Lea Michele, left, presents Beyonce with the award for best female pop vocal performance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. In background right is Ricky Martin. (Associated Press)
CBS packed in an entertaining show Sunday night with the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. The red carpet sparkled with stars, and the critics came out in full swing to dub this year’s hit and miss outfits.
Always on the best-dressed list is the talented songstress and performer Beyonce Knowles. Beyonce was the talk of the night with ten Grammy nominations. Setting the record with six wins in one year, her awards included Song Of The Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and four awards in the R&B subcategory.
Following close behind Beyonce was another young female artist, country-pop crossover Taylor Swift who picked up four Grammy’s. At 20, Swift is the youngest artist ever to take home Album of the Year, for Fearless. Swift beat out other large contenders in the category, including Lady Gaga for Fame, Beyonce for I Am…Sasha Fierce and The Black Eyed Peas for The E.N.D.
Another big win of the night was Record of the Year, which went to the Kings of Leon for “Use Somebody.”
An evening littered with entertainers and tributes made for a spectacular night. Lady Gaga opened the festivities with true flamboyance, roaring out her No. 1 “Poker Face.” Before the performance was over, Lady Gaga was facing Sir Elton John on a conjoined piano as the pair sang a duet.
Other astonishing performances of the night included Pink, who sang “Glitter In the Air” in a daring performance. She suspended herself above the crowd, spinning upside down and bathed in dripping water alongside professional acrobats.
In a tribute to the King of Pop, Celine Dion led an all-star cast in a 3-D video rendition of “Earth Song” that opened with the voice of the late Michael Jackson; a powerful harmony from Usher, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson chimed in. Directly following the performance, Jackson’s children, Prince and Paris, accepted their father’s Lifetime Achievement Award and delivered speeches vowing to continue their father’s devotion to love.
Bon Jovi and his bandmates took the stage for the first time at the Grammy’s, singing three songs, one of which was selected by fans on CBS.com; their No. 1 classic “Livin’ On A Prayer.” Wyclef Jean, a native of the earthquake-devastated Haiti, took the stage to thank the United States for their generous relief efforts and spoke words of encouragement in Creole. He introduced Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli who sang a graceful duet of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
The star-studded event closed with an exuberant and foretelling acceptance speech from Taylor Swift for the Album of the Year.
“This is the story…when we are 80 years old, and we are telling the same stories over and over to our grandkids, and they are so annoyed with us, this is the story we are going to be telling over and over again: In 2010 that we got to win Album Of The Year at the Grammy’s!” Swift said.
