The Grammy Awards have wrapped up for the 58th time with another memorable ceremony.
But instead of being noteworthy for the usual controversial moments, celebrity beefs and Kanye West stage invasions, this year was remarkable for the multitude of incredible tributes to fallen musical legends.
We’ve lost a number of heroes over the past few months, and this year’s Grammys ceremony featured touching musical performances in honour of Eagles singer/guitarist Glenn Frey, Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and, of course, the great David Bowie. Late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland was also honoured in the ceremony’s memorial montage.
As well as some stellar tribute performances (including a half-incredible, half-snoozeworthy number that saw Lionel Ritchie pay tribute to himself) there were also a handful of other memorable lung-busters from the likes of Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, alongside some other, more forgettable ones from the likes of Adele and The Weeknd.
On the awards front, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Alabama Shakes, Skrillex and Diplo were the big winners of the night, while our Aussie acts didn’t fair quite so well, with Tame Impala, Keith Urban, Hiatus Kaiyote and Courtney Barnett all falling to other artists in their respective categories.
Catch all of this year’s winners below, alongside some of the most memorable moments of the night, or check out our mates’ at The Fashion Spot’s list of the 10 Most Memorable Red Carpet Moments From The 2016 Grammy Awards.
Awards
Winner: Kendrick Lamar
Congrats again to @kendricklamar for taking home the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/J5iEGLSko9
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 16, 2016
Afer bagging four Grammy Awards before the official broadcast of the ceremony even started, for Best Rap Song (Alright), Best Rap Performance (Alright), Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (These Walls) and Best Music Video (Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood), Lamar then went on to claim the gong for Best Rap Album with To Pimp A Butterfly taking his total to a well-deserved five.
Shoutout to @KendrickLamar and all the artists at the #Grammys working to build a brighter future. #MyBrothersKeeper https://t.co/XM0KwV3jNB
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) February 16, 2016
Winner: Alabama Shakes
.@Alabama_Shakes accepts their GRAMMY for Best Rock Song on #GRAMMYLive at #GRAMMYPremiere https://t.co/nNifrCUeGm pic.twitter.com/5xDC1PN52D
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 15, 2016
Alabama Shakes snagged four trophies this year: Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) and Best Alternative Music Album for Sound & Colour, and Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for Don’t Wanna Fight.
Winner: Taylor Swift
Who’s dancing in their living room right now? #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/Xblq1emYQU
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 16, 2016
Tay Tay took home two Grammys during the pre-ceremony for Best Pop Vocal Album for 1989 and Best Music Video for Bad Blood, before going on to snag the big one — Album Of The Year.
Winner: The Weeknd
A flawless performance by @theweeknd! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/7EG3RUNxxs
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 16, 2016
The Weeknd brought home the good on two of his seven nominations, with awards for Best R&B Performance for Earned It and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Beauty Behind The Madness.
Winner: Ed Sheeran
Congratulations to @EdSheeran for his first GRAMMY win on #GRAMMYLive. #GRAMMYs https://t.co/nNifrCUeGm pic.twitter.com/NNA3nKDNU4
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 15, 2016
Everyone’s favourite ginger tunesmith Ed Sheeran bagged two Grammys, notably beating out both Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar for the Song Of The Year trophy with his hit Thinking Out Loud, while also scoring the Best Pop Solo Performance award for the same song.
Winner: Skrillex & Diplo
.@Skrillex & @diplo accept the #GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording "Where Are Ü Now" #GRAMMYs https://t.co/S9n5j3bRI4 pic.twitter.com/rV4AypHZWC
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 15, 2016
Skrill & Dip double-teamed the Best Dance Recording category for Where Are Ü Now (which means Justin Bieber won too, haters) and also took out Best Dance/Electronic Album for Skrillex And Diplo Present Jack Ü.
Performances
Hit: Lady Gaga’s David Bowie Tribute
Gaga’s whirlwind Bowie medley saw her perform snippets of Bowie songs Space Oddity, Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Rebel Rebel, Fashion, Fame, Let’s Dance and Heroes, all while dressed in some Bowie-inspired outfits. The celebratory performance’s musical director, Chic’s Nile Rodgers, also appeared during the set.
