Aphex Twin, Beck, St. Vincent and more take home Grammys
Although endlessly baffling to non-American audiences, the Grammys are apparently A Big Deal and therefore worth reporting on.
Some people that won awards at last night's ceremony: Sam Smith (he took home the award for Record of the Year with Stay With Me – and basically every other category), Beck (Album of the Year), Clean Bandit (Best Dance Recording), Toni Braxton and Babyface (Best R&B Album), St. Vincent (Best Alternative Rock Album), and Aphex Twin (yes, really – for Best Dance/Electronic Album – which we forgot he was even nominated for).
Sadly, FKA twigs and Jesse Kanda didn't win in the Best Album Package that they were up for an award in.
There was some drama about Beck winning – Kanye West wasn't happy about it. "Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé," he said in a post-Grammys interview, "At this point we tired of it because what happens is when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats in music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration."
Browse the full (and noticeably very white) list of winners below.
Record of the Year
Sam Smith – Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)
Steve Fitzmaurice, Rodney Jerkins & Jimmy Napes, producers; Steve Fitzmaurice, Jimmy Napes & Steve Price, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer Label: Capitol Records; Publishers: Sony/ATV Songs LLC obo Naughty Worlds Ltd./Universal-Polygram Int. Tunes, Inc. obo Salli Isaak Songs, Ltd./Universal Polygram Int. Tunes, Inc. obo Method Paperwork
Song of the Year
Sam Smith – Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)
James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith, songwriters
Album of the Year
Beck – 'Morning Phase'
Beck Hansen, producer; Tom Elmhirst, David Greenbaum, Florian Lagatta, Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, Robbie Nelson, Darrell Thorp, Cassidy Turbin & Joe Visciano, engineers/mixers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
Best New Artist
Sam Smith
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera – Say Something
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga – 'Cheek To Cheek'
Best Pop Solo Performance
Pharrell Williams – Happy
Best Pop Vocal Album
Sam Smith – 'In The Lonely Hour'
Best Rock Performance
Jack White – Lazaretto
Best Rock Album
Beck – 'Morning Phase'
Best Rock Song
Paramore – Ain't It Fun
Hayley Williams & Taylor York, songwriters
Best Alternative Rock Album
St. Vincent – 'St. Vincent'
Best Metal Performance
Tenacious D – The Last In Line
Best Rap Performance
Kendrick Lamar – I
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Eminem Featuring Rihanna – The Monster
Best Rap Song
Kendrick Lamar – I
K. Duckworth & C. Smith, songwriters
Best Rap Album
Eminem – 'The Marshall Mathers LP2'
Best R&B Performance
Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z – Drunk In Love
Best Traditional R&B Performance
Jesus Children
Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Best R&B Song
Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z – Drunk In Love
Shawn Carter, Rasool Diaz, Noel Fisher, Jerome Harmon, Beyoncé Knowles, Timothy Mosely, Andre Eric Proctor & Brian Soko, songwriters
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Pharrell Williams – 'Girl'
Best R&B Album
Toni Braxton & Babyface – 'Love, Marriage & Divorce'
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer – 'Bass & Mandolin'
Best Dance/Electronic Album
Aphex Twin – 'Syro'
Best Dance Recording
Clean Bandit Featuring Jess Glynne – Rather Be
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media
Frozen
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Tom MacDougall & Chris Montan, compilation producers
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, composer
Best Song Written for Visual Media
Let It Go from Frozen
Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, songwriters (Idina Menzel)
Best Country Album
Miranda Lambert – 'Platinum'
Best Country Solo Performance
Carrie Underwood – 'Something In The Water'
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
The Band Perry – 'Gentle On My Mind'
Best Country Song
I'm Not Gonna Miss You
Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond, songwriters (Glen Campbell)
Best Bluegrass Album
The Earls Of Leicester – 'The Earls Of Leicester'
Best American Roots Performance
Rosanne Cash – A Feather's Not A Bird
Best American Roots Song
Rosanne Cash – A Feather's Not A Bird
Best Americana Album
Rosanne Cash – 'The River & The Thread'
Best Folk Album
Old Crow Medicine Show – Remedy
Best Music Video
Pharrell Williams – Happy
Best Music Film
20 Feet From Stardom
Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill
Morgan Neville, video director; Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers, video producers
We Are From LA, video director; Kathleen Heffernan, Solal Micenmacher, Jett Steiger, video producers
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Max Martin
Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj)
Break Free (Ariana Grande Featuring Zedd)
Dark Horse (Katy Perry Featuring Juicy J)
Problem (Ariana Grande Featuring Iggy Azalea)
Shake It Off (Taylor Swift)
Unconditionally (Katy Perry)
Best Instrumental Composition
John Williams – The Book Thief
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
Pentatonix – Daft Punk
Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals
Billy Childs – New York Tendaberry
Best Recording Package
Jeff Ament, Don Pendleton, Joe Spix & Jerome Turner, art directors
Pearl Jam – 'Lightning Bolt'
Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
Susan Archie, Dean Blackwood & Jack White, art directors
'The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume One (1917-27)'
Best Album Notes
Ashley Kahn
John Coltrane – 'Offering: Live At Temple University'
Best Historical Album
Colin Escott & Cheryl Pawelski, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer
Hank Williams – 'The Garden Spot Programs, 1950'
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Beck – 'Morning Phase'
Tom Elmhirst, David Greenbaum, Florian Lagatta, Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, Robbie Nelson, Darrell Thorp, Cassidy Turbin & Joe Visciano, engineers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
Tijs Michiel Verwest, remixer
John Legend – All Of Me (Tiesto's Birthday Treatment Remix)
Best Surround Sound Album
Beyoncé – 'Beyoncé'
Elliot Scheiner, surround mix engineer; Bob Ludwig, surround mastering engineer; Beyoncé Knowles, surround producer
Best Regional Roots Music Album
Jo-El Sonnier – 'The Legacy'
Best Reggae Album
Ziggy Marley – 'Fly Rasta'
Best World Music Album
Angelique Kidjo – 'Eve'
Best Children's Album
Neela Vaswani – 'I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai)'
Best Musical Theatre Album
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Jessie Mueller, principal soloist; Jason Howland, Steve Sidwell & Billy Jay Stein, producers (Carole King, composer & lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)
Best Blues Album
Johnny Winter – 'Step Back'
Best Spoken Word Album
Joan Rivers – 'Diary Of A Mad Diva'
Best Comedy Album
"Weird Al" Yankovic – 'Mandatory Fun'
Best New Age Album
Ricky Kej & Wouter Kellerman – 'Winds Of Samsara'
Best Improved Jazz Solo
Chick Corea – Fingerprints
Best Jazz Vocal Album
Dianne Reeves – 'Beautiful Life'
Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Chick Corea Trio – 'Trilogy'
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band – 'Life In The Bubble'
Best Latin Jazz Album
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra – 'The Offense Of The Drum'