Adele on Sunday triumphed once again at the Grammys with
five awards for her latest blockbuster album of ballads, but she used her
moment in the sun to heap praise on Beyonce, whom she bested for top honors.
The English balladeer swept up the trio
of major prizes at the music industry’s biggest night — Album, Record and Song
of the Year — along with two other pop awards. Beyonce walked away with two
trophies.
And in a sentimental homage to late rock icon David Bowie,
his final album “Blackstar” earned five awards, including four posthumous
prizes for the singer. Adele, who has stood by her winning style of
heart-wrenching songs of loss and regret, became the first act ever to sweep
the three key categories in two different years. She won Record of the Year,
which recognizes overall song, and Song of the Year, which looks at
songwriting, for her ubiquitous hit “Hello” and Album of the Year for “25.”
Adele made a similar sweep in 2012 with her last album “21” — which remains the
only album to have outsold “25” in the past decade.
Fighting back tears, Adele took the podium and paid tribute
to Beyonce, who had led the night’s nominations with nine for her politically
edgy “Lemonade.” “My idol is Queen Bey and I adore you. You move my soul every
day,” Adele said as she looked at Beyonce, who was making her first public
appearance since announcing she was pregnant with twins. She hailed Beyonce’s
album as “monumental and so well thought out, and so beautiful and
soul-baring,” suggesting it should have won, bringing her rival to tears.
Speaking to reporters after the show, Adele said she had been worried “25” would
flop: “I didn’t really find my voice, and I don’t know if I did find it even at
the end.” It was a happy ending to a night that included a major embarrassment
as Adele — using an expletive that was cut from the television broadcast —
insisted on restarting “Fastlove,” her tribute to late pop icon George Michael.
It was the second straight year of hiccups for Adele after a
microphone fell on the piano during her Grammy performance a year ago. Shortly
afterwards on Sunday, Metallica frontman James Hetfield discovered that his
microphone was off as the band played with Lady Gaga — who transformed into a
metalhead, dancing ferociously before stage-diving. – Beyonce’s call for
inclusive world – Beyonce won only for Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Lemonade”
and Best Music Video for “Formation.”
The video marked the most political statement of Beyonce’s
career as she rallied behind the Black Lives Matter movement with imagery of
police officers surrendering as if under arrest.
Reflecting her increasingly experimental side, the
35-year-old singer’s Grammy performance was a New Age-inspired celebration of
motherhood. With hints of India and ancient Egypt, Beyonce — in a golden crown
and cape — sang two new songs as dozens of female dancers surrounded her with flowers
and a spoken word incantation lauded the power of women. Accepting one of her
awards, Beyonce said “Lemonade” and the accompanying film were meant to “give a
voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history — to confront
issues that make us uncomfortable.”
“It’s important to me to show images to my children that
reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a world where they look in the
mirror — first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl,
the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys — and see themselves, and have no
doubt that they’re beautiful, intelligent, and capable,” Beyonce said in one of
the night’s more subtle political comments. The evening saw its most forceful
statement as rapper Busta Rhymes took the stage with hip-hop pioneers A Tribe
Called Quest and emerging artist Anderson .Paak. Denouncing US President Donald
Trump for his efforts to curtail immigration, Busta Rhymes mocked “President
Agent Orange” and shouted, “We come together! We the people!” – Posthumous
honors for Bowie – “Blackstar” — the final album of Bowie, who always enjoyed
more recognition in his native Britain — won in all five categories for which
it was nominated, including Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Music Album.
Bowie had won only one Grammy in his lifetime before Sunday.
And “Blackstar,” which he released two days before his death last year from an
undisclosed battle with cancer, was controversially passed over for Album of
the Year honors.
Bowie showed himself innovative to the end by collaborating
with the avant-garde jazz saxophonist Donny McCaslin. While not predicting how
Bowie would have felt, McCaslin told reporters: “When the press was hearing the
album before it came out, I could see it meant a lot to him.” Chance the
Rapper, 23, picked up three prizes including the closely watched Best New
Artist award for his gospel-infused hip-hop.
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