Miss: The Weeknd – I Can’t Feel My Face/In The Night
As well as scooping a few awards during this year’s Grammys, The Weeknd stepped up to perform a medley of two of his biggest tracks, I Can’t Feel My Face and In The Night. Though there’s no denying his talent, we felt like we were constantly waiting for the big moment to come in this performance, and sadly, it never did. Rumour is Lauyrn Hill was supposed to join him as a surprise guest, but scheduling issues meant he was left to fend for himself.
Hit: The Hollywood Vampires’ Tribute To Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister
Introduced by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper’s rock supergroup The Hollywood Vampires (boasting Cooper, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Johnny Depp alongside Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan and former Guns N’ Roses member Matt Sorum) rocked out to their new song As Bad As I Am before covering the Motörhead classic Ace Of Spades.
Catch the footage below from 4:50.
Miss: Adele’s All I Ask Sound Issues
As much as it pains us to write this, Adele was not at the top of her game tonight. That said, her performance of All I Ask was hit by technical issues which affected the sound quality…
…but Adele’s not taking the issues too seriously:
The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. Shit happens. X
— Adele (@Adele) February 16, 2016
Because of it though… I'm treating myself to an in n out. So maybe it was worth it.
— Adele (@Adele) February 16, 2016
Hit: The Eagles’ Tribute To Glenn Frey
As a tribute to their late bandmate, Eagles co-founders Don Henley and Bernie Leadon, guitarist Joe Walsh, bassist Tim Schmit and Jackson Browne took to the Grammys stage for a smooth rendition of Take It Easy.
Hit & Miss: Lionel Ritchie’s Tribute To Himself
Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor, John Legend, Luke Bryan and Tyrese Gibson paid tribute to Lionel Richie two days after he was honoured with the MusiCares Person Of The Year award for his music career and charitable work. Their medley of songs, including Richie’s Hello and Penny Lover as well as The Commodores’ Easy and Brick House, came to an awkward head when Richie joined the performers for a singalong.
Richie’s vocals were on-point, but it felt more like a clapalong than a singalong. Also, Wiz Khalifa’s facial expression in the video is priceless.
Hit: Justin Bieber Performs Love Yourself Before Joining Skrillex & Diplo
Striking a hit for electronic music, Skrillex and Diplo’s Jack Ü project was one of the performance highlights, the duo both playing instruments while being accompanied by Bieber and a string section. Bieber also performed an acoustic rendition of his song Love Yourself.
Hit: Taylor Swift – Out Of The Woods
Tay opened the night with a performance of her 1989 track Out Of The Woods with Fun’s Jack Antonoff on guitar, which was, of course, sensational.
Hit: Kendrick Lamar Literally Sets The Grammys Stage On Fire
Kendrick continued his campaign of Grammy dominance with his performance, delivering a fiery medley of songs both literally and figuratively, setting the stage alight with flames and igniting conversation with his un-apologetically political performance.
Kicking off with The Blacker The Berry and Alright from To Pimp A Butterfly before finishing with a new song, Kendrick’s performance ended with the word “Compton” being shown across an image of Africa. Ooft.
