Grammys 2015 winners: Best songs, albums, artists
SAM Smith won big but Kanye West won over the fans at the Grammys, making jokes on stage, smashing his performances, and even smiling on the red carpet.
SAM Smith beat his pop pals Taylor Swift and Beyonce to dominate this year’s Grammy Awards.
Smith won Best New Artist as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year for his global hit Stay With Me.
The proudly gay star took the opportunity to continue to be open about his life and act as a role model.
“I want to thank the man who this record is about, who I fell in love with last year,” Smith said in an acceptance speech.
“Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.”
Smith was beaten to Album of the Year by Beck’s critical favourite Morning Phase, which also won Best Rock Album.
Kanye West, displaying a previously hidden sense of humour, jumped on stage to mock-protest Beck beating Beyonce in a flashback to his infamous stage invasion with Taylor Swift.
That feud, however, was over with Swift and West posing for a photograph backstage.
Beck seem confused as West went towards the microphone, then moved away laughing.
West also got to perform twice, first his ballad for his daughter, Only One, then teaming with Paul McCartney and Rihanna for their surprise collaboration FourFiveSeconds.
The 2015 Grammys had a serious tone — with President Obama appearing to promote a campaign aiming to eradicate violence against women, then domestic violence survivor Brooke Axtell sharing her story.
Many noted the irony of the fact the Grammys themselves were promoting the attendance of woman beater and singer Chris Brown at the event.
Beyonce performed Martin Luther King’s favourite song, gospel anthem Take My Hand, Precious Lord while Common and John Legend closed proceedings with their emotional duet Glory, from the equal rights movie Selma.
Australian rapper Iggy Azalea missed all the major awards she was nominated for, while Adelaide’s Sia again performed with her face to the wall, joined by regular dancer Maddie Ziegler as well as comedian Kristen Wiig.
Other performers included jazz buddies Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Annie Lennox guesting with Irish singer Hozier, while Ed Sheeran was joined by ELO singer Jeff Lynne. The awards also saw the return of Madonna with a fierce performance of Living For Love, overshadowing acts like Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani and Ariana Grande opting for dull ballads.
AC/DC opened the show with new song Rock or Bust and old classic Highway to Hell, although shots from the audience showed singer Brian Johnson had the lyrics on teleprompter.
Grammy Awards 2015: Full list of winners
Record of the Year: Sam Smith, Stay With Me
Album of the Year: Beck, Morning Phase
Song of the Year: Sam Smith, Stay With Me
Best New Artist: Sam Smith
Best Pop Solo Performance: Pharrell Williams, Happy
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Say Something, A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Cheek to Cheek
Best Pop Vocal Album: In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
Best Dance/Electronic Album: Syro, Aphex Twin
Best Rock Performance: Jack White, Lazaretto
Best Metal Performance: Tenacious D, The Last in Line
Best Rock Song: Ain’t It Fun, Hayley Williams and Taylor York
Best Rock Album: Beck, Morning Phase
Best Alternative Music Album: St Vincent, St Vincent
Best R & B Performance: Drunk In Love, Beyonce
Best R & B Song: Drunk In Love, Beyonce
Best Urban Album: Pharrell Williams, Girl
Best Rap/Sung collaboration: Eminem and Rihanna, The Monster
Best Rap Album: Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP2
Best Dance Recording: Rather Be, Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: Bass and Mandolin
Best R & B Album: Toni Braxton and Babyface: Love, Marriage & Divorce
Best Rap Performance: I, Kendrick Lamar
Best Rap Song: I, Kendrick Lamar
Best Solo Country Performance: Carrie Underwood, Something In The Water
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Gentle on my Mind, The Band Perry
Best Country Song: I’m Not Gonna Miss You, Glen Campbell
Best Country Album: Platinum, Miranda Lambert
Listen to the Grammy winning songs in our Spotify playlist
The moments that made music’s big night
3.30pm: Gwyneth Paltrow was the latest celebrity to introduce a performer by making sure we all know that they’re friends. So Gynnie’s now public pal Beyonce performed Martin Luther King’s favourite song, the gospel anthem Take My Hand, Precious Lord. If there were a handful of people out there who still didn’t get the fuss over Beyonce’s voice, then they were no doubt converted into the Beyhive on the spot. Bey then introduced John Legend and the woefully underrated Common who performed Glory, their powerful collaboration from the movie Selma.
