The 2013 Grammys Recap

Associated Press
Esther Zuckerman 13,371 Views Feb 10, 2013

Though no artist swept like Adele did last year, this year's Grammy show was a good one awards-wise for Mumford & Sons, fun., and Frank Ocean, who all took home prizes. Prince showed up and gave Record of the Year to Gotye and Kimbra. As for performances: Justin Timberlake turned our televisions into a real-life Instagram, Carrie Underwood wore a magical dress, and Bruno Mars joined with Sting, Rihanna, and Ziggy Marley. Taylor Swift seemed to be enjoying herself the entire time. The winners are here, and you can re-live the entire night (with GIFs) below. 

11:29 And then the credits start rolling. We're done for the night. 

11:27 The group does a tribute to MCA, but soon after ads begin running over the performance. 

11:24 LL Cool J is closing out the show with a performance of his own along with a number of others including Tom Morello and Travis Barker.  A screen behind him reads "Whaddup." 

11:17 Adele presents Album of the Year to fellow Brits Mumford and Sons for Babel. The sound cuts out as Marcus Mumford speaks. Did he curse? 

11:16 Ocean performs "Forrest Gump" as some graphics make it look as if he's running. Despite a lot of love for him, some thought he didn't sound as good as he could have: 

Ocean inspired a number of Wes Anderson references on Twitter: 

11:10 Juanes sings bilingual version of "Your Song." He introduces Frank Ocean. 

11:05 On a completely different note, Kelly Clarkson photo bombed Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi tonight: 

And Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham hung out, which means some sort of cultural pendulum shifted or something: 

11:00 A number of groups/individuals are involved in this tribute in addition to John: Zac Brown, Mavis Staples, T. Bone Burnett, Mumford and Sons, and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes. Currently Mavis Staples is blowing everyone out of the water on vocals. Here's a Vine of Staples finishing up the song: 

10:57 That segues into the Levon Helm tribute, a performance of the weight. Elton John adds a mention of those that died in Sandy Hook before the song begins. 

10:53 A discussion of a program for music educators that included Ryan Seacrest and Justin Timberlake transitions into the memorial segment. 

10:49 The segment opens with a tribute to Dave Brubeck, "Take 5." 

10:43 Prince—and his walking stick—give Gotye and Kimbra Record of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know." Prince says: "I love this song." 

10:40 Carrie Underwood's dress has a life of its own. 

10:35 Hunter Hayes sings a little from a written-on piano to introduce Carrie Underwood, wearing a very princess-y ballgown. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your next Maria von Trapp. 

10:27 Fun. wins Best New Artist. We're imagining that Lena Dunham is saying: "Now you know what the Golden Globes felt like for me!" 

10:26 Katy Perry says she was never nominated for Best New Artist, but she has her own eyelash line. "Take that Bon Iver," she says. Okay, Katy. 

10:20 Taylor Swift once again tries to prove that she is enjoying this show more than anyone else during "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. Their performance leads into Jack White, who has both his all male and all female bands with him.

10:10 Rihanna and Ziggy Marley join Bruno Mars and Sting. 

10:07 Bruno Mars begins the tribute to Bob Marley with his own song "Locked Out of Heaven." Neil Patrick Harris enjoyed it: 

10:00 The Zac Brown Band won Best Country Album. 

9:55 The Black Keys perform with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Dr. John in a great headdress: 

Then Kelly Clarkson does lovely renditions of "Tennessee Waltz" and "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" in honor of Patti Page and Carole King. Page passed away this year. King did not. They are both being awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards. 

9:43 "No Church in the Wild" wins rap sung collaboration. It also wins most likely to be in a Great Gatsby trailer. (But just in our heads.)

9:40 Rihanna performed "Stay" along with Mikky Ekko, who perhaps looked like someone else: 

9:30 Kelly Clarkson beats out fun. (among others) for Best Pop Vocal Album. So the fun. sweep will not happen. Clarkson kind of babbles on cutely in her speech, declaring that she doesn't know who Miguel is but wants to sing with him.

