2016 Grammys: winners and highlights

Taylor Swift’s 1989 won Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammys. But it’s what she said in her acceptance speech that really matters. The speech was an unapologetic feminist moment, and one that slyly referenced a recent dustup between Swift and Kanye West.

“As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success,” she said. “Or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”

The music industry is terrified. That much has been clear for a while.

But it’s rarely been as clear as it was at the 2016 Grammys, which were much more sedate than the awards usually are. Indeed, there wasn’t a truly terrific performance until about halfway through the show — when the one-two punch of Hamilton (live from Broadway) followed by Kendrick Lamar finally brought some energy to the stage — and the night was plagued by sound issues that swallowed the performances of everyone from Taylor Swift to Adele.

Before Alabama Shakes performed at the 2016 Grammys, much of the telecast’s audience might not have been familiar with the bluesy rock band — even though they won four awards and were nominated for Album of the Year. But approximately 10 seconds into their performance, lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard threw her head back to let out a note that proved just how powerful her band can be.

The first Alabama Shakes song I ever heard was “Heartbreaker,“ off their 2012 debut, Boys & Girls. It features swooping licks, woozy guitars, and such powerful lead vocals from then-24-year-old Howard that it feels like her desperate snarl is reaching through the speakers to grab you by the throat.

With any awards show comes a degree of controversy, and the 2016 Grammys were no exception. And one enterprising Tori Kelly fan used a unique technique to share their opinion of the night’s winners.

Kelly was up for Best New Artist, along with Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, and Meghan Trainor. To some people, it seemed strange that Trainor was nominated in the category, given that she was well-known enough to be nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 2015. So it’s no surprise that a few of those people were upset that she won.

At the 2016 Grammys, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift took home some nifty hardware.

Lamar went home with five awards, including one for Best Rap Album. Swift’s three Grammys included Album of the Year, making her the first woman to win the award twice. (She previously won in 2010 for Fearless.) And together, the two won Best Music Video for their hit “Bad Blood.”

The Hollywood Vampires are a rock supergroup — sort of.

Two-thirds of their three-person lineup definitely qualify as rock royalty. Alice Cooper is a heavy metal legend, and Joe Perry is best known as the guitarist of Aerosmith. These two guys don’t need to prove their bona fides.

The nicest thing I can say about Lady Gaga’s Grammys tribute to David Bowie is that I fully believe Gaga believes it was a tribute. She sang David Bowie songs. She dressed in David Bowie costumes. She sounded really good.

But still, the tribute felt a little messy and chaotic.

If you’re not able to get a Hamilton ticket for the foreseeable ever, you can now watch the original cast perform the musical’s opening number, thanks to the 2016 Grammys.

After an introduction from Stephen Colbert (why not?!), the Hamilton cast — led by composer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda — performed “Alexander Hamilton” live from the Richard Rodgers Theatre, the musical’s home since August 2015.

Adele’s voice can channel many different sides of the singer. The heartbreaker. The sultry soul songstress. The chanteuse.

But at the 2016 Grammys, her voice sounded like it rarely does: mortal.

Taking the stage at the Grammys after the sensation known as Hamilton is no easy task. Unless you are Kendrick Lamar.

Lamar, who won Best Rap Album earlier in the evening, performed two songs, “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” On “Blacker,” Lamar’s performance started off icy and minimal — with a haunting image of him popping in and out of shadows, standing at the microphone in chains.

This year, the Grammy Awards didn’t play around.

The 58th annual ceremony enlisted an impressive slate of performers, with Taylor Swift opening the show, Lady Gaga paying tribute to David Bowie, and the Weeknd making his Grammy debut, in addition to Justin Bieber performing his EDM hit “Where Are Ü Now” with Skrillex and Diplo.

The 2016 Grammys telecast was packed wall to wall with performances and tributes. But two of the biggest names — Rihanna and Lauryn Hill — were no-shows.

Rihanna, who released her eighth album Anti in January, was reportedly set to perform “Kiss It Better” on the Grammy stage. But according to TMZ, she had to pull out at the last minute due to a persistent case of bronchitis. One of Rihanna’s representatives confirmed the report to Just Jared, saying that her doctor “put her on vocal rest for 48 hours because she was at risk of hemorrhaging her vocal chords.”

The Grammys got off to a good but unremarkable start. Taylor Swift opened the show with a solid performance of “Out of the Woods,” Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt performed a fine duet, and the Weeknd showed off his dazzling voice.

But the night didn’t officially begin until about 30 minutes into the telecast, when Andra Day took the stage. Day, armed with crackling talent, a dusty voice, and her hit song “Rise Up,” grabbed the night and never let go.

The 58th Grammy Awards kick off tonight at 8 pm Eastern, bringing the usual spate of over-the-top performances, rambling speeches, and award snubs and surprises to your TV screen. They also promise answers to some burning questions: Will leading nominee Kendrick Lamar clean up? Will the cast of Hamilton melt our collective brains with their performance? What will Kanye West do?!

Join culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, culture writers Alex Abad-Santos and Caroline Framke, and copy chief Tanya Pai as we live-blog the ceremony and performances, discussing these questions and much more. You can follow along in real time right here, or you happen to be reading this after the show has ended, you can scroll through the archive below.

The Grammys are the second-most popular awards show broadcast after only the Oscars. And unlike the Oscars, they’re only growing in popularity.

But while lots of people tune in to watch, they often seem to mostly be checking out the high-octane performances. The winners often seem disconnected from musical reality. Ostensibly, the awards honor “artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position.”

The 58th annual Grammy Awards announced its nominations in 83 categories on December 7, 2015. They were led by hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, who pulled in 11 nominations. Taylor Swift and the Weeknd each received seven.

The top four categories reflect a broadly diverse slate of musical artists, from major stars like Swift and the Weeknd to more obscure figures like Alabama Shakes and Courtney Barnett. The Album of the Year category alone features representatives from pop, country, hip-hop, and alternative.