Meanwhile at the show, Lil Wayne, who was much-hyped for being nominated for a whopping eight awards, walked away with four–including Best Rap Album.
Here’s a rundown of what was hot and what was not at this year’s Grammys:
HOT- Jennifer Hudson’s dazzling, emotional performance of “You Pulled Me Through.” Tissue anyone?
NOT- Justin Timberlake and Al Green’s performance. Why were they trying to out falsetto each other? And why weren’t Boyz II Men the featured singers with Green? This whole performance was just annoying and weird.
HOT- Coldplay and Jay-Z performing “Lost” although Jay got “lost” from the stage rather quickly.
NOT- Jazmine Sullivan not winning Best New Artist. Adele is a great singer, but Sullivan’s album is better.
HOT- Lil Wayne actually winning half of the awards he was nominated for. We were afraid the Grammys were going to pull an India.Arie circa 2002.
NOT- Stevie Wonder using auto-tunes at the beginning of this unnecessary Jonas Brothers collaboration. Have to admit though, the kids don’t sound half bad.
HOT- M.I.A. performing “Swagga Like Us” on her due date—literally.
NOT- The Doublemint gum commercial starring Chris Brown. He’ll be losing that endorsement first thing this morning.
HOT- Jennifer Hudson winning Best R&B album, giving her both an Oscar and a Grammy.
NOT- Alison Krauss and Robert Plant walking away with the Album of the Year award. Very anti-climactic. See below for a complete list of winners. –jh
For more behind the scenes Grammy coverage, stay tuned to rollingout.com/tv.
Album of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand
Best Rap Album: Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: John Mayer, “Say”
Record of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Please Read This Letter”
Best New Artist: Adele
Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva la Vida
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Rich Woman”
Song of the Year: Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group: Sugarland, “Stay”
Best R&B Album: Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson
Industry Icon Award: Clive Davis
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin (Death Magnetic, Home
Before Dark, Mercy, Seeing Things, Weezer)
Best Rock Song: Bruce Springsteen, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”
Best Rock Instrumental Performance: “Peaches En Regalia,” Zappa Plays
Zappa, Featuring Steve Vai & Napoleon Murphy Brock
Best Metal Performance: Metallica, “My Apocalypse”
Best Hard Rock Performance: The Mars Volta, “Wax Simulacra”
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Kings of Leon,
“Sex on Fire”
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: John Mayer, “Gravity”
Best Alternative Music Album: Radiohead, In Rainbows
Best Pop Vocal Album: Duffy, Rockferry
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, “Chasing Pavements”
Best Pop Instrumental Album: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Jingle All The Way
Best Pop Instrumental Performance: Eagles, “I Dreamed There Was No War”
Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books): Al Gore, An
Inconvenient Truth (Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood)
Best Contemporary R&B Album: Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains
Best R&B Song: Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent” (Mikkel S. Eriksen, T.E.
Hermansen and S. Smith, songwriters)
Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Chrisette Michele Featuring
will.i.am, “Be OK”
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: Al Green Featuring Anthony
Hamilton, “You’ve Got the Love I Need”
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Al Green Featuring
John Legend, “Stay With Me (by the Sea)”
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: Alicia Keys; “Superwoman”
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent”
Best Rap Song: Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major, “Lollipop” (D.
Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer and R. Zamor,
songwriters)
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle Featuring Kanye West, “American Boy”
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Jay-Z and T.I. Featuring Kanye
West and Lil Wayne, “Swagga Like Us”
Best Rap Solo Performance: Lil Wayne, “A Milli”
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Natalie Cole, Still Unforgettable
Best Country Album: George Strait, Troubadour
Best Country Song: Sugarland, “Stay” (Jennifer Nettles, songwriter)
Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Honoring the
Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947
Best Country Instrumental Performance: Brad Paisley, James Burton,
Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and
Steve Wariner, “Cluster Pluck”
Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison
Krauss, “Killing the Blues”
Best Male Country Vocal Performance: Brad Paisley, “Letter to Me”
Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Carrie Underwood, “Last Name”
Best Reggae Album: Burning Spear, Jah Is Real
Best Hawaiian Music Album: Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho, Ikena
Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Robert Plant and Alison
Krauss, Raising Sand
Best Traditional Folk Album: Pete Seeger, At 89
Best Traditional Blues Album: B.B. King, One Kind Favor
Best Contemporary Blues Album: Dr. John and the Lower 911, City That Care Forgot
Best Long Form Music Video: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Runnin’
Down a Dream”
Best Short Form Music Video: Weezer, “Pork and Beans”
Best Classical Album: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Producer of the Year, Classical: David Frost
Best Classical Crossover Album: The King’s Singers, Simple Gifts
Best Classical Contemporary Composition: John Corigliano, composer,
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (JoAnn Falletta,
conductor)
Best Classical Vocal Performance: John Corigliano, Mr. Tambourine Man:
Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
Best Small Ensemble Performance: Spotless Rose, Hymns to the Virgin Mary
Best Chamber Music Performance: Elliott Carter, Pacifica Quartet,
String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra): Gloria
Cheng, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski
Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra): Hilary
Hahn, Schoenberg, Sibelius: Violin Concertos (Esa-Pekka Salonen,
conductor)
Best Choral Performance: Sir Simon Rattle, “Symphony of Psalms”
Best Opera Recording: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Best Orchestral Performance: Shostakovich, “Symphony No. 4,” Bernard
Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
Best Engineered Album, Classical: Traditions and Transformations:
Sounds of Silk Road Chicago
Best Electronic/Dance Album: Daft Punk, Alive 2007
Best Dance Recording: Daft Punk, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”
Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: Kirk Franklin, The Fight of My Life
Best Traditional Gospel Album: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans
Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Gaither Vocal Band,
Lovin’ Life
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: CeCe Winans, Thy Kingdom Come
Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album: TobyMac, Alive and Transported
Best Gospel Song: Kirk Franklin, “Help Me Believe”
Best Gospel Performance: Mary Mary, “Get Up”
Best Latin Jazz Album: Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz
Orchestra, Song for Chico
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Monday
Night Live at the Village Vanguard
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group: Chick Corea and
Gary Burton, The New Crystal Silence
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo: Terence Blanchard, soloist, “Be-Bop”
Best Jazz Vocal Album: Cassandra Wilson, Loverly
Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Randy Brecker, Randy in Brasil
Best New Age Album: Jack DeJohnette, Peace Time
Best Comedy Album: George Carlin, It’s Bad For Ya
Best Polka Album: Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra, Let the Whole World Sing
Best Contemporary World Music Album: Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain,
Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo, Global Drum Project
Best Traditional World Music Album: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ilembe:
Honoring Shaka Zulu
Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys,
Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Best Native American Music Album: Come to Me Great Mystery—Native
American Healing Songs
Best Norteño Album: Los Tigres del Norte, Raíces
Best Banda Album: Joan Sebástian, No Es de Madera
Best Tejano Album: Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution, Viva la Revolucion
Best Regional Mexican Album: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Amor,
Dolor Y Lágrimas: Música Ranchera
Best Tropical Latin Album: José Feliciano, Señor Bachata
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album: 45, Jaguares
Best Latin Pop Album: Juanes, La Vida…Es un Ratico
Best Musical Show Album: In the Heights
Best Musical Album for Children: They Might Be Giants, Here Come The 123s
Best Spoken Word Album for Children: Bill Harley, Yes to Running!
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): Natalie Cole,
“Here’s That Rainy Day” (Nan Schwartz, arranger)
Best Instrumental Arrangement: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman,
“Define Dancing” (From Wall-E) (Thomas Newman, arranger)
Best Instrumental Composition: “The Adventures of Mutt” (From Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
Best Surround Sound Album: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition;
Night on Bald Mountain; Prelude to Khovanshchina
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: MGMT, “Electric Feel,” Justice
Remix (Justice, remixers)
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: The Raconteurs (Joe Chiccarelli,
Vance Powell and Jack White III), Consolers of the Lonely
Best Historical Album: Art of Field Recording, Volume I: Fifty Years
of Traditional American Music (Documented by Art Rosenbaum)
Best Album Notes: Miles Davis, Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary
Collector’s Edition (Francis Davis, album notes writer)
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: In Rainbows
Best Recording Package: Metallica, Death Magnetic (Bruce Duckworth,
Sarah Moffat and David Turner, art directors)
Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual
Media: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, “Down to Earth” (From Wall-E)
Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other
Visual Media: James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or
Other Visual Media: Juno
