Once again, I'm liveblogging the Grammys. Check back often for commentary, analysis and to see how I fared with my predictions.
7:01 Is it me or does Lady Gaga's eye make-up look very similar to Sting (as in the pro wrestler). Pretty great choice to have her kick off the show though. Much better than U2 last year who weren't even nominated or had an album out at the time.
7:04 Elton John joins Gaga onstage for a duel piano duet of "Your Song" after a spirited performance of "Poker Face." Elton is "Gaga-ed" up, more than less. He's got that glitter shades and smeared make-up over his face. If there's any male singer who can get away with being "Gaga-ed" up, it's Elton John.
7:07 The sad thing about that performance is that it didn't even come close to one of Gaga's best, but it's probably one of the more interesting performances the Grammy telecast has had in sometime.
7:09 Colbert is going kind of hit-or-miss for me. The crowd doesn't seem to be that into it. And wow, Jay-Z finally cracked a smile!
7:12 First award of the night and it's for Song of the Year. I called Taylor Swift in my predictions. Still feel confident about it.
7:13 And Beyonce takes Song of the Year! The implications for this are huge. "Single Ladies" is probably the first uptempo song to take this category and everyone thought it was misplaced here and should have been in Record of the Year. This win shows that the Beyonce machine might be too strong and we could see wins for her in Record of the Year and Album of the Year tonight.
7:17 So I know that the songs for the American Idiot musical will be enjoyable, but seeing them perform with the band isn't making me all that more anticipated to watch. I firmly believe in a separation of authentic rock bands and musical casts.
7:21 Not saying that I don't enjoy rock musicals, but I think the performances would have been better served by both parties being kept separate.
7:24 When In Rome is that CBS Corp. movie, right? Figures.
7:26 Was Miranda Lambert not eligible this year? She should have totally gotten a nod for Best Country Album.
7:27 Don't look that surprised Taylor.
7:29 Very interested to see how Beyonce incorporates these soldiers into her performance. Please let it be relevant.
7:30 I really wish Beyonce had chosen a better song to perform instead of "If I Were A Boy." And did she just totally pick up a dude out the audience with one hand? Nothing boyish about that. That is pure manliness.
7:32 Beyonce sounds pretty, dare I say it...fierce singing Alanis' "You Oughta Know." Best part of the performance so far.
7:33 And was that a bit of "California Love" she snuck in there?
7:38 Still trying to figure out the purpose of all the soldiers she had onstage. Did they switch genders? Were they secretly girls before? Hermaphrodites?
7:41 I'm really captivated by this Pink performance. She's a seasoned performer, so it's no surprise.
7:43 I'm also impressed with Pink's vocal control while swinging upside down. But to be fair, if this performance were at an exotic nightclub, I wouldn't be paying attention the vocals as much.
7:46 Best New Artist time. I picked Keri. Zac Brown Band or MGMT as spoiler.
7:47 Darn, I knew I should have picked Zac Brown Band. Keri failed to get any major nods in her genre while Zac Brown Band got all kinds of country nods. Also, you can't discount the country voting contingent in the NARAS.
7:54 I know MF Doom is somewhere looking at will.i.am's mask and having a fit.
7:57 The Black Eyed Peas' performance was nice to look at it, but nothing really memorable except for robots in disguise. Or am I just suffering from "I Gotta Feeling" fatigue?
8:05 Pretty surprised that the Jonas Brothers showed their face at the Grammys after last year's awkwardly abysmal performance of "Superstition" with Stevie Wonder. I'm shuddering just thinking about it.
8:07 You can just feel the momentum of the show dying with this Lady Antebellum performance. Not like they're terrible or anything, it's just been one high-octane song after another. And then this.
8:10 Looking at the starpower for these Best Comedy Album nominees and I can see why they decided to televise this category. Colbert is the winner obviously.
8:13 Record of the Year will be up next. I still like Taylor's chances even though she lost to Beyonce in Song of the Year. "Single Ladies" was massive, so that's understandable. "Halo?" Not so much. Also, I think Kings of Leon are pretty much eliminated from this category as well, even though rock acts generally win this category.
8:17 And rock wins again for Record of the Year. It happens every year. All the pop acts cancel each other out and a rock song wins. Kinda surreal seeing Kings of Leon win it because I remember their first album back in 2002 or 2003.
8:22 Jamie Foxx is kinda ruining one of my favorite songs of 2009. And he's the one who recorded it. Everything feels so disjointed.
8:24 Doug E. Fresh has just proven that he can save just about any performance. Just about. And then Slash comes out for a guitar solo along with some random girl dancing. Overkill much?
