While everyone has their own taste when it comes to music, many people are able to extend past their favorites and appreciate the best music of the year. The Grammys give the top musicians and artists of the decade a reason to gather in the same place and celebrate the best of the previous year. Awards that are given range from “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” to, the ever anticipated, “Album of the Year” award.
February 15, 2016 marked the 58th Grammys with stunning performances by highly honored Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood. Kendrick Lamar walked away from the 2015 Grammys with 2 awards; one for “Best Rap Song” and one for “Best Rap Performance” both for his hit song, “i.” This year however, he blew the rap competition out of the water by not only racking up an incredible 11 nominations for awards but again taking the two previously mentioned awards for his new song “Alright,” winning “Best Rap Album of the Year” and delivering the best live performance of the night.
While Kendrick was the most nominated and winningest artist of the evening, he did not manage to win “Album of the Year.” The honor of the year’s most popular goes to Taylor Swift with her “1989” album. Taylor’s “1989” album faced stiff competition for the title of year’s best album, going up against Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color,” Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which won Kendrick “Best Rap Album,” Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller,” and The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness.”
However, unsurprisingly for some, upon accepting her award Taylor took the opportunity to publicly defend herself from Kanye West who recently, once again, decided to voice his low opinion of Taylor Swift by saying that by interrupting her speech at the VMAs in 2009 to point out that Beyoncé had “one of the best music videos of all time,” he made her famous. In her acceptance speech she could not have been clearer; when you succeed it is because of the hard work that you have put in and if someone attempts to take it away from you, wear your pride even more.