Kendrick Lamar Steals The Grammys; Aussies Go Home Empty-Handed

Kendrick Lamar was the man of the hour at this year's 58th Grammys, picking up five Grammys (every award in the Rap category including Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album) as well as delivering a politically charged performance of The Blacker The Berry and Alright.

Lamar was the most nominated artist of the night netting 11 nods, seven of which were for To Pimp A Butterfly, and two with Taylor Swift for Bad Blood. Swift, Alabama Shakes and Ed Sheeran also won multiple awards — Swift picking up the coveted Album Of The Year Grammy for 1989, while Uptown Funk took home Record Of The Year and Sheeran bagged Song Of The Year with Thinking Out Loud.

Our Aussies will sadly be coming home empty-handed, save for what is sure to have been an amazing experience — Courtney Barnett, who was up for Best New Artist, lost out to Meghan Trainor, while Tame Impala (up for Best Alternative Music Album) and Hiatus Kaiyote (up for Best R&B Performance) lost out to Alabama Shakes and The Weeknd respectively. Keith Urban lost his Best Country Solo Performance award to Chris Stapleton. The closest Aussie to win a Grammy is flautist Tim Munro of eighth blackbird, who won the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance Grammy for their 2015 album, Filament. Munro has since left the ensemble but was present at the time of recording. Lismore-born Joshua Blair was also one of the team of producers and audio engineers who bagged a Grammy for Uptown Funk for Record Of The Year as well as Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

A slew of performers took to the stage (almost too many, according to many Twitter users) such as Lady Gaga with her David Bowie tribute, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and Andra Day, The Weeknd and more. Adele was plagued by audio issues, though many commented she slayed through it anyway. Gaga, on the other hand, copped a few negative opinions for her tribute to the late Bowie — but she did have huge shoes to fill.

Meanwhile, Rihanna cancelled her performance at the eleventh hour citing "doctor's orders", while Ariana Grande got booed for singing The Weeknd a capella.

Bluesfest artists (with Lamar at the head, of course) swept the awards with nine wins. Joining Lamar in the winner's circle were D'Angelo with two wins (Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album) and Jason Isbell with another two (Best American Roots Song and Best Americana Album). The Decemberists, Rhiannon Giddens, Elle King and Hiatus Kaiyote were all nominated. 

In perhaps the most bittersweet moment of the Grammys, metal kids August Burns Red got stuck in an elevator prior to the Grammys and were shuttled to the red carpet in none other than a fire truck, only to watch their only award nomination picked up by Ghost for Best Metal Performance.

Head to the Grammys website for full winners.

Comments