There was lots of controversy and lots of politics. But I don't wanna talk about that. I'm all about the music.
First up was ACDC. I'm not a big fan of them, but they rocked the house and kicked it off to a great start. I can think of no better rock ban to open a music awards show. And better yet, they did it with a little class, a lot of flair and "Highway to Hell."
Host LL Cool J had two good quips about ACDC.
"That was devilishly good," and "Our evening has just begun and we've already taken a little trip on the 'Highway to Hell,' and, trust me, we're only going up from there."
TSwift gave the first award and did a great job - at making the losers feel better about it.
"As a former loser of 'Best New Artist' in 2008, if you do not win this award, it's gonna be fine, just, like, Shake It Off."
My pick was Sam Smith. And surprise: HE WON!
While I love Bastille and HAIM, Sam was the obvious choice. "In the Lonely Hour" is just that good.
The next performance was Ariana Grande's "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart."
I'd never heard the song before. It was just a little bit anticlimactic and a little bit long.
Her annunciation made it hard to understand the lyrics, but it was still a classy live performance by a decent singer.
Following Grande, Jessie J teamed up with Tom Jones to sing "That Loving Feeling."
J and Jones made for a great vocal pairing. I'm not familiar with either artist before this, but their voices worked well together.
I was familiar with the song before and I thought their rendition, while different, was great.
The Best Pop Solo Performance was up next. I love every nominee, so it was hard to choose.
Sam Smith was my pick, but Pharrell won with "Happy."
It wasn't my first choice (or my second), but I'm still "happy" with it. His speech was so humble, specifically toward the other nominations. And even though he said he'd moonwalk off the stage, he didn't.
Miranda Lambert sang about her "Little Red Wagon."
It's definitely not my favorite song on her Platinum album. Still, it was an exciting performance an Blake Shelton was right there cheering her on.
After Miranda, the Best Pop Vocal Album award was up. I LOVE every nomination except Ariana.
That's Miley, ColdPlay, Katy, Ed and Sam. And I loved all those albums.
If it were up to me, Ed Sheeran's X would've won. (It's my current love, playing on repeat in my car and at the office.)
Alas, I do not make the choice and Sam Smith won, which was well-deserved.
I still hurt for Ed, though.
LL then went on to introduce the next artist with the words, "Dreams don't have deadlines. Believe in yourself."
And then there was Kanye.
As a TSwizzle fan, all my readers should probably guess that I don't. Like. Him. (Understatement of the year.)
Nonetheless, he sang "Only One," written in collaboration with Paul McCartney.
The performance had way too much auto time for the style and tempo of the song. Paul McCartney's influence is obvious by the "melody" and lyrics (that didn't include profanity).
Overall, I thought the song was extremely repetitive, which is expected of a Kanye song, but surprising from McCartney.
I was also not a huge fan of Madonna's performance of "Living for Love," though to be fair, I wasn't a big fan of hers before then.
The intro used way too much talking. There wasn't much going on melodically. It was also repetitive.
She put on a show, but left me wanting more musically.
(Then Josh Duhamel tripped.)
Best Rock album went to Beck, and while I have no real love for any if the nominees, I probably would've chosen Ryan Adams or The Black Keys.
Best R&B Performance is also not an area of my expertise. My choice was Beyoncé an "Drunk In Love," and he did win, but I also like Usher and Jennifer Hudson.
Beyoncé thanked the important people: her family and her fans.
The came my favorite part of the first half.
ED SHEERAN, JOHN MAYER, and ELO team up for the BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT!
And yes, I'm totally serious.
Ed and John with Herbie Hancock sang Sheeran's song, "Thinking Out Loud." And it was phenomenal. It's my favorite song of the moment and they did an incredible job.
It was very mellow with Mayer's harmony. And his guitar solo wasn't too over the top for the style of the song.
Jeff Lynn of ELO sang "Evil Woman," which was a personal favorite by the group before.
Paul McCartney was getting into it, so there's that.
ELO then had Ed come out and play "Mr. Blue Sky."
Ed's got the falsetto parts down, too.
Lynn and Sheeran's vocal pairing works well harmonically.
I'd totally go see that pair on tour.
I love that song and they did it really well. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban were appreciating it, too. I think they're good judges of great musicians.
While it was a hard performance to follow up, Gwen and Adam did and it was alright. "My Heart Is Open" is a Maroon 5 song, so Adam did a great job, of course.
I love them both individually, and their voices meshed surprisingly well. But their was some rockiness with Gwen on the first verse, but it was better as she went along.
I just love Adam's range. He owns his falsetto, but he takes full advantage of his comfort zone.
The orchestra accompaniment was great and added depth.
Hozier's "Take Me to Church," was great. I loved the song before and live, it was different, but not in a bad way. It was more raw.
Overall, it was a solid rock'n'roll performance, perfect for an awards show.
Annie Lennox "helped out" on the last chorus of "Church." Then, together, they sang "I Put a Spell On You."
She definitely enjoyed herself.
It wasn't as solid as I hoped, since I love the song. Hozier's guitar solo was sweet relief.
Question: WHAT WAS SHE DOING WITH HER HANDS?
Answer: INTERRUPTING A PERFECTLY GOOD GUITAR SOLO.
Hozier should've sung a bit more of the song with her. But ended on a good note, so there's that. And TSwift was all about it.
The biggest award of the night for me, was the Best Country album.
And the winner was MIRANDA LAMBERT.
YASSSSS!!!
I do like Dierks, Eric and Leann, but I LOVE PLATINUM, especially "Automatic." (And I love Blake, so there's that!) her speech was short and wonderfully sweet.
END OF PART 1!
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