Here's Who Took Home Grammy Gold

Plus the most talked-about moments and performances
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2017 7:16 PM CST
Updated Feb 13, 2017 5:33 AM CST
Here's Who Took Home Grammy Gold
James Corden, left, and Julia Carey arrive at the 59th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday in Los Angeles.   (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

First to take the stage Sunday night at LA's Staples Center for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards before the show heads to New York for 2018: a sparkly, well-received Adele singing her nominated "Hello." Her performance was followed by dapper late-night host and Carpool Karaoke crooner James Corden, who made a comical pratfall entrance, jokingly proclaiming, "This is a disaster!" before breaking into a one-shoed rap to introduce the show. Then the kickoff of the awards, with Jennifer Lopez presenting the first honor of the night for Best New Artist, awarded to Chance the Rapper. Lopez offered a statement about the current political climate, quoting Toni Morrison and noting, "This is precisely the time when artists get to work." The rest of the awards:

  • Daft Punk helped out with the night's first song by The Weeknd, performing the electronica-infused, laser-lit "I Feel It Coming."
  • A blinged-out John Travolta revealed he couldn't read the teleprompter from where he was standing, whipping out his personal cue cards instead to introduce a spunky Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood dueting on "The Fighter."
  • Nick Jonas handed out the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance to Twenty One Pilots—who took off their pants before taking to the stage to fulfill a promise made long ago—for their hit "Stressed Out."
  • Which, of course, led to Corden stripping to his skivvies from the bottom down before introducing Ed Sheeran, who performed a sexy, stripped-down "Shape of You."
  • Best Rock Song went next to the late David Bowie for "Blackstar."
  • Ryan Seacrest introduced nominees Lukas Graham and Kelsea Ballerini performing a seamless mashup of their songs "7 Years" and "Peter Pan," respectively.
  • Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mom, welcomed her daughter to the stage with "a mother's pride," where the gold-adorned star—who recently announced she's pregnant with twins with husband Jay Z—flaunted her baby-bearing belly as she offered quietly powerful renditions of "Love Drought" and "Sandcastles" from Lemonade. Her husband and daughter, Blue Ivy, beamed from the audience.
  • Maren Morris took home the gilded gramophone for Best Country Solo Performance for "My Church."
  • Corden couldn't resist slipping in some of his Carpool Karaoke schtick, pulling J. Lo, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, John Legend, Keith Urban, and Neil Diamond, among others, into a fake car to sing Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." Even Blue Ivy snuck into the car at the end.
  • Lucky for you, "That's What I Like" by Bruno Mars was the next live performance of the night, in which he made crotch-shaking as silky-smooth as the sheets in his lyrics.
  • Country group Little Big Town admitted to a crush on Katy Perry, singing a snippet of "Teenage Dream" before letting Perry (sporting rose-colored glasses) belt out her new "Chained to the Rhythm" featuring Skip Marley.
  • Singer William Bell and guitarist Gary Clark Jr. offered up a little soul to lead into the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, bestowed upon Beyonce for Lemonade. The breathless singer noted she wanted her kids to see their own images mirrored back to them not only from their own family members, but "in the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House, and the "Grammys" and to "have no doubt that they're beautiful, intelligent, and capable." She added, "This is something I want for every child of every race."
  • Alicia Keys, who's got 15 Grammy Awards under her own belt, joined newly anointed winner Maren Morris (earlier for Best Urban Contemporary Album) to perform Morris' "Once."
  • Adele turned out an emotional tribute cover of the late George Michael's "Fastlove," complete with a do-over after what appeared to be technical difficulties.
  • Best Rap Album went to Chance the Rapper for Coloring Book, his second major award of the evening. "I didn't think we were gonna get this one," he said, once more thanking God for his success.
  • Lady Gaga and Metallica pretended they were still in a garage band for their fire-and-smoke-filled performance of the latter's "Moth Into Flame." Frontman James Hetfield's mic wasn't working, but that didn't stop them from (metaphorically) burning the place down—with Gaga even leaping at one point into the "mosh pit" for some crowd surfing.
  • Dwight Yoakam introduced new Grammy winner Sturgill Simpson (Best Country Album for A Sailor's Guide to Earth) to sing his hit "All Around You."
  • Demi Lovato kicked off a Grammy salute to the Bee Gees to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Saturday Night Fever. She was joined onstage by Tori Kelly, Little Big Town, and Andra Day to perform a medley of the group's most popular tunes, with the only remaining Gibb brother, Barry, watching in the audience.
  • Celine Dion presented the Song of the Year award to Adele for "Hello." The singer apologized again for her earlier profanity during the George Michael tribute.
  • A Tribe Called Quest gave a shout-out to member Phife Dawg, aka "The Five-Foot Assassin," who died last March, before kicking off into "Award Tour" and "Movin' Backwards." Busta Rhymes joined the hip-hop group onstage for the most political song of the night, "We the People."
  • The Time and Bruno Mars powered through a high-energy set to honor the late Prince.
  • Tamela Mann and Kirk Franklin joined Grammy winner Chance the Rapper for a spirited "How Great."
  • John Legend and Cynthia Erivo sang the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" to intro the "In Memoriam" section, which honored (in addition to George Michael, Prince, and Phife Dawg): Leonard Cohen, Keith Emerson and Greg Palmer from ELP, Merle Haggard, Sharon Jones, and Debbie Reynolds, among others.
  • Record of the Year went to "Hello" by Adele, who told Beyonce she wanted her to "be my mommy." Adele also took home Album of the Year for 25, after which she once more honored fellow nominee Beyonce for Bey's Lemonade album, which Adele called "monumental" and "soul-baring."
See a complete list of the night's winners here. (More Grammy Awards stories.)

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