Everything You Need To Know About The 2015 Grammys

Now that the whole world is all collectively recovering from the hangover last night’s 57th Grammy Awards, there’s a million different stories flying in every direction of major winners and losers, incredible and bizarre performances, the glam and trash of the red carpet and of course everyone’s favourite, the endless controversy that overshadowed the entire evening.

We all already know about the Aussie victories, despite them being not who you’d expect, that the notorious loose-lipped Kanye West and his comments over Beck’s victory against Beyonce not to mention the ridiculous multi-million dollar ad campaign, however there are seven more highlights y’all should know about from yesterday’s events.

Sia, Kristen Wiig & Maddie Ziegler’s Live Performance Was Insane

Our very own Sia Furler may not have left the award ceremony with any golden gramophone trophies, but she definitely left with universal props from the casual 25 million of viewers who witnessed the live performance of ‘Chandelier’.

Joined by her mini-me, the incredible Maddie Zielger, and the hilarious Kristen Wiig, Sia belted out a hearty rendition of her #1 tune whilst Zielger and her new counterpart Wiig performed a seamless dance routine. We must admit we thought we were in for some form comedy routine with the addition of Wiig – however it was unreal to see her perform seriously.

AC/DC Killed It, But With The Help Of A Teleprompter

Australian legends of rock AC/DC opened The Grammys with their recent tune ‘Rock Or Bust’ as well as the iconic ‘Highway To Hell’ which utterly electrified the audience, proving that the guys have still got it, even with their new drummer.

However, it appears Brian Johnson needs to be reminded of lyrics, with photographs of a teleprompter being captured by those at the event. The words “it’s rock or bust/oh yeah” flashing up for all to see.

Paul McCartney, Rihanna & Kanye West Are A Thing

It was almost too hard to believe that the legendary Paul McCartney had seriously partnered up with former collab pals Kayne West and Rihanna, but silencing any naysayers, the three have come together in the most holy of matrimonies for ‘FourFiveSeconds’ giving one of the most memorable live performances of the entire night.

Sadly, most of the videos are being taken down – so here’s just a little taster until the full coverage is released.

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Sam Smith Is “The New Adele”

It’s a tag he’s surely begun to hate, however the British songsmith is following in Adele’s victorious footsteps, having absolutely cleaned-up at the ceremony with a whopping four trophies to take home, two shy of Adele’s smashing success a couple of years prior.

The soul singer won Record of the Year and Song of the Year both for ‘Stay With Me’ as well as Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album for In The Lonely Hour.

The Grammys Know Nothing About Metal

For a night that is supposed to be dedicated to the appreciation of all ports of music, what happened this category was an absolute crime.

In a super tough competition for Best Metal Performance which contained the likes of Anthrax, Slipknot, Mastodon and Motörhead, the (jokesters?) Tenacious D somehow walked away with a Grammy for their cover of Dio’s ‘The Last In Line’. To make matters worse, nobody probably saw this, as it wasn’t even aired in the overall broadcast.

Once again, metalheads of the world clench their fists in a rage, and why shouldn’t they.

St. Vincent Owns, Pens Incredible Acceptance Letter

Annie Clark aka St. Vincent has been a busy lady, the art rock shredder having melted copious amounts of Aussie punter’s faces at Laneway Festival over the past fortnight, and rounding out a killer start to 2015, the ‘Digital Witness’ singer for her self-titled record, was awarded Best Alternative Album of the Year, notably the first solo female artist to win the coveted award in 20 years. Hell yeah, St. Vinny!

No stranger to being strange, the songstress wrote a very Annie Clark letter about her love for what she does, the best excerpt: “I have eaten years of veggie subway sandwiches on highways 10-90, stayed at a super 8 motel behind a Kansas federal prison, peed in cups in dressing rooms when there was no bathroom, gotten eaten alive by bedbugs at a Cincinnati Days Inn. I would not trade a single highway or city or moment or person I met for anything. I have loved it all.” Read the full letter below.

“in 2007, i signed to beggars banquet records. i was living in dallas, texas in my childhood bedroom at the time, which i had fashioned into a makeshift studio in order to record some of what would end up being my debut album “marry me.”

the first days of touring my own songs and as “st. vincent” are very vivid. in early 2007, in anticipation of the release of my record, my (much beloved) agent put me on the road as solo support for jolie holland and midlake. he saw potential in me, but rightfully, thought i needed to get my live act together. get comfortable playing for people. get road-tested. like most of the rest of my career, it was a trial by earth, wind, and fire.

i was performing solo; just my voice, a guitar through an array of effects pedals, a “stomp board” — a homemade device i made out of a piece of plywood and a contact microphone that i ran through a bass EQ pedal, and a keyboard. i thought the keyboard looked unmysterious on it’s own, so i designed a lighted wooden enclosure to go around it. my brother-in-law helped me build it in his garage. it weighed a gazillion pounds and gave me splinters to carry, and i don’t think anyone was under any illusion that there was anything but a keyboard inside it. neither the first nor the last in a series of hilariously ill-fated ideas.

january 2007, i borrowed my father’s station wagon and drove 12 hours from dallas to frozen lincoln, nebraska to open for jolie holland (what a voice) at a half-full 150 capacity carpeted club. i believe the compensation was $250/gig but it could have been as much as $500 — more $ than i’d ever seen for a gig for sure and guaranteed, no less! in my memory, this midwestern jolie tour dovetailed right into opening the midlake tour. they were out in support of their excellent record, “the trials of van occupanther” and were the sweetest good texas boys you could ever hope to meet. the drummer of midlake, mackenzie smith, would later prove to be a great collaborator, playing on actor, strange mercy, and st. vincent.

on this tour, i’d enlisted my dear friend, jamil, to come and sell merch and help do the long drives. we’d just played a show in detroit and while we’d been inside, a blizzard had swept through and covered the stationwagon in snow and ice. it was treacherous. jamil, who always had some incredible hustle going, hired a homeless man named larry to dig the stationwagon out of the snow. (in college, he had a gold lexus, stripped it of the good parts, and resold it. when i asked if he was sad to see it go, he said, “girl, they think they bought a lexus but they bought a corolla.”) i’ll never forget driving out of bombed out-detroit, apocalyptic at 1 AM. interstate 94 tense and quiet, jamil trying to make sure we didn’t crash or stall on the icy road.

i have eaten years of veggie subway sandwiches on highways 10-90, stayed at a super 8 motel behind a kansas federal prison, peed in cups in dressing rooms when there was no bathroom, gotten eaten alive by bedbugs at a cincinnati days inn. i would not trade a single highway or city or moment or person i met for anything. i have loved it all.

i’m very grateful to have received this grammy. thank you to my producer john congleton, thank you family, thank you friends, thank you to all the incredible musicians involved, thank you managers and agents and publishers and labels and publicists and everyone who works hard at their jobs. and thank you guys. thanks for everything.”

Indie Artists Are Coming For You, Major Labels

This may seem a little difficult to believe, but thanks to a comprehensive breakdown courtesy of the guys at Billboard, the statistics show that independent artists accounted for a whopping 40 percent of The Top 50 Grammy categories handed out at this year’s ceremony.

Notable victories went to the likes of Aphex Twin who’s Syro won Best Dance/Electronic Album and Jack White’s Lazaretto for Best Rock Performance.

Label group shares of Top 50 categories:
Universal Music Group: 26 percent (13 wins)
Sony Music: 25 percent (12 wins)
Warner Music: 10 percent (5 wins)
Independents: 40 percent (20 wins)