Five Favorite Moments From The 60th Annual Grammy Awards
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Bruno Mars is an amazing performer. He's a complete performer whose singing and dancing is a positive force in the world of music. He deserves arm's full of Grammys.
On Sunday, though, he wasn't the winner the world was waiting for.
After months of billing the 60th edition of music's biggest night as the Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar show, Mars snuck in the back door and took home Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Album Of The Year. Jay, Kung Fu Kenny, and the Despacito booty-short brigade were left on the sideline as the 32-year-old hitmaker stormed the stage over and over again.
Mars has been topping charts for nearly a decade and this is the Grammys, who are habitual offenders when it comes to things like this, so it can't be a total shock. Still, an anti-climatic Album Of The Year win was a surprising, but fitting, end to an uneven night.
Along the way, it was an evening with performances. From Kendrick's open to Kesha's moving moment, here are five of our favorites from the 2018 Grammys.
Kendrick Lamar
How did you not think the night belonged to Kendrick Lamar with a show opening performance like that? Packed with political imagery, Dave Chappelle interludes, and a sparing cameo from Bono and The Edge – Lamar set the tone for the evening. Unfortunately, it would take the broadcast about a half-hour to catch its breath. The pure skill on display as a wordsmith was most impressive, but the imagery echoed even louder.
Loyalty by @kendricklamar featuring @rihanna wins the #GRAMMY for Best Rap/Sung Performance! pic.twitter.com/H9wTN3PSu9
— CBS (@CBS) January 29, 2018
Childish Gambino
Standing on a circle in a sea of people, Childish Gambino still seemed intimate in his performance of "Terrified." Flooded in blue lights and steaming with soul, the singer-slash-everything shined bright. He was only eclipsed by the young singer and actor JD McCrary who stole the end of the performance with some soulful runs of his own.
Worth watching a second time, a third time, a fourth time...on repeat. @donaldglover performing "Terrified" at the #GRAMMYs https://t.co/l1qhtOXyVg
— Recording Academy (@RecordingAcad) January 29, 2018
Pink
With just a week to go before her turn singing the National Anthem, Pink has her "standing and singing" game down. Without the swinging ropes and high-flying dramatics, Pink stood still and let her voice do all of the work. The singer delivered an emotional rendition of "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" and was a stand out amongst some of the other evening's theatrics.
We're tearing up over here. @Pink's emotional and powerful #GRAMMYs performance was top notch. ????
— Recording Academy (@RecordingAcad) January 29, 2018
Bruno Mars And Cardi B
If you didn't know Cardi B before Sunday, you surely do now. Ripped from the frames of In Living Color, the rapper and Grammy's big winner put on an awesome performance of their new "Finesse (Remix)." Mars manages to really get in an era and swim around in it, bringing out your favorite aspects of it. That's perhaps why he was such a favorite with the voters this year.
It's a throwback kind of night with @BrunoMars! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/43N4Mu6Ini
— CBS (@CBS) January 29, 2018
Kesha
The most powerful moment of the 60th Annual Grammy Awards started a long time ago. A lengthy legal battle between Kesha and her producer Dr. Luke came into a collision with the current conversation of #TimesUp and it made for a beautiful moment on the Grammy stage. Performing her song "Praying" alongside Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, and several others – the singer fought back tears as she delivered an anthem of surviving. Her own struggles have become part of an exposed epidemic over the past few months, but tonight she triumphed.
RT if you're crying like @HaileeSteinfeld after that moving @KeshaRose + @cyndilauper + @Camila_Cabello + @imjmichaels + @AndraDayMusic performance! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/pH2pA8u5Kv
— CBS (@CBS) January 29, 2018
