THE 62ND ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

With the messy scandal and controversy involving the Recording Academy and their now-ousted president along with the tragic and shocking passing of the legendary basketball star, Kobe Bryant and his teenage daughter, the 2020 Grammy Awards had a dark and heavy cloud to lift before the ceremony even began. But thankfully the show had host, Alicia Keys, appearing for the second time, to deliver a healing voice and positive energy to the somber audience. After asking everyone to hold Bryant in their hearts, she sang A cappella an incredibly moving version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" along with Boyz ll Men who had a hit in 1991 with their cover.

The Grammys have always been about spectacle and big musical numbers and on that front, the show did not disappoint. Dedicating her performance to Kobe, Lizzo opened the show with the fiery ballad, "Cuz I Love You" and then put on display body positivity with an army of ballet dancers and her flute skills during her live version of "Truth Hurts".

Tyler The Creator may have started with a traditional r&b sound with assistance from Boyz ll Men and Charlie Wilson on "Earfquake" before he shifted to a lively punk/new wave energy while performing "New Magic Wand" with fellow bewigged blonde, male back-up dancers. And I loved his speech and his proud, teary-eyed mother who joined her son on stage to accept his win for Best Rap Album. Gary Clark Jr. brought fire and rage during his performance of "This Land", the title track of his Grammy-winning album which makes a compelling statement about his experience with racism in America.

I would have preferred to have seen less of Lil Nas X and his novelty country/rap hit, "Old Town Road" with his performance of the song extended beyond what was necessary with K-pop group, BTS, YouTube sensation, Mason Ramsey, DJ/producer, Diplo and Billy Ray Cyrus all brought on stage to join him. Aerosmith, the legendary rock group who received this year's MusiCares Person Of The Year award, struggled to bring vigorous life to their time on stage even with Run DMC joining them on their shared hit, "Walk This Way". The odd couple, country star, Blake Shelton and pop-punk singer, Gwen Stefani may have looked truly in love but their ballad, "Nobody But You" lacked actual passion.

And to promote an upcoming Grammy special to celebrate the music of Prince, Usher appeared to perform a number of the late funk master's songs. While he did a fair job on "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry" and "Kiss", FKA Twigs. a Grammy nominee this year, joined him on stage but was shamefully regulated simply as a back-up dancer. This British pop-art performer should have definitely been given an opportunity to have done at least one song, perhaps bringing a more intriguing spin to this tribute to the Purple One.

But the highlights for me were the small yet emotional moments like Tanya Tucker, accompanied by Brandi Carlile, bringing depth and grit with her comeback country single, "Bring My Flowers Now"; Camila Cabello had nearly everyone in tears with the touching ballad, "First Man", dedicated to her father which she sang directly to him and Demi Lovato, who delivered a powerhouse vocal on "Anyone" , a heartbreaking song about her struggles with addiction, yet was so overcome before she even began that she had to start over.

And our fifteen time Grammy-winning host did not let anyone forget that she's still a vital musical artist. Early in the evening, Keys did an original song using the melody of Lewis Capaldi's hit, "Someone You Loved" which she name-checked some of the musicians who made an impact last year before returning later to perform her new single, "Underdog" which had Britney Howard joining her with a too short appearance on guitar.

Billie Eilish was the big winner of the evening, taking all four of the major categories with the eighteen year old being only the second artist ever to accomplish this feat (Christopher Cross was the first back in 1981). And Eilish surprised everyone with her low-key performance on the show by showing off her vocals with the ballad, "When The Party's Over" instead of the more expected frenetic energy we usually see from the artist.

Here is a partial list of winners of the 62nd annual Grammy Awards:

Album of the Year: Billie Eilish, "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"
Record of the Year: Billie Eilish, "Bad Guy"
Song of the Year: "Bad Guy" - Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O'Connell; songwriters (Billie Eilish)
Best New Artist: Billie Eilish
Best Pop Vocal Album: Billie Eilish, "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Elvis Costello & The Imposters, "Look Now"
Best Pop Solo Performance: Lizzo, "Truth Hurts"
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus, "Old Town Road"
Best Rap Album: Tyler the Creator, "Igor"
Best Rap Song: "A Lot" - Jermaine Cole, Dacoury Natche, 21 Savage & Anthony White; songwriters (21 Savage featuring J. Cole)
Best Rap Performance: Nipsey Hussle featuring Roddy Ricch & Hit-Bo, "Racks in the Middle"
Best Rap/Sung Performance: DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend, "Higher"
Best R&B Album: Anderson .Paak, "Ventura"
Best Urban Contemporary Album: Lizzo, "Cuz I Love You (Deluxe)"
Best R&B Song: "Say So" — Pj Morton; songwriter (Pj Morton Featuring Jojo)
Best R&B Performance: Anderson .Paak & André 300, "Come Home"
Best Traditional R&B Performance: Lizzo, "Jerome"
Best Rock Album: Cage The Elephant, "Social Cues"
Best Rock Song: "This Land" — Gary Clark Jr.; songwriter (Gary Clark Jr.) Best Rock Performance: Best Rock Solo Performance: Gary Clark Jr., "This Land"
Best Country Album: Tanya Tucker, "While I'm Livin'"
Best Country Song: "Bring My Flowers Now" - Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth and Tanya Tucker; songwriters (Tanya Tucker)
Best Country Solo Performance: Willie Nelson, "Ride Me Back Home"
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Dan + Shay, "Speechless"
Best Comedy Album: Dave Chapelle, "Sticks & Stones"
Best Dance/Electronic Album: The Chemical Brothers, "No Geography"
Best Dance Recording: The Chemical Brothers, "Got To Keep On"
Best Music Video: Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, "Old Town Road (Official Movie)"
Best Music Film: Beyoncé, "Homecoming"
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born"
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: Hildur Guðnadóttir, "Chernobyl"
Best Song Written for Visual Media: "I’ll Never Love Again" - (Film Version), Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Aaron Raitiere (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born)
Best Remixed Recording: "I Rise (Tracy Young’s Pride Intro Radio Remix)" - Tracy Young (Madonna)
Best Instrumental Composition: "Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Suite" — John Williams; composer (John Williams)
Best Spoken Word Album (includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling): Michelle Obama, "Becoming"
Producer Of The Year (Non-Classical): Finneas O'Connell