9:24 Maroon 5 sing "Girl on Fire" with Alicia Keys as she bangs on some drums to start the song, prompting some on Twitter to compare her to Sheila E. 

9:21 The Black Keys win Best Rock Performance.

9:18 Though the Grammys aren't the Super Bowl, we did get a big deal commercial: Justin Timberlake for Bud Light. Yes, "Suit & Tie" is already being used to sell beer. 

9:12 Frank Ocean wins Best Urban Contemporary album. Chris Brown looks, well, surprised. Ocean decides to imagine the audience all as "kids in tuxedos." Brown stays seated when everyone else gives Ocean a standing ovation: 

9:10 We return to the regular-colored screen for the second song he sings. 

9:05 As Beyoncé and Ellen DeGeneres announce Justin Timberlake, Ellen stares at Beyoncé. Everyone is instructed to rise for Justin. Suddenly the telecast goes into sepia tone for JT, who does "Suit & Tie."  There are already Instagram jokes.

Beyoncé and Degeneres looked all BFF-y introducing Justin: 

And then came the sepia transformation: 

9:00 Mumford and Sons performs "I Will Wait." Taylor Swift is into it. 

8:51 "We Are Young" wins Song of the Year. Lena Dunham is very excited. (She's dating fun.'s Jack Antonoff.) Lead singer Nate Ruess jokes: "We are not young." Jay-Z yells something from the front row as they are about to leave the stage. He has a drink in hand. 

8:45 Miguel and Wiz Khalifa begin "Adorn" in the middle of the audience, and Rihanna stands up to groove. As soon as they finished they introduce the Best Country Solo Performance. Talk about diverse styles. Carrie Underwood wins. 

8:37 As Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley bring some country to the stage, we learn about the cost of fun.'s watery performance: 

8:31 A bit belatedly here's a GIF of Adele hugging gracious loser Rihanna after beating her for Best Pop Solo Performance. Adele won for a live performance of a song from the album that won Album of the Year last year. This is how the Grammys operates, folks. 

8:30 Fun.'s performance of "Carry On" made the case for cropped pants and jumpsuits. Oh, and then it began to rain. 

8:25 Jennifer Lopez made the first memo joke of the night as she came out to present Best Pop Solo Performance (which Adele won) with Pitbull: "As you can see I read the memo." This is what she's wearing: 

Associated Press 

8:15 After host LL Cool J reminded us where everyone is from—(Adele is from England, in case you forgot)—the musical performances continued with a nice, but a bit snoozy rendition of Ed Sheeran's  "The A Team" that Sheeran performed with Elton John. They look surprisingly alike. 

8:10 Taylor Swift opened up the show with a zany circus-themed rendition of her hit. In the spoken section of the song she ad libs: "I'm sorry, I'm busy opening up the Grammys. And we are never getting back together." Is she talking directly to Harry Styles? 

8:00 Here we go with "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and an Edgar Allan Poe reference. 

7:59 We're about to start and the Hollywood Reporter's Janice Min tweets that there are females hanging in the air. Sounds about right. 

7:55 Perry came with Girls' Allison Williams. Yes, Marnie hangs with Katy Perry.  

7:48 So is Katy Perry in a sea foam green number she says was inspired by Priscilla Presley in the 70s. 

7:40 Kelly Rowland is pushing the limits of CBS Standards and Practices. 

7:30 Take a gander at this rock Faith Hill is wearing in E!'s "Mani Cam." (Yes, this is something that exists.)

7:20 In the people that look pretty/not crazy category? Adele. 

Reuters

7:13 Obviously, since it's the Grammys there are some people dressed in crazy outfits. Notably, DJ Al Walser, who got a semi-controversial nomination and is dressed like an astronaut.

Reuters

7:05 In a move that seems almost prophetic, Seacrest hits Taylor Swift in the face with a microphone. 

7:00 Here we go. Some big names have already won awards, including Jimmy Fallon and Taylor Swift. We're tuned into Ryan Seacrest and his minions at E! for the red carpet. Justin Timberlake is, yes, wearing a suit and tie. In other news, Chris Brown—whose latest scandal is a car accident—is indeed walking the carpet. 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ezuckerman at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

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