Regardless of how scripted the Grammy Awards telecast is, it remains a live event. Stuff happens that isn’t supposed to. An artist misses a cue. Another hits a sour note. Yet another cancels at the last minute. Below, some surprises, snubs and memorable moments.
Adele’s mixed reception: Adele, like all of us, is human. That’s easy to forget, though, amid her platinum skills, charisma and tone. But to put it bluntly, her version of “All I Ask” was, in “American Idol” parlance, “pitchy.” With huge lungs and supreme confidence, the multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-winning singer soared and soared — and hit some bum notes. After the performance, reports surfaced that the artist experienced sound issues during her song. That’s fine. She’s forgiven. Plus, Adele will no doubt be back — next year, in fact. Her massive hit album, “25,” was issued after this year’s Grammy cutoff.
Grammys 2016: Full coverage | Best and worst dressed | Red carpet | Show highlights | Nominees and winners | Top nominees
1/57
A look at the show highlights from the 2016 Grammys. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for NARAS;Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for NARAS; Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
2/57
Taylor Swift accepts the award for album of the year for “1989.” (Matt Sayles / Invision/Associated Press)
3/57
Philip Bailey, from left, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson of Earth Wind & Fire present the award for album of the year. (Matt Sayles / Invision/Associated Press)
4/57
Pitbull performs “Taxi” with actress Sofia Vergara dancing to close out the show. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
5/57
Pitbull performs “Taxi.” (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
6/57
Mark Ronson accepts the award for the record of the year, for “Uptown Funk,” with Bruno Mars, center. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
7/57
Bruno Mars holds up the award for record of the year for “Uptown Funk” as he thanks the fans. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
8/57
Beyonce presents the final award of the night, record of the year. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
9/57
Lady Gaga pays tribute to David Bowie by singing through nearly half a dozen of his songs, including “Ziggy Stardust,” “Fashion” and “Heroes.” (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
10/57
Lady Gaga pays tribute to David Bowie by singing nearly half a dozen of his songs, including “Space Oddity,” “Rebel Rebel” and “Under Pressure.”
(Robyn Becl / AFP/Getty Images)
11/57
A teary Meghan Trainor recieves the award for best new artist. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
12/57
Sam Smith presents the award for best new artist onstage. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
13/57
Rapper Kendrick Lamar, center, performs a rendition of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
14/57
Rapper Kendrick Lamar, center, performs a rendition of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” (Matt Sayles/Invision/Associated Press)
15/57
Rapper Kendrick Lamar, center, performs a rendition of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
16/57
Musician Dave Grohl takes the stage. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
17/57
Alice Cooper, left, and Joe Perry of Hollywood Vampires perform songs including “As Bad As I Am” and “Ace of Spades.” (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
18/57
Johnny Deppy performs onstage with Hollywood Vampires. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
19/57
Kaley Cuoco introduces Justin Bieber and Jack U. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
20/57
Justin Bieber performs “Love Yourself” and “Where Are U Now” onstage with Jack U. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
21/57
Skrillex of Jack U performs onstage with Justin Bieber. (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
22/57
Adele takes the stage with a performance of her song “All I Ask.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
23/57
Don Cheadle introduces a performance by Kendrick Lamar. (Matt Sayles/Invision/Associated Press)
24/57
Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes accepts the award for rock performance for “Don’t Wanna Fight.” (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
25/57
Bruno Mars hits the stage. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
26/57
Twelve-year-old jazz pianist Joey Alexander smiles as the audience cheers after his performance. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
27/57
Singer Tori Kelly sings a rendition of her song “Hollow” with James Bay. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
28/57
Tori Kelly, left, and James Bay embrace after perfoming a rendition of their songs “Hollow” and “Let It Go.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
29/57
Miguel performs the song “Off the Wall” onstage. (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
30/57
Ed Sheeran recieves the award for song of the year, “Thinking Out Loud.” (Robyn Beck/ AFP / Getty Images)
31/57
Stevie Wonder, center, and Mitch Grassing, left, Kristin Maldonado and Kevin Olusola of Pentatonix present the award for song of the year. (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
32/57
Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes offers up a powerful performance with the song “Don’t Wanna Fight.” (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
33/57
Actor-filmmaker Seth MacFarlane speaks onstage. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
34/57
The Eagles perform onstage in a tribute to the late Glenn Frey. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
35/57
The Eagles perform onstage in a tribute to the late Glenn Frey. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
36/57
tribute to MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Richie. (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
37/57
during a tribute to MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Richie. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
38/57
tribute to MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Lionel Richie. (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images)
39/57
