Lady Gaga and Metallica
Lady Gaga and Metallica are the latest victims of the Grammys equipment curse. James Hetfield’s mic didn’t work. Also, the whole performance was an utter mess.
Sturgill Simpson
Yeah, we Googled him too.
Kelsea Ballerini and Lukas Graham
Their mashup of Ballerini’s “Peter Pan” and Graham’s “7 Years” didn’t mix well. It sounded clumsy and messy.
Hodge Podge Tribute to the Bee Gees
Little Big Town, Demi Lovato, Tori Kelly and Andra Day came together for a Bee Gees tribute and the 40th anniversary of “Saturday Night Fever,” and it made us not want to stay alive.
Adele
Adele opened the Grammys with her hit “Hello,” but she didn’t sound on key during it. Her song accompanying George Michael’s tribute reel was a lot more powerful, especially when she interrupted her performance because she wanted to give Michael the tribute he deserves.
Maren Morris and Alicia Keys
Acoustically, the two sounded amazing together, but all in all, their performance was, well — blah.
Gary Clark Jr.
His performance with William Bell was kind of a snooze-fest compared to Katy Perry’s and Beyonce’s (duh).
Bruno Mars
The normally-hyped up singer kept it mellow at the Grammys, singing his newest single “That’s What I Like” with The Hooligans. It was not the best choice given that he could’ve sung “24K Magic” to get the audience going. No one really knew his newest song enough to liven up Staples Center.
Katy Perry
“Chained to the Rhythm?” More like “Chained to this Endless Performance.” The only good news is that she changed from her awful Tom Ford red carpet ensemble to a flattering pantsuit. Well, and the staging and visuals were nice, with a nod to the U.S. constitution while wearing an armband that said “Persist” on it.
Ed Sheeran
The Grammys marked Ed Sheeran’s long-awaited return to the stage after dropping two new singles, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill” last month. And he killed it singing “Shape of You” with an acoustic guitar.
The Weeknd
His performance with Daft Punk was visually mesmerizing and The Weeknd sounded amazing.
Anderson .Paak and A Tribe Called Quest
Easily the biggest political statement of the evening, Q-Tip and company decried “Agent Orange,” referring to President Trump, in a rousing set that had Beyonce and Jay-Z dancing in the aisles.
James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke
Shortly after he told audiences that CBS is making him don a cardboard cutout for his segment “Carpool Karaoke” because they feared no one would recognize him otherwise, he beckoned Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Neil Diamond, Jason Derulo, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw to sing “Sweet Caroline,” which got the whole Staples Center singing along. And the cutie that is Legend didn’t know the words.
Chance The Rapper and Kirk Franklin
Chance The Rapper, who received the Best New Artist award, took to the stage to perform songs of his new mixtape, “Coloring Book.” A full choir was present, and many took to Twitter to compliment the performance.
Bruno Mars’ Prince Tribute
Morris Day, Jellybean Johnson, and Jerome Benton of The Time opened the tribute to Prince before Bruno Mars took the stage. People on Twitter freaked out, calling it “one of the best tributes” they had ever seen and thanking Mars for honoring the late singer in such a great way. The performance was lively, and Mars channeled the “Purple Rain” singer wearing a purple sequin suit against a purple backdrop.
John Legend and Cynthia Erivo’s In Memoriam performance
Legend and Erivo’s beautiful performance while we mourned the people who died this year left many in tears.
Beyonce
“She see it, she want it, she stunt, yellow bone it, She dream it, she work hard, she grind ’til she own it.” That’s all.
