Bruno Mars Dominates at Grammys - JAN2018

In one of the more surprising and thus entertaining Grammys of recent memory, the 2018 music award show did not disappoint.

Pop star Bruno Mars took home the ‘triple-crown’ of the night with its biggest awards, including best song, best album and best record of the year. While Mars may not be a large man by stature, his thunderous vocal pipes make up for any lack in size, and have won the hearts of fans worldwide on his way to selling over 200 million records. His latest, and now Grammy-winning album, 24K Magic, was released in November 2016 and is already certified 2x platinum.

Many fans and critics alike expected Compton-based rapper Kendrick Lamar’s latest album DAMN to earn the top album honors, throwing a twist in an award show that has become increasingly stale over the years as the pool of music nominated for the Grammys continues to seemingly shrink. While Lamar’s most recent effort did not win overall, he did bring home the awards for best rap performance and best rap album.

In a somewhat unorthodox move for the Grammys, host James Corden took the atmosphere in a heavily political, while comedic, direction through a skit in which ex presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (among others) read aloud lines from Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.” The novel and its accounts are highly critical of President Trump, so while Clinton’s performance was rather hilarious it also gave off an aggressively satirical vibe more closely resembling a Saturday Night Live episode.

In another bizarre move, when announcing that comedian Dave Chappelle had won the award for best comedy album Corden also notified the losing nominees that they would be awarded with a consolation prize - a live puppy. While the reaction from the crowd and the nominees was absolutely hysterical and positive, Corden has since received a huge wave of backlash from animal rights groups who argue that animals should not be given out like toys or prizes.

If next year’s Grammys is anything like this year’s, Americans should be excited for the comedic change of pace and new life that has been breathed into the award show given that pop stars continue to reign supreme as expected.