Demi Lovato sings “Hello” for a tribute to MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Lionel Richie. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
40/57
John Legend performs “East” for a tribute to MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Lionel Richie. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
41/57
LL Cool J, left, and James Corden introduce a tribute to Lionel Richie. (Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
42/57
Little Big Town performs the song “Girl Crush.” (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
43/57
Chris Stapleton receives the Grammy country album for “Traveller” onstage. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
44/57
Singer Andra Day, right, and Ellie Goulding team up to sing “Rise Up” and “Love Me Like You Do.” (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
45/57
Host LL Cool J greets the crowd. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
46/57
The Weeknd performs two hit songs, including “Can’t Feel My Face” and “In the Night.” (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
47/57
Ariana Grande introduces a performance by the Weeknd, and does her own rendition of his hit song “Earned It.” (Matt Sayles / Invision/AP)
48/57
Actor O’Shea Jackson, left, and rapper/actor Ice Cube announce the nominees for rap album. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
49/57
Kendrick Lamar recieves the Grammy for his rap album “To Pimp a Butterfly” as Ice Cube looks on. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
50/57
Singers Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood perform “Take Your Time” and “Heartbeat” onstage. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for NARAS)
51/57
NFL player Anquan Boldin and NFL player Von Miller announce nominees onstage. (Robyn Beck/ AFP/Getty Images)
52/57
Taylor Swift opens the show with her song “Out of the Woods.” (Matt Sayles/Invision/Associated Press)
53/57
“Girl Crush” by Little Big Town takes home the Grammy for country duo/group performance. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
54/57
Jazz pianist Joey Alexander, 12, takes a bow following his performance at the pre-telecast show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
55/57
Musicians Peter “Peetah” Morgan, left, Roy “Gramps” Morgan and Nakamyah “Lukes” Morgan of Morgan Heritage accept the award for reggae album for “Strictly Roots” at the pre-telecast show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
56/57
Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap accept the Grammy for traditional pop vocal album for “Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap, the Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
57/57
Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck head for the stage to accept their Grammy for folk album at the pre-telecast show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Kendrick Lamar takes the Grammys to jail: His face bruised with makeup, Lamar delivered a searing performance of “Alright” and “The Blacker the Berry.” In a politically charged staging that moved from shackled in jail to free in Africa and back again, the Compton rapper surrounded his lyrics with free-jazz-suggestive tones and stop-and-start punctuations. Across a broadcast that mostly stuck to middle-of-the-road music, Lamar’s set earned a standing ovation both in the arena and across social media.
Where was Nashville? Can an entire genre be snubbed during the ceremony? Country music artists were nominated for major categories, but Nashville twang got short shrift this year. Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” earned a nomination for song of the year, but it lost to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” Bro-hunk Sam Hunt earned a best new artist nomination, but lost to Meghan Trainor. Chris Stapleton, nominated for album of the year, lost to former Nashville darling Taylor Swift. Stapleton couldn’t even get his twang into the ceremony. Rather than perform from his country album-winning “Traveller,” Stapleton joined Bonnie Raitt and Gary Clark Jr. to celebrate blues and the late B.B. King.
1/13
The Weeknd kisses one of his Grammys. He won for R&B performance and urban contemporary album.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 2/13
Taylor Swift cradles her Grammys for album of the year, pop vocal album and music video backstage at the 58th Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 3/13
Alabama Shakes hold their Grammys for alternative music album, rock song and rock performance steady.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 4/13
Chris Stapleton displays his Grammys backstage for country album (“Traveller”) and country solo performance (“Traveller”).
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 5/13
Meghan Trainor is all about that Grammy for best new artist.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 6/13
Producer Mark Ronson, winner of the pop duo/group performance award for “Uptown Funk,” poses in the press room. He would also win record of the year for that megahit single.
(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images for NARAS) 7/13
Metal performance winners Ghost backstage at the Grammy Awards.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 8/13
Angelique Kidjo balances her Grammy for world music album.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times) 9/13
Pentatonix members, from left, Ben Bram, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Kristin Maldonado, and Kevin Olusola, share the Grammy for arrangement, instrumental or a cappella for “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 10/13
Muse’s Matt Bellamy, left, and Dominic Howard won the rock album Grammy for “Drones.”
(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images for NARAS) 11/13
Kirk Franklin, right, winner of the Grammy for gospel performance for the song “Wanna Be Happy?”
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 12/13
Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell won the Grammys for Americana album (“Something More Than Free”) and American roots song (“24 Frames”).
(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images for NARAS) 13/13
Tobymac won the contemporary Christian music album Grammy for “This Is Not a Test.”