3.10pm: Sam Smith completes a sweep of the 2015 Grammys, also picking up the final award for Record Of The Year.
He thanked the man who inspired the song. “Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys,” Smith said with a big grin.
2.58pm: In one of the most crowded fields, Sam Smith takes out the coveted Song Of The Year, beating his buddy Taylor Swift.
Smith and his co-writers had to give Tom Petty and ELO frontman Jeff Lynne a cut of the royalties for the song after agreeing the chorus bore a striking similarity to I Won’t Back Down.
2.48pm: Introduced by Shia LaBeouf reading out a letter from her husband Erik Anders Lang, Adelaide’s coolest export Sia Furler performed her global hit Chandelier. Well, again, she sang beautifully while staring at a wall, and young dancer Maddie Ziegler showed Grammy viewers that some pop stars are happy to let other people shine. It was nice seeing Sia bopping along from behind; imagine if one day we actually get to see her hitting *those* notes in the song’s chorus.
2.41pm: Prince walks onstage to a standing ovation. Everyone needed to stretch their legs after about an hour of boredom.
A massive upset with Beck winning Album of the Year for Morning Phase.
Kanye West mock followed Beck on stage to protest Beyonce’s loss — having famously interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance of the MTV VMAs award for Best Video in 2009 to protest Beyonce not winning for Single Ladies. Prince also took his moment on the Grammys stage to make a subtle political statement, introducing the Album of the Year with “Like books and black lives, albums still matter.”
2.32pm: She may not be performing because she is focusing on her upcoming tour but Taylor Swift is getting plenty of stage and camera time. She presented Sam Smith with his best new Talent award earlier and then introduces his performance of Stay With Me with Mary J Blige. It would have been a stroke of genius to get Tom Petty to perform it with him.
2.30pm: Introduced by his “good friend” Taylor Swift, Sam Smith put on a powerhouse performance of his biggest hit Stay With Me. Unselfishly, Smith turned the song into a duet with his hero Mary J Blige. While Smith performs all the vocals heard in the recorded version of the song, for the award show a choir came in to help a brother — and sister — out. Ironically Jeff Lynne, who was recently given a co-writing credit on Stay With Me, performed earlier in the show. Lynne co-wrote Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down, which a court found to be musically similar to Stay With Me.
2.20pm: Kanye West returns to the stage with his new musical muse Paul McCartney and Rihanna to perform their unlikely collaboration FourFiveSeconds, already a global hit. McCartney was erroneously deemed a newcomer being given his break by Kanye earlier this year; the rapper’s fans will see that the Beatle has been around the block a few times. While RiRi and Kanye traded verses and joined in the chorus, it looked like Sir Paul was having problems with some of the lyrics and may have been miming his vocal contributions — or perhaps his microphone wasn’t turned on. Maybe he was just singing very quietly. Nevertheless he was one of the many performers Taylor Swift fist pumped to.
2.05pm: The Grammys seem to have forgotten about all the great pop songs released this year, with more ballads and standards than standout performances. Usher is now performing with harp accompaniment.
2.02pm: Usher didn’t get to do a new song, rather got time to showcase his vocal skills rather than his dancing skills on a cover Stevie Wonder’s If It’s Magic. It comes from Songs in the Key of Life, the classic Wonder album Grammys are honouring this year. Wonder made a cameo playing harmonica.
1.58pm: Only half way through the marathon awards and Tony Bennett is up past his bedtime to perform the title track of his jazz collaboration Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga. Gaga, who’d matched Bennett’s slightly orange skin shade, is right at home singing standards.
1.46pm: After a passionate speech about violence against women Katy Perry performed By the Grace of God, the emotional ballad she wrote after her divorce from Russell Brand. It was a moment for Perry to remind that behind all the novelties, bells and whistles she has a strong voice.
1.33pm: Last year’s most popular, and most overplayed song, Happy, got a dramatic reimagining from Pharrell Williams. Joined by Chinese piano legend Lang Lang and soundtrack maestro Hans Zimmer, Pharrell dressed like a bell boy while gospel singers filled the aisles of the Staples Centre, no doubt causing the fire marshalls a major headache.
