Timothy Finn on the Grammys: Kendrick Lamar wins best rap album, and why is Luke Bryan here?
The latest on the 58th annual Grammy Awards being presented Monday in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre:
▪ 8:03 p.m.: Little Big Town sings “Girl Crush,” a country ballad that became famous and infamous for the soft-core homo-erotic theme that it isn’t. (She wants to kiss the girl who’s kissing her ex.)
▪ 8:02 p.m.: Ryan Seacrest arrives (finally). He recognizes the winner of the music educator award, and if you’ve ever had a child learn an instrument in middle school, you know what kind of grace and patience those people exhibit.
▪ 7:46 p.m.: Late-night host James Corden, a Brit without a jot of funk or soul in his bones, joins LL to introduce the tribute to Lionel Richey. John Legend gives “Easy” the perfect treatment. Demi Lovato turns “Hello” into an overdramatic anthem. Bro country king Luke Bryan caused some damage to “Penny Lover,” a song outside his wheelhouse. Then Meghan Trainor had the decency to sing “You Are the Sun, You Are the Rain” the way it was recorded. Tyrese boldly took on “Brickhouse,” one of the best disco-funk anthems ever. Richie emerged from the audience to make things right, leading his uptstarts through “All Night Long (All NIght)” and seemingly wondering, like the rest of us, why the hell Luke Bryan was on stage.
▪ 7:39 p.m.: Gary Sinise and Cam present best country album. If there’s a favorite it’s Chris Stapleton. He wins, but here’s to the Grammys for the field, which included Kacey Musgraves and Ashley Monroe. (And Mr. Abercrombie didn’t win.)
▪ 7:34 p.m.: Ellie Goulding and Andra Day show off their impressive vocal chops during “Love Me Like You Do.” No complaints there.
▪ 7:15 p.m.: Ariana Grande arrives in a gown with a train long enough to carry a bobsled team. She introduces the Weeknd, who is, inexplicably, up for seven Grammys. He sings “In the Night,” a dull, midtempo balld that received some cello accompaniment. His hair looks like a black cat attacking his skull. Nice voice, though.
▪ 7:13 p.m.: Kansas City Chiefs fans mute their TVs when Denver Bronco and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller introduces Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt, who shows up in his Sunday-go-to-meeting white T-shirt and black jeans to perform their hits “Take Your Time” and “Heartbeat.” They both have strong voices, and the performance is appropriately melodramatic, but he looks like he’s waiting on her at Abercrombie & Fitch.
▪ 7:11 p.m.: Lamar wins the first of what should be many awards. He thanks the man above, those who inspired and helped him and, as he music cues him to get off the stage, hip-hop in general.
▪ 7:10 p.m.: Ice Cube and his son O’Shea Jackson present Best Rap Album. If it isn’t Kendrick Lamar for “To Pimp A Butterfly,” this night has taken a sudden and dramatic turn.
▪ 7:08 p.m.: Stephen Colbert plugs his upcoming introduction of a performance by the cast of the Broadway show “Hamilton.” It’s not that funny.
▪ 7:05 p.m.: Host LL Cool J arrives and delivers a sermon on the spirituality of music and swears all the vocal performances are live, not lip-synched. He reminisces about previous Grammy performances.
▪ 7 p.m.: Taylor Swift is knee deep in fog, emerging from the woods. Fame and wealth have not improved her dancing. Adele appeared to be impressed.
▪ 6:45 p.m.: Kansas City is already a winner. Before the network cameras started running, the Kansas City Chorale, along with the Phoenix Chorale, had won the Grammy for the Best Chorale Performance for the recording of Rachmaninoff’s “All Night Vigil.” It’s the Kansas City Chorale’s ninth Grammy.
And “Joyce and Tony — Live From Wigmore Hall," featuring mezzo-soprano and Prairie Village native Joyce DiDonato, won the Grammy for best classical vocal solo album.
▪ 5:45 p.m.: With the Grammy Awards telecast set to begin in just a little more than an hour, the red carpet outside the Nokia Theatre is beginning to look like the 405 Freeway at rush hour.
Security was able to keep early arrivals moving into the theater earlier in the day when the temperature outside reached nearly 90.
