55TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS RECAP

The 55th Annual Grammy Awards kicked off with a bang. Taylor Swift started the show with a performance and then LL Cool J took the stage for hosting, joking and performing duties.

Fun. were the surprise winners of the night, winning for Best New Artist and "We Are Young" winning for Song of the Year. 2013 was a well rounded Grammy Awards show with Gotye and The Black Keys taking home three awards each.

Former American Idols, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood also took home hardware. Kelly earned the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for "Stronger" and Carrie took home the award for both, Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for "Blown Away."

WINNERS

  • Album of the Year: Babel, Mumford and Sons
  • Record of the Year: "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye featuring Kimbra
  • Best New Artist: Fun.
  • Best Country Album: Zac Brown Band, Uncaged
  • Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "No Church In The Wild," Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The Dream
  • Best Pop Vocal Album: "Stronger", Kelly Clarkson
  • Best Rock Performance: Lonely Boy, The Black Keys
  • Best Urban Contemporary Album: Channel Orange, Frank Ocean
  • Song of the Year: "We Are Young," Fun.
  • Best Country Solo Performance: "Blown Away," Carrie Underwood
  • Best Pop Solo Performance: "Set Fire To The Rain," Adele
  • Producer of the Year: Dan Auerbach
  • Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: "Somebody That I Used To Know," Goyte feat. Kimbra
  • Best Alternative Music Album: Making Mirrors, Goyte
  • Best Rock Album: El Camino, The Black Keys
  • Best Rock Song: "Lonely Boy," The Black Keys
  • Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance: "Love Bites (So Do I)," Halestorm
  • Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Kisses on the Bottom, Paul McCartney
  • Best Country Song: "Blown Away," Carrie Underwood
  • Best Country Duo/Group Performance: "Poonton," Little Big Town
  • Best World Album: The Living Room Sessions Part 1, Ravi Shankar
  • Best Rap Song: "Adorn," Miguel
  • Best R&B Performance: "Climax," Usher
  • Best Traditional R&B Performance: "Love On Top," Beyonce
  • Best Rap Album: Take Care, Drake
  • Best Rap Song: "N****s In Paris," Jay-Z and Kanye West
  • Best Rap Performace: "N****s In Paris," Jay-Z and Kanye West
  • Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
  • Best R&B Album: Black Radio, Robert Glasper
  • Best Dance/Electronica Album: Bangarang, Skrillex
  • Best Dance Recording: "Bangarang," Skrillex featuring Sirah
  • Best Regional Roots Album: The Band Courtbouillon, Wayne Toups, Steve Riley & Wilson Savoy
  • Best Folk Album: The Goat Rodeo Sessions, Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile
  • Best Blues Album: Locked Down, Dr. John
  • Best Americana Album: Slipstream, Bonnie Raitt
  • Best Compilation Soundtrack Album: Midnight In Paris
  • Best Latin Jazz Album: ¡Ritmo!, The Clare Fischer Latin Jazz Big Band
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Radio Music Society, Esperanza Spaulding
  • Best Improvised Jazz Solo: "Hot House," Gary Buron & Chick Corea
  • Best New Age Album: Echoes of Love, Oakram
  • Best Comedy Album: Blow Your Pants Off, Jimmy Fallon
  • Best Spoken Word Album: Society's Child: My Autobiography, Janis Ian
  • Best Children's Album: Can You Canoe?, The Okee Dokee Brothers
  • Best Reggae Album: Rebirth, Jimmy Cliff
  • Best Long Form Music Video: "Big Easy Express," Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros & Old Crow Medicine Show
  • Best Short Form Music Video: "We Found Love," Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris

PERFORMANCES

  • Taylor Swift kicked off the show with and Edgar Allen Poe inspired rendition of her nominated song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." The performance had fire, clowns and all the magic that make a Grammy performance special.
  • Elton John and Ed Sheeranperformed together for the first time in an emotional performance of Ed's song, "A Team." Elton played the piano while Ed played the guitar. The pair played as if they sang the song together from it's first conception.
  • Fun. took the stage to perform "Carry On." The stage eventually opened up and the entire group got soaked which was an interesting idea considering most people in the audience were dressed in clothing that probably cost a pretty penny.
  • Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert performed, "Over You." The pair then changed into a more upbeat song, Dierks' "Home."
  • Miguel and Wiz Khalifaperformed Miguel's nominated song, "Adorn" and then presented for Best Country Solo Performance.
  • Mumford and Sonsperformed, "I Will Wait." I mean how can anyone ever have anything to bad to say about these guys? They know what it means to have a flawless performance.
  • The long awaited Justin Timberlakeperformance took us back to when television was black and white. He performed "Suit & Tie," with the "Tennessee Kids" and took us back to a time when performers wore tuxedos no matter where they were performing. Jay-Z brought the house down as he got up to perform with Justin. Justin then took us back to color with "Little Pusher Lover Girl."
  • Maroon 5 and Alicia Keysjoined together to perform, "Daylight" and "Girl on Fire." In classic Grammy fashion, the collaboration was unexpected -- but worked out perfectly.
  • Rihanna performed an emotional rendition of "Stay." Rihanna was joined on stage for the performance by her collaborator Mikky Ekko.
  • Dr. John, Night Tripper and the Preservation Hall Jazz bandjoined the Black Keys while they performed, "Lonely Boy."
  • Kelly Clarkson paid tribute to Patti Page and Carole Kingin her performance while performing, "Natural Woman" and then took on presenting duties for Best Country Album.
  • Bruno Mars performed a tribute to Bob Marley. He kicked off the performance with his own song, "Locked Out of Heaven." Sting joined him on guitar. Bruno then took over guitar duties for Sting's song, "Walking On The Moon." Rihanna, Ziggy Marley and Damian Marleythen hit the stage for "Could You Be Loved." In our opinion, this performance was the best of the night. The entire audience was standing and singing along.
  • The Lumineers performed their nominated song, "Ho Hey" before announcing Jack White'sperformance.
  • Jack White performed, "Love Interruption." with an entire broad of ladies accompanying him on different instruments. He then joined his group for "Freedom at 21."
  • Hunter Hayesperformed his nominated song, "Wanted" while playing the piano. He then introduced Carrie Underwood who performed her Grammy winner, "Blown Away." She then performed "Two Black Cadillacs" while images were projected into her grey ballgown.
  • Elton John, Zac Brown Band, Mumford and Sons, T Bone Burnett, Brittany Howard and Mavis Staplesjoined together to comemerate the artists that we lost this year, as well as the victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting in Connecticuit. The eclectic group sang "The Weight."
  • Frank Ocean performed his song, "Forrest Gump."
  • LL Cool J closed the show with friends that included Travis Barker while he sang, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn."