The Grammys aren’t necessarily known to pull at the heartstrings but last night’s ceremony will go down as a bit of a tearjerker.
After a night of largely sedate and occasionally, excruciating performances, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis made the biggest statement during their performance of “Same Love” during which 33 couples, both gay and straight were married by Queen Latifah before a cowbay-hat clad Madonna came out and lovingly sang “Open Your Heart.” Now that’s a wedding!
It was a brave move by the rap duo who are just experiencing their first flush of fame, but it showed the Seattle based duo are serious about using their profile to push a progressive message. It’s something that pop stars seldom do for fear of losing fans, but Macklemore & Ryan Lewis showed that they have guts as well as talent.
The night started off on a similarly heart-warming note when Jay Z and Beyonce duetted on “Drunk In Love.” Bey bumped and grinded against a chair (which will now probably sell for a small fortune on eBay) before her hubby performed his guest rap and the two walked off hand in hand. You couldn’t help but be touched by the genuine love between the King and Queen of pop.
The famous Grammys collaborations produced mixed results. The pre-show buzz concerned the union of Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder but when the time came for them to perform a medley of “Get Lucky,” “Le Freak” and “Another Star,” it didn’t quite catch fire. Ironically, one of the lesser-anticipated duets was Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar and Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons but they injected an often-insipid ceremony with intense energy, banging on giant drums and splattering themselves with red paint. On a night of stiff suits and good behaviour, it was the nearest thing to shocking behaviour on offer.
But some combinations fell flat. The much talked about reunion of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr resulted in a lukewarm version of the bassist’s song “Queenie Eye.” Would have killed them to give us a verse of a Beatles song? The sound of Chicago and Robin Thicke accurately recreated the feeling of being in a tacky cocktail lounge at the bottom of a horrible hotel, but not much else. While seeing Pink’s gymnastics display mix with the tone-deafness of fun.’s Nate Ruess on “Just Give Me A Reason” was a step into the surreal. But there’s no doubt what the 2014 Grammys will be remembered for, especially for the 30 couples that tied the knot there. Mazel tov!