2016 Grammy Awards Winners: The Complete List
Record Of The Year: Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
Album Of The Year: Taylor Swift, 1989
Song Of The Year: Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge – ‘Thinking Out Loud’
Best New Artist: Meghan Trainor
Best Music Video: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood”
Best Rock Song: Alabama Shakes, “Don’t Wanna Fight”
Best Rock Album: Muse, Drones
Best Metal Performance: Ghost, “Cirice”
Best Rock Performance: Alabama Shakes – Don’t Wanna Fight
Best Pop Solo Performance: Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars,”Uptown Funk”
Best Pop Vocal Album: Taylor Swift, 1989
Best Rap Song: Kendrick Lamar, Kawan Prather, Sounwave, Pharrell Williams, “Alright”
Best Rap Album: Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Best Rap Performance: Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Kendrick Lamar featuring Bilal, Anna Wise, Thundercat, ‘These Walls’
Best Dance Recording: Skrillex, Diplo and Justin Bieber – “Where Are Ü Now”
Best Dance/Electronic Album: Skrillex and Diplo, Skrillex And Diplo Present Jack Ü
Best Alternative Music Album: Alabama Shakes, Sound & Color
Best R&B Song: D’Angelo, Kendra Foster, “Really Love”
Best R&B Album: D’Angelo, Black Messiah
Best R&B Performance: The Weeknd – “Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)”
Best Traditional R&B Performance: Lalah Hathaway, “Little Ghetto Boy”
Best Music Film: Amy
Best Musical Theatre Album: – Hamilton The Musical – ‘Hamilton’
Best Blues Album: Buddy Guy, Born To Play Guitar
Best Country Song: Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, “Girl Crush”
Best Country Album: Chris Stapleton – Traveller
Best Instrumental Composition: Arturo O’Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Suite
Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella: “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”
Best Arrangement, Instruments And Vocals: Maria Schneider, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)”
Best Recording Package: Still The King: Celebrating The Music Of Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys
Best Album Notes: Joni Mitchell, ‘Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced’
Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package: The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume Two (1928-32)
Best Historical Album: The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: Shawn Everett, Bob Ludwig (Alabama Shakes) Sound & Color
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: Dave Audé, “Uptown Funk (Dave Audé Remix)”
Best Surround Sound Album: James Guthrie, Joel Plante, Amused To Death
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest, Sylva
Best New Age Album: Paul Avgerinos, Grace
Best Improvised Jazz Solo: Christian McBride, “Cherokee”
Best Jazz Vocal Album: Cecile McLorin Salvent, For One To Love
Best Jazz Instrumental Album: John Scofield, Past Present
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: Maria Schneider Orchestra, The Thompson Fields
Best Latin Jazz Album: Eliane Elias, Made In Brazil
Best Reggae Album: Morgan Heritage, Strictly Roots
Best World Music Album: Angelique Kidjo, Sings
Best Children’s Album: Tim Kubart, Home
Best Spoken Word Album: Jimmy Carter, A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety
Best Comedy Album: Louis CK, Live At Madison Square Garden
Best Latin Pop Album: Ricky Martin, A Quien Quiera Escuchar (Deluxe Edition)
Best Regional Mexican Music Album: Los Tigres Del Norte, Realidades – Deluxe Edition
Best Tropical Latin Album: Ruben Blades with Roberto Delgado & Orchestra, Son De Panamá
Best American Roots Performance: Mavis Staples, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’
Best American Roots Song: Jason Isbell,”24 Frames”
Best Americana Album: Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free
Best Bluegrass Album: The SteelDrivers, The Muscle Shoals Recordings
Best Regional Roots Music Album: Jon Cleary, Go Go Juice
Producer Of The Year, Classical: Judith Sherman
Best Opera Recording: Seiji Ozawa, Isabel Leonard, Dominic Fyfe, “Ravel: L’Enfant Et Les Sortilèges; Shéhérazade”
Best Choral Performance: Charles Bruffy, Phoenix Chorale, Kansas City Chorale, “Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil”
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: Eighth Blackbird, “Filament”
Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Augustin Hadelich, Ludovic Morlot, “Dutilleux: Violin Concerto, L’Arbre Des Songes”
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Joyce DiDonato, Antonio Pappano, Joyce & Tony – Live From Wigmore Hall
Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Stephen Paulus, “Paulus: Prayers & Remembrances”
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Joyce DiDonato, Antonio Pappano, Joyce & Tony – Live From Wigmore Hall
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media: Glen Campbell, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media: Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Best Song Written For Visual Media: Common, Rhymefest, John Legend, “Glory”
Best Gospel Performance/Song: Kirk Franklin, “Wanna Be Happy?”
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song: Francesca Battistelli, “Holy Spirit”
Best Gospel Album: Israel and Newbreed, Covered: Alive In Asia [Live]
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album: Toby Mac, This Is Not A Test
Best Country Solo Performance: Chris Stapleton, Traveller
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Best Country Solo Performance: Chris Stapleton, Traveller
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Best Urban Contemporary Album: The Weeknd, Beauty Behind The Madness
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap, The Silver Lining: The Songs Of Jerome Kern
Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: Jeff Bhasker