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'Fill The Silence': Grammy Artists Welcome Zelensky Speech With Music (VIDEO)

'Fill The Silence': Grammy Artists Welcome Zelensky Speech With Music (VIDEO)

Las Vegas (AFP) - Industry watchers had tipped pop superstars as the likely big winners at Sunday's Grammys -- but jazzman Jon Batiste instead was crowned king, taking home five awards including the prestigious Album of the Year prize.

At the star-studded gala, held for the first time in Las Vegas, Silk Sonic -- the 70s revival project of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak -- won all four of their potential prizes, including both Record and Song of The Year for their single Leave The Door Open.

Olivia Rodrigo didn't win as many awards as predicted -- but the Filipino-American pop phenom did scoop the coveted prize for Best New Artist, and two trophies in the pop category.

That meant the winners of all four top Grammys were people of color -- a milestone for the Recording Academy, which for years has faced criticism that it disproportionately honored white men.

The night was heavy on performances but also held a number of somber moments -- most notably when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a pre-taped plea for support.

Zelensky's message led into a performance by John Legend of the song Free, with the help of Ukrainian singer Mika Newton, musician Siuzanna Iglidan and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk.

"On our land, we are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs. The dead silence," Zelensky said.

"Fill the silence with your music, fill it today to tell our story."

Despite being among the night's most nominated artists, pop juggernauts Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber and Lil Nas X were shut out completely.

But they all staged impressive performances: Eilish belted out "Happier Than Ever" in a lightning-backed downpour, Bieber delivered a crooned-up version of "Peaches," and Lil Nas X hosted an unabashed celebration of sexuality and queerness set to a medley of his songs including "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)."

Rodrigo also gave an impressive rendition of her viral teen breakup hit "drivers license," showcasing her impressive vocals against a set mimicking a gloomy night in suburbia.

"This is my biggest dream come true," the 19-year-old said as she accepted the gramophone for Best New Artist.

Big winner Batiste also performed, showcasing his elasticity as an artist by starting at the piano for a classical piece before transitioning to a rhythmic dance number.

The night's leading nominee with 11 nods, Batiste had already scooped four ahead of his big sleeper win for the year's best album.

But he looked shocked when presenter Lenny Kravitz declared him the night's big hit.

"I really don't do it for the awards," the 35-year-old Batiste told journalists backstage. "Music is something that's so subjective."

Earlier onstage, the artist born into a prominent New Orleans musical dynasty told a cheering audience: "I believe this to my core: there is no best musician, best artist, best dancer, best actor."

"I just put my head down and work on the craft every day," he continued. "It's more than entertainment for me -- it's a spiritual practice."

Diverse field

The timing of the Grammys just one week after Will Smith stunned the world by slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars added an extra layer of unpredictability to what is already usually one of the edgier nights on the showbiz awards circuit.

That fiasco prompted some gentle zings over the course of the night Sunday, but antics were virtually non-existent at what ultimately proved to be a heavily scripted show.

Music's chaos agent Kanye West stayed home even as he won two Grammys, one of which he shared with Jay Z.

Among the diverse crop of winners was Doja Cat, who took home her first ever Grammy in the pop category -- which she had to sprint back to accept after dipping out of the gala for a bathroom break.

The Brooklyn-based Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab, who won her first Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for "Mohabbat," and had also been in the running for Best New Artist, told journalists the win left her "beyond thrilled."

And it was a special night for folk icon Joni Mitchell, who won the prize for Best Historical Album days after being honored at a moving tribute gala Friday.

She made a rare public appearance onstage, looking fly in a red leather beret, sunglasses and floral pants, her long blonde hair in pigtails.

Once Sidelined, Hip-Hop Finds Grammy Spotlight With Kendrick Lamar

Once Sidelined, Hip-Hop Finds Grammy Spotlight With Kendrick Lamar

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Kendrick Lamar heads into Monday’s Grammy awards with a leading 11 nominations and the chance to make history if he wins album and song of the year, categories that have traditionally shunned hip-hop artists.

In the 58-year history of the Grammy awards, only two hip-hop albums have ever won the music industry’s top prize for album of the year; Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2004. No rap song has won song of the year.

But while the odds are historically stacked against him, Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” album was both a commercial and critical success.

Butterfly, which sold around 5 million copies in the United States last year, topped Rolling Stone’s best albums of 2015. The magazine called it “a sprawling epic that’s both the year’s most bumptious party music and its most gripping therapy session.”

In Butterfly, 28-year-old Lamar from Compton, California, the home of hip-hop pioneers NWA, fused poetry with jazz, blues and funk in songs that mix social issues with homages to black artists like Miles Davis and Tupac Shakur.

Lamar’s anthemic “Alright,” about the obstacles that face black youths in America, is nominated for four Grammys including song of the year.

“Kendrick Lamar is stepping up to be an important voice in a very essential way,” said Brian Hiatt at Rolling Stone. “It would be a very exciting thing if Kendrick actually won album of the year.”

Lamar faces stiff competition from Taylor Swift’s 1989, country artist Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, R&B breakout The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness and blues-rock group Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color.

The Grammy awards, decided by members of the Recording Academy rather than the public, have often shunned popular performers in favor of lesser-known musicians regarded as more artistic.

Last year, indie-rocker Beck was the surprise album of the year winner, prompting rapper Kanye West to declare afterward that Beyonce had a better album.

“The Recording Academy nominates music that they feel is the best music released in the eligibility period over the past year, so it’s not based on what’s the most-streamed or who’s the most-liked on (social media),” said Keith Caulfield, co-director of Billboard Charts.

The eligibility period for this year’s Grammys runs between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015, which disqualified Adele’s multimillion selling November release 25. Adele, however, is scheduled to perform on Monday.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Photo: Kendrick Lamar at the Orange Stage, Roskilde Festival July 3, 2015. REUTERS/Simon Laessoee/Scanpix Denmark

Daft Punk Gets Lucky As Grammys Celebrate Gay Marriage

Daft Punk Gets Lucky As Grammys Celebrate Gay Marriage

Los Angeles (AFP) – French electro duo Daft Punk won big at the Grammys and rappers Macklemore and Ryan Lewis honored same-sex marriage as they were named best new artist at music’s version of the Oscars.

The helmeted Daft Punk — who took home four major trophies including the coveted best album and best record prizes — got music’s A-listers dancing in the front row at the 56th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, performing their catchy hit “Get Lucky.”

New Zealand teen songstress Lorde won the other major prize of the night, best song for her mega-hit “Royals.”

Macklemore and Lewis staged the evening’s most powerful moment, when 33 couples were married in a mass wedding as the Seattle pair performed “Same Love,” a rap defense of gay rights.

Daft Punk praised the mass wedding of gay and heterosexual couples as “fantastic” in a message read by their songwriter, Paul Williams, who shared the best album Grammy for “Random Access Memories.”

“What they wanted me to say is that as elegant and as classy as the Grammy has ever been, is the moment when we… saw all those wonderful marriages and that same love,” he said, to thunderous applause.

After Daft Punk’s five awards, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won four. Pharrell Williams took home four as well, including producer of the year.

Justin Timberlake won three awards including best music video, on which Jay-Z shared a credit, but Taylor Swift went home empty-handed.

Other winners included Paul McCartney, who played a new song with a band including fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr on drums, while John Lennon and George Harrison’s widows also joined the show, in a rare Fab Four family reunion.

The first major award of the night went to Macklemore & Lewis for best new artist, while their debut album “The Heist” won best rap album. They also won for best rap song and best rap performance for “Thrift Shop.”

“First and foremost I want to thank our fans, the people that got us on this stage. Before there was any media, before there was any buzz about us, before there was a story, there was our fans,” said Macklemore.

Along with the prestigious best album and best record Grammys, Daft Punk won best dance/electronica album for “Random Access Memories,” best pop duo/group performance for “Get Lucky,” and best engineered non-classical album.

The Grammys show, music’s biggest night, kicked off with a sultry performance of “Drunk in Love” by the first couple of hip-hop, Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Lorde was next up with “Royals,” the song of the year, while she also took home the statue for best pop solo performance.

“Thank you everyone who has let this song explode. Because it’s been mental,” the 17-year-old said.

Swift gave an energetic rendition of “All Too Well.” Rockers Imagine Dragons collaborated with Kendrick Lamar on a spirited mash-up of their hits “Radioactive” and “m.A.A.d city.”

The show featured other eye-popping collaborations, including the unlikely pairing of rockers Metallica with acclaimed Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Other performers included a who’s who of music’s finest, ranging from Katy Perry and Robin Thicke to veterans Carole King — who played a duet with Sara Bareilles — and Madonna, who joined the “Same Love” mass wedding performance.

British songstress Adele, who swept the Grammys top prizes in 2012, shared a prize Sunday, for best song written for visual media for 007 movie “Skyfall,” with songwriter Paul Epworth.

Led Zeppelin won best rock album for “Celebration Day,” recorded at their 2007 live reunion show at London’s O2 Arena, in the pre-telecast section of the show, while the Gipsy Kings and South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo shared the world music Grammy.

The three-and-a-half-hour show at the Staples Center ended with a rock supergroup featuring Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham.

But the mass wedding left the biggest buzz, as artists and music fans headed off into the late LA night.

“We’re very proud of what happened tonight,” Recording Academy head Neil Portnow told reporters. “I think it’s as elegant and meaningful and powerful as we wanted it to be.”

AFP Photo/Robyn Beck