But as more throngs arrived, people quickly logjammed the red carpet as nominees stopped to pose for photographs.
The popular spot to stop was against a backdrop of a golden Grammy, ensuring that even those who don’t win a Grammy can say they were there. (AP)
▪ 5:30 p.m.: Justin Bieber can finally say he’s not just a star but a Grammy Award-winning star.
The 21-year-old singer won his first Grammy on Monday, sharing the prize for best dance recording with Skrillex and Diplo for “Where Are U Now.”
Skrillex and Diplo also won the dance/electronic album category with “Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U.”
Bieber wasn’t at the pretelecast ceremony where the award was announced.
Diplo thanked the other artists nominated in both categories and also the recording academy “for supporting awesome music.” (AP)
▪ 5:20 p.m.: Little Big Town’s hit song “Girl Crush” is a big winner at this year’s Grammys, bringing home back-to-back awards at Monday’s pretelecast show.
“Girl Crush” took honors for best country song and best country group performance.
Chris Stapleton won the Grammy for best country solo performance for his song, “Traveller.”
Stapleton was clearly humbled by the award, saying, “I’ve never had one of these, and that’s amazing.”
He added: “I’ve been sitting out in this audience a couple of different times, and the third time’s a charm, I guess.” (AP)
5:05 p.m.: The documentary about Amy Winehouse, which is nominated for an Academy Award, has won a Grammy Award.
“Amy,” directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, won best music film at Monday’s Grammys.
It beat out Roger Waters’ “The Wall,” Foo Fighters’ “Sonic Highways,” “What Happened, Miss Simone?” and “Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown,” which was co-produced by Mick Jagger.
The Netflix-produced “What Happened, Miss Simone?” is also nominated for best documentary feature at the 2016 Academy Awards, which takes place Feb. 28. (AP)
▪ 4:45 p.m.: Singer-rapper Pitbull is set to close out Music’s Biggest Night with a performance, but he started the day by winning his first Grammy Award.
The 35-year-old entertainer made good on his first Grammy nomination — best Latin rock, urban or alternative album — in a tie with Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade.
Pitbull won for his ninth studio album, “Dale.”
Lafourcade won for “Hasta la Raiz.” (AP)
▪ 4:35 p.m.: Fashion-wise, anything goes at the Grammys.
Choices for early arrivals to Monday’s ceremony range from tuxedos to gowns to jeans and sneakers.
Robert Glasper, who wrote and performed on Kendrick Lamar’s nominated “To Pimp a Butterfly,” donned a green military jacket, white shirt and faded jeans.
His jeans fell short of the tops of his black, white and gold sneakers.
He says, “I can’t be gangsta with my ankles showing.” (AP)
▪ 4:15 p.m.: Grammy nominees are really feeling the heat at this year’s awards show, and not just from the competition. It’s 88 degrees on the red carpet.
Some folks are walking into the carpet tent with faces glistening from sweat after getting out of limos and waiting in the hot sun to go through security.
Ladies are discreetly pulling powder puffs out of clutches to pat the sheen away. (AP)
▪ 4:08 p.m.: Charles Bruffy and the Kansas City Chorale win the Choral Performance Grammy for their recording of Rachmaninoff’s “All Night Vigil,” with the Phoenix Chorale. In a statement, Bruffy said, “I could not be more thrilled, and am so proud of these amazing singers who have so willingly gone on this journey with me, and of the overwhelming international reception this album has received.”
▪ 3:55 p.m.: Taylor Swift gave one of the best Grammy Awards acceptance speeches before the show even began.
Swift, who won the first Grammy of the night for her best-selling “1989” album, wasn’t in the audience when the pretelecast trophy was handed out. Guitarist Jack Antonoff, who worked as a producer on the album, called her on the phone as he picked up her trophy.
“What?! We won! We won pop vocal album,” she shouted.
The she asked if fellow nominee James Taylor was in the audience.
Swift said, “Can you tell James Taylor I love him?”
Dozens of Grammy Awards are handed out during a pretelecast before the main show begins. (AP)
This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Timothy Finn on the Grammys: Kendrick Lamar wins best rap album, and why is Luke Bryan here?."