8:27 My soul is still pretty hurt that "Use Somebody" won.
8:33 I consider Green Day's win for Best Rock Album an upset. Dave Matthews Band got the Album of the Year nod, which made them the favorite and U2 was also nominated, and we all know how much the Grammys love them. DMB now has no shot at winning AOTY. We may finally get a relevant winner this year.
8:37 Hey, this Zac Brown Band performance is actually kind of fun. Pretty rollicking and easy-going. And ooh, now we've got a hoedown at the end on a acoustic guitar! They're definitely making the most of this opportunity.
8:43 So apparently the random girl in the Jamie Foxx performance was his mentally disabled sister. Good for Jamie, but my opinion on the performance remains unchanged.
8:47 Really not feeling this Taylor Swift performance. I just wish that Stevie Nicks would shove her off the stage and take over. It just sounds so dull.
8:50 Not really digging this vaudeville/bluegrass version of "You Belong With Me." It would probably sound better stripped down but it feels like it's being robbed of its charms in this setting.
9:04 My eyes need a second to recover from looking at my computer monitor with 3-D glasses. First off, the 3-D was a total rip-off. But then again, after Avatar, everything else will pretty much pale in comparison. As far as the performance, Celine, Usher, J-Hud, Carrie Underwood and Smokey all did a great job, but I just wish there had been a more suitable MJ song for them to perform. Just didn't feel like the best choice for five singers. Or maybe the problem was that there were five singers.
9:08 Wait, Bon Jovi is playing three songs? And only one is before 1995? Bathroom break.
9:10 I think that Bon Jovi have a lot of quality singles, but sorry, haven't liked anything they've done since I was in grammar school. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland showing up is sort of a pleasant surprise.
9:14 And in a shocker, the fans pick "Livin' On A Prayer."
9:18 "Run This Town" takes home Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Probably the only way that Kanye would've gotten an award this year since he was obviously blackballed by the VMA incident.
9:24 When are they gonna hand out some more awards? It feels like there's been nothing but performances tonight.
9:27 Blige and Bocelli are so damn effortless. Just wish they had a better arrangement of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to work with. Too much bombast and it's turning me off.
9:37 President of NARAS is giving his speech. Has it really been 10 years since the Latin Grammys started? I feel old.
9:40 Portnoy gets the first "zzzzz" of the night.
9:41 Haven't paid much attention to Dave Matthews Band for sometime, but they're giving a very spirited performance. It feels like one of the most alive of the night.
9:46 Lea Michele was in Spring Awakening? Gonna have to check the liner notes in my CD.
9:48 Beyonce's win over Taylor Swift in Best Pop Vocal Female Performance all but guarantees a Beyonce win for Album of the Year. Taylor was seen as her main competition in Song of the Year, Record of the Year and this category right here. The only spoiler could be Dave Matthews Band, but they failed to win Best Rock Album, their only other nomination. Really don't see Black Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga being much of a factor.
9:55 Never realized how refreshing it would be to see Maxwell on a Grammy stage.
9:58 This Maxwell and Robert Flack performance sounds so smooth. Roberta looks a little lost though. It doesn't look natural on her part.
10:06 Okay, so that Les Paul tribute was pretty fun, if too short. It made me smile, which is something I haven't done much of tonight.
10:09 Okay, so I'm looking at some of my tweets and several people seem to think that the vocalist in that tribute was lip-synching. It did sound a little too perfect now that I think about it.
10:14 Hey censors at CBS, I'd at least like to hear half of Lil' Wayne's verse.
10:17 No seriously, CBS. Cut it out. It's getting out of hand. Aside from that, I'm feeling the energy from Drake, Lil' Wayne and Eminem.
10:18 As I figured, Eminem's verse from "Forever" stole the show. Just bonkers.
10:26 Taylor takes Album of the Year in what has to be an upset. She seemed like a frontrunner before the awards were handed out, but according to how the night was going, this looked like Beyonce's night.
10:29 I can't even begin to understand how Taylor's win happened without winning any of the general categories or Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Either ROTY or SOTY would have probably seemed more appropriate since "You Belong With Me" was so huge and Swift's content is probably considered too lightweight to win the night's biggest award. There is no doubt that she is popular and Fearless could have probably benefitted from being a multiple-format album (country, pop, adult contemporary), which only increased its exposure. Fearless also maintained its popularity throughout the entire year and has the kind of legs that hasn't been seen for a while (63 straight weeks in the top 20 and counting). Its success is too rare in the industry nowadays and Album of the Year might have been seen as her reward from the NARAS.
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