The 55th Annual Grammy Awards kicked off on Sunday night with an "Alice In Wonderland"-inspired performance of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift. Not only did Swift's performance start music's biggest night, but "Safe and Sound," her collaboration with the Civil Wars for "The Hunger Games," took home the award for Best Song Written for Visual Media
In addition to Swift, the show celebrated talented artists in true Grammy fashion - incredible duets and collaborations performed live on stage. Nominee Ed Sheeran sang his multi-platinum selling single, "The A Team," with legend Elton John early in the show. Rihanna, Sting, Bruno Mars, Ziggy and Damian Marley teamed up to pay tribute to the late Bob Marley. Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 mixed their respective singles "Girl on Fire" and "Daylight." Other performers included Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Frank Ocean, host LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake in his debut return to music.
Mumford & Sons took home the coveted Album of the Year award, Fun. nabbed Song of the Year and Best New Artist, Goyte was presented with the award for Record of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know" and the Black Keys' "El Camino" was named Best Rock Album. Kelly Clarkson's speech after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for "Stronger" was endearing, quirky and admittedly a little awkward. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The-Dream, Zac Brown Band, Miguel, Carrie Underwood and Adele also walked away with Grammys.
Many were talking about the dress code memo that CBS sent out to attendees in the week prior to the show, restricting what women could and could not wear. But as expected, stars did not seem to take the restrictions too seriously. Katy Perry, Kelly Rowland and Jennifer Lopez were just a few of the women that pushed the skin-bearing limits. Thankfully, no one had any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions and the show carried on smoothly.
Alexandra D'Aluisio can be reached at alexandra.daluisio@student.shu.edu.