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Where was Rihanna? The pop star was scheduled to perform “Kiss It Better” in the third act, right before the country album award. But Rihanna was a no-show. Health reasons later were cited.
Miguel’s little moment: The San Pedro-born artist Miguel didn’t get Grammy Award love in the form of trophies, but he did get some onstage affection. Before introducing the rock performance nominees, the rock ‘n’ soul artist, cited for work from his album “Wildheart,” redeemed the slights by performing an a cappella verse from Michael Jackson’s “She’s Out of My Life,” from “Off the Wall.”
Come-from-behind victory for Swift: For much of the ceremony, Swift was a quiet presence. After opening the ceremony with a confident but unsurprising version of “Out of the Woods,” the artist sat back as her peers took home trophies. This was supposed to be Swift’s year. She was nominated in three of the four main categories, and though she did earn the prestigious album of the year award for “1989,” that was her only major category win. Her friend and tour mate Sheeran took the award for song of the year for his “Thinking Out Loud.”
1/57
Lady Gaga
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 2/57
Selena Gomez, left, and Taylor Swift arrive at the 58th Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
(Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press) 3/57
Left to right: Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Alice Cooper
(PAUL BUCK / EPA) 4/57
Justin Bieber and his brother, Jaxon
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 5/57
Travis Barker and his kids
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 6/57
John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 7/57
Janelle Monae
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 8/57
Zendaya
(VALERIE MACON / AFP/Getty Images) 9/57
Little Big Town
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 10/57
Florence Welch
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 11/57
The Weeknd and Bella Hadid
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 12/57
Ariana Grande arrives with a dress wrangler
(Jason Merritt / Getty Images) 13/57
Foo Fighters
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 14/57
Dave Grohl and Jordyn Blum
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 15/57
Common
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 16/57
Tori Kelly
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 17/57
Kaley Cuoco
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 18/57
Ashley Monroe, left, Selena Gomez, and Jacqueline Van Bierk.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 19/57
Adele
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 20/57
Taylor Swift
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 21/57
Kacey Musgraves
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 22/57
Ellie Goulding
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 23/57
Carrie Underwood
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 24/57
Flip Colson and date
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 25/57
Aloe Blacc
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 26/57
Jamie XX
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 27/57
Leon Bridges
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 28/57
Alex Cuba
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 29/57
Zuri Hall
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 30/57
Tame Impala
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 31/57
Alison Mosshart
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 32/57
Wouter Kellerman and date
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 33/57
The Internet
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 34/57
Above and Beyond
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 35/57
Dan and Lauren Merceruio
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 36/57
Tim Kubart
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 37/57
Tasha Cobbs
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 38/57
Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 39/57
Los Cojolites
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 40/57
Lisa Lampanelli
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 41/57
Andrew Cedar
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 42/57
Justin Hurwitz
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 43/57
Barrington Levy
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 44/57
Morgan Heritage
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 45/57
Oscar Seaton
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 46/57
Nominee Vocally Challenged
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 47/57
Mike and Sasha Bozz are nominated for Album of the Year
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 48/57
Collin Tilley, left, is a Grammy Award nominee
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 49/57
Nominee Arturo O’Farrill
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 50/57
Marshall Gilkes and WDR Big Bang
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 51/57
Nominee David and Krystal Garcia
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 52/57
Laura Kuhn, slated to receive the Special Merit Trustee Award
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 53/57
Shelly Berg, right, is a nominee for Best Arrangement
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 54/57
Jeff Place is a nominee for Album Notes.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 55/57
Kirk Whalum is a nominee in the instrumental category.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 56/57
Cedric Burnside
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 57/57
Paul Odette and Renate Wolter-Seevers
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Lady Gaga’s sprint through Bowie: The artist no doubt loves David Bowie, but her take on his hits was so crammed with music, it was devoid of nuance. In short, it felt as if she was auditioning for a low-budget Las Vegas musical.
Top Dawg tops Young Money: It wasn’t too long ago that the Young Money/Cash Money crew of Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj had a lock on rap acclaim. But this year the once high-flying label got stomped by Lamar and Top Dawg, the Los Angeles-based label that’s home to him, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and others. Drake was probably especially down after the show. He was nominated in all of the rap categories — and lost each of them to Lamar.
randall.roberts@latimes.com
MORE GRAMMYS:
Who won, who lost, who performed
A more human Adele arrives at the Grammys
Neil Portnow on Rihanna, Adele and what didn’t go as planned
Taylor Swift shames Kanye West in empowering Grammys speech