Eagle eyed viewers applauded Pharrell Williams for sneaking in a “Don’t Shoot” moment during his performance of Happy.
1.30pm: Former brother boy bander Nick Jonas and All About That Bass singer Meghan Trainor presented Best Country Album to Miranda Lambert for Platinum. It was a good bet considering she performed earlier.
“I love y’all,” she signed off.
1.25pm: Irish musician Hozier, who’s only had one hit, was promoted early to Grammy performer. He was joined by Annie Lennox, who elevated his hit Take Me To Church, before she got to belt out I Put a Spell On You and show exactly how it’s done, with Hozier wisely giving her time to shine.
Hozier gets a curls makeover for his debut Grammys performance. They look soft and bouncy.
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1.23pm: An Australian has shared in a Grammy win today with hugely respected producer M-Phazes acknowledged for his work on Eminem’s Best Rap Album Marshall Mathers LP2. M-Phazes co-produced the opening track Bad Guy.
1.21pm: This moment:
1.15pm: Maroon 5’s Adam Levine was joined by Gwen Stefani, still defying gravity at 45, to perform My Heart is Open. The track was co-written by Australia’s Sia and is on the latest Maroon 5 album V.
Gwen Stefani had an outfit change to a red gown, to perform on stage with Levine. She seemed to channel Angelina Jolie’s infamous Oscars leg.
1.11pm: Proving Ed Sheeran has conquered America, after performing Thinking Out Loud with John Mayer and Herbie Hancock, he got to perform a second song. Sheeran was joined by ELO genius Jeff Lynne for 1975’s Evil Woman, released nearly two decades before Sheeran was born. Lynne also got to bust out another ELO song with Sheeran — the classic Mr Blue Sky, from 1977. It’s incredible exposure for Lynne and ELO who are about to be discovered by a whole new young generation of Sheeran fans. Did someone tell Sir Paul McCartney to sit down while he was chair dancing along to ELO and a song he knows?
1.05pm: Ed Sheeran performed Thinking Out Loud with John Mayer adding jazzy guitar noodling and vocals. The pair have become pals, despite Mayer’s complicated romantic history with Sheeran’s BFF Taylor Swift. It’s one of the few occasions we’ve seen Sheeran performing with a band — his upcoming Australian tour will be just him on stage with his loop pedal.
1.04pm: Beyonce wins Best R & B Performance for Drunk In Love, the song’s second gong.
“I would like to thank God ... this has been such an incredible year. I would like to thank my beloved husband, I love you deep and my Blue, who’s watching at home,” Beyonce said.
The megastar looked sleek and J. Lo-esque in a plunging black floor-length gown, with her signature flowing locks.
12.58pm: In case you forgot since AC/DC’s performance, rock is also on show at the Grammys.
Beck’s Morning Phase won Best Rock Album. It was an excellent record but not particularly rocking.
12.49pm: Miley Cyrus and Nicky Minaj introduce the “bad ass” Madonna. Madge kept the matador theme from her Living For Love video for her return to the Grammys stage. The fresh faced 56 year old seemed to be getting some vocal assistance by singing over her own voice in the chorus, a fairly regular occurrence for pop acts on award shows. The soulful backing vocalists and gospel choir gave the song Like a Prayer flashbacks.
12.44pm: Kanye West, with his trusty autotune machine, kind of sang his new hit Only One. The ballad was written with Paul McCartney who couldn’t be seen on the performance but was seated in the front row. Maybe Kanye didn’t want to be upstaged by a Beatle. West should be congratulated for not causing any trouble on the stage.
West swapped his red carpet look for a maroon tracksuit (yes, a hoody and trackies) to perform the song.
12.40pm: The Bee Gees are this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipients. Barry Gibb presented best Pop Vocal Album to winner Sam Smith for his stellar debut In The Lonely Hour.
Smith made a heartfelt speech saying he had tried everything to get his music out, including losing weight, before he made the album.
“It wasn’t until I started being myself that the music started to flow and people started to listen,” he said.
