The English balladeer swept
up the trio of major prizes at the music industry’s biggest night Album, Record
and Song of the Year along with two other pop awards. Beyonce walked away with
two trophies.
Adele on Sunday triumphed
once again at the Grammys with five awards for her latest blockbuster album of
ballads, but she used her moment in the sun to heap praise on Beyonce, whom she
bested for top honours.
And in a sentimental homage
to late rock icon David Bowie, his final album “Blackstar” earned five awards,
including four posthumous prizes for the singer. Adele, who has stood by her
winning style of heart-wrenching songs of loss and regret, became the first act
ever to sweep the three key categories in two different years. She won Record
of the Year, which recognizes overall song, and Song of the Year, which looks
at songwriting, for her ubiquitous hit “Hello” and Album of the Year for “25.”
Adele made a similar sweep in 2012 with her last album “21” — which remains the
only album to have outsold “25” in the past decade.
Fighting back tears, Adele
took the podium and paid tribute to Beyonce, who had led the night’s
nominations with nine for her politically edgy “Lemonade.” “My idol is Queen
Bey and I adore you. You move my soul every day,” Adele said as she looked at
Beyonce, who was making her first public appearance since announcing she was
pregnant with twins.
She hailed Beyonce’s album
as “monumental and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-baring,”
suggesting it should have won, bringing her rival to tears. Speaking to
reporters after the show, Adele said she had been worried “25” would flop: “I
didn’t really find my voice, and I don’t know if I did find it even at the end.”
It was a happy ending to a night that included a major embarrassment as Adele —
using an expletive that was cut from the television broadcast — insisted on
restarting “Fastlove,” her tribute to late pop icon George Michael.
It was the second straight year
of hiccups for Adele after a microphone fell on the piano during her Grammy
performance a year ago. Shortly afterwards on Sunday, Metallica frontman James
Hetfield discovered that his microphone was off as the band played with Lady
Gaga — who transformed into a metalhead, dancing ferociously before
stage-diving.
– Beyonce’s call for inclusive world – Beyonce
won only for Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Lemonade” and Best Music Video
for “Formation.”
The video marked the most
political statement of Beyonce’s career as she rallied behind the Black Lives
Matter movement with imagery of police officers surrendering as if under
arrest. Reflecting her increasingly experimental side, the 35-year-old singer’s
Grammy performance was a New Age-inspired celebration of motherhood. With hints
of India and ancient Egypt, Beyonce — in a golden crown and cape — sang two new
songs as dozens of female dancers surrounded her with flowers and a spoken word
incantation lauded the power of women.
Accepting one of her awards,
Beyonce said “Lemonade” and the accompanying film were meant to “give a voice
to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history — to confront issues
that make us uncomfortable.”
“It’s important to me to
show images to my children that reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a
world where they look in the mirror — first through their own families, as well
as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys —
and see themselves, and have no doubt that they’re beautiful, intelligent, and
capable,” Beyonce said in one of the night’s more subtle political comments.
The evening saw its most
forceful statement as rapper Busta Rhymes took the stage with hip-hop pioneers
A Tribe Called Quest and emerging artist Anderson .Paak. Denouncing US
President Donald Trump for his efforts to curtail immigration, Busta Rhymes
mocked “President Agent Orange” and shouted, “We come together! We the people!”
Congrats
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