The city of Los Angeles sparkled more than usual last Sunday night, as artists of all genres emerged onto the red carpet of the Staples Center in their gorgeous gowns and tailored suits for the 55th annual Grammy Awards.
The night started out with a bang when Taylor Swift opened the award show with her hit single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” The circus themed performance was unique and entertaining, and Swift was certainly the ringmaster of the opening act.
The host of the award show, LL Cool J, gave those tuning in an exclusive look at the awards show, uploading pictures from backstage at the Grammys to Twitter. He also announced some tweets about the performances from people like Elton John and Ed Sheeran.
Award-winning artists like Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, to name a few, occupied the Staples Center. Lopez stunned her fans and colleagues when she came out on stage wearing a black Anthony Vaccarello gown with a long slit, revealing some skin.
Pitbull and Lopez presented the award for best pop solo performance to Adele for her hit song, “Set Fire to the Rain.”
“Adele was the highlight of the Grammys for me,” said junior Caity Callons. “I enjoy the fact that Adele is not a show-offy type of artist. Her voice really does the work for her, and she doesn’t need to rely on the spectacle of the event. She is a more subtle performer.”
Although that is true, Adele steered clear from her usual black outfits this year and wore a vintage floral print knee-length dress and accepted her award gracefully.
As always, fashion was crucial at this particular award show; this year’s dress code was elegance. Although a majority of the women at the Grammys followed those instructions, others made daring choices.
Grammy nominee Katy Perry wore a mint-green Gucci dress, which revealed more than necessary. She went on to present the award for best new artist to the band fun.
Performing their hit song “Carry On,” fun. gave a heartfelt performance as fans sang along. The powerful vocals and colorful backdrop made for an elegant show. The group won the award for album of the year and best new artist. Lead singer Nate Ruess joked on stage as the band accepted their awards.
Previous Grammy winner Carrie Underwood won for country solo performance for her song “Blown Away.” Along with winning, she rocked her performance in a fun and unique dress that showed abstract images and changed color.
She accepted her award and thanked every fan that came out in support of all the artists.
“The highlight of the award show for me was Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z’s performance,” senior Vanessa Camargo said. “I enjoyed seeing [Timberlake] come back after years of being low-key.”
Timberlake’s comeback performance had a vintage feel to it, until superstar Jay-Z joined him on stage and rocked the show. Timberlake performed all new songs from his upcoming album “The 20/20 Experience.”
The theme of this year’s show was duets and melodies.
“I’m a huge county fan, so I really enjoyed Miranda Lambert’s performance with Dierks Bentley,” senior Katie Curl said. “They performed a great medley.”
The Grammys definitely played it safe this year, with no bizarre outbursts like Kanye West stealing Taylor Swift’s moment on stage during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, or any devastating moments, like when the 2012 show paid tribute to the sudden loss of Whitney Houston.
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arivera6@ramapo.edu