12.27pm: The hotly contested Best Pop Solo Performance is won by Pharrell Williams for Happy. It looks like he might stage a sweep for the night, already picking up Best Music Video.
“Thank you guys so much, this is super awkward,” Williams said, clearly shocked and humbled that he won.
12.25pm: UK The Voice judges Sir Tom Jones and Jessie J manage to steal some of the oxygen out of the room with their lacklustre performance of the Righteous Brothers hit You’ve Lose That Lovin’ Feeling.
12:16pm: Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick, wearing a black power suit, introduced Ariana Grande, who is singing her power ballad Just a Little Bit of Your Heart, complete with smoke machines.
12.08pm: Taylor Swift presented the first Grammy of the evening for Best New Artist to Stay With Me singer Sam Smith. “Oh my gosh. Mum and Dad, I won a Grammy,” Smith said after the ubiquitous industry thank yous. It was an early disappointment for Aussie rapper Iggy Azalea, who was also nominated.
12.05pm: Aussie rockers AC/DC have gotten the Grammys off to a rocking start with a high-voltage performance of their hit Highway to Hell.
12.01pm: The unlikely pairing of veteran crooner Tony Bennett and pop diva Lady Gaga proved a winner for Grammy voters who gave their Cheek To Cheek covers effort the Best Traditional Pop Album award.
One of the early shock winners was Great Big World and Christina Aguilera who beat a superstar field in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with their mega hit ballad Say Something.
WHO MADE THE BEST ENTRANCE?
Sia made her entrance at the 2015 Grammy Awards under a blonde wig with child dancer Maddie Ziegler — the star of her hit video Chandelier.
Madonna shocked, showing off her assets in a daring dress and fishnets — complete with exposed bum.
In a throwback to her ’80s Like a Virgin era (and with shades of her Erotica styling), Madge showed her bare bottom in a black G-string on the rug.
She arrived with her Rebel Heart album collaborator Diplo, whose facial expression said it all.
Friends are inquiring where to get the bum hammock Madonna is wearing #GRAMMYs
— Kathy McCabe (@McCabeRadar) February 9, 2015Kim Kardashian wore a glittering gold robe reminiscent of Liz Taylor designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, which was picked out by her husband, Kanye West.
Speaking to Us Weekly, Kardashian revealed Kanye styled her for the Grammys.
“He did. He styled me, he picked the look ... I’m so lucky,” Kardashian said.
West added that he is “excited to sing from my heart”.
Kim was on trend for the return of cleavage to the awards season, joining Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga in bringing books back.
Nicki Minaj went high fashion in a dark Tom Ford black dress, complete with OTT cleavage and fringing.
Gwen Stefani favoured Versace, wearing an Atlier Versace jumpsuit, which she called “artwork”, according to People.
Rihanna seemed to be inspired by flamingoes, wearing a strapless tiered Giambattista Valli dress she found on the internet.
.@LadyGaga's stuns in a super-plunging @Brandonvmaxwell gown - you like? #GRAMMYs #helloGRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/3FDD7SyjVp
— HELLO! Canada (@HelloCanada) February 9, 2015This picture has 0 Grammys 😞 pic.twitter.com/JpeDJhhVMV
— Nisa (@Nisonce) February 9, 2015Lady Gaga turned heads in a sparkly silver frock, which has been labelled “elegant” by fashion commentators, but nearly busted out of it while dancing to AC/DC.
Taylor Swift showed off her pins in a daring Ellie Saab halter dress, complete with thigh-high split.
Ariana Grande’s brother Frankie and her singing partner on the smash hit Bang Bang, Jessie J, also turned heads.
Diva popette Ariana Grande wore a Versace gown with thighs-split (a trend of the night) when she walked the carpet.
The Vampire Diaries actor Kat Graham showed off her sheer side, as did Jessie J and Madonna, while Miley Cyrus and John Legend’s wife, model Chrissy Teigen, flashed flesh in cut outs.
Unlike Madge, they kept their cut-outs and sheer panelling classy.
The rock star look of black on black was an early trend on the red carpet, with indie darlings The Black Keys and Sam Smith, along with Fashion Police presenters Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne all embracing the style.
Here are some of the red carpet highlights, including the fashion hits and misses.
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