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14 artists to know before the Grammys

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HOZIERThe Grammys are tonight and that means it's time to familiarize yourself with some artists.

Here are a few need-to-know artists who are going up against the venerable Beyoncé, the popular Taylor Swift, and the ubiquitous Pharrell.  Some of these artists are viable competitors!

1. Hozier

What he's nominated for: Song of The Year
What you should know: 
The Irish singer is responsible what might be the best song of the year, "Take Me To Church." The song was actually released in 2013, and the video made waves for its depiction of sexuality and its open critique of those who condemn homosexuality. In an excellent interview with The Cut, Hozier (full name: Andrew Hozier-Byrne) clarified what the song was about. He said:

"Take Me to Church" is essentially about sex, but it's a tongue-in-cheek attack at organizations that would … well, it's about sex and it's about humanity, and obviously sex and humanity are incredibly tied. Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that's not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced.

Hozier has also recently made viral waves for a video which features him covering Ariana Grande's "Problem."

2. Sia

What she's nominated for: Record of The Year, Song of The Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Music Video
What you should know:  "Chandelier" was played all over the radio this summer, and its corresponding video wowed audiences, but Sia didn't emerge from out of nowhere. In fact, the songerwriter, who often is credited as Sia Furler, has written scores of hit pop songs for Beyonce, Rihanna, and more. 2014 was the year she took center stage, and it could pay off — Billboard reported Spotify predicts "Chandelier" will take home some of the top prizes. 

3. Childish Gambino

What he's nominated for: Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album
What you should know: If he looks familiar to you, there's a reason — Childish Gambino is actor and comedian Donald Glover, who you probably know from "Community." He has gained significant success and popularity as a rapper. He revealed some of his fears about his career, relationships, and this very album on Instagram in late 2013. Mic also took the time to point out that the comedian's way with words transfers to his lyrics — his rhymes are chock full of wordplay.

4. Haim

What they're nominated for: Best New Artist
What you should know:
 The band actually gained attention in 2013 — people started taking notice of this indie-pop girl group after the women performed on Saturday Night Live. The band is composed of three sisters, and Rolling Stone profiled their meteoric rise at the end of 2013. SPIN called the band's debut album, "Days Are Gone,""one of the most ruthlessly proficient pieces of music to come out this year." 

5. Sam Smith

What he's nominated for: Record of The Year, Album of The Year, Song of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album
What you should know: Smith is pegged to take home plenty of awards. It's like you're familar with his massive hit, "Stay With Me," and his excellent and emotional album, "In The Lonely Hour." Smith recently received some attention from the media when word surfaced that he has to pay Tom Petty royalties for "Stay With Me," since it sounds so much like Petty's "I Won't Back Down."

6. Ed Sheeran

What he's nominated for: Album of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Song Written for Visual Media
What you should know: "I See Fire" gained popularity with "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," but Sheeran became a star in his own right this year." Sheeran is also friends with fellow-nominee Taylor Swift.

7. Meghan Trainor

What she's nominated for: Record of The Year, Song of The Year
What you should know: You heard "All About That Bass" all summer long, and Trainor is the woman behind the body acceptance anthem. The song prompted a bevy of thinkpieces, criticism,parodies, and more, but its catchy tune landed her two major nominations.  But can the rest of Trainor's music — including the similarly-sounding "Lips Are Movin"— gain the success that "All About That Bass" did?

8. Bastille

What they're nominated for: Best New Artist
What you should know: 
That song that played all year wasn't called "If You Close Your Eyes"— it's actually called "Pompeii." In fact, it was released in 2013. 

9. Brandy Clark

What she's nominated for: Best New Artist, Best Country Album
What you should know: She's the only contender in the Best Country Album category who's also nominated for a Best New Artist award. That might because she's not so new to the country game. Even though her album, "12 Stories," marks her debut a solo artist, she's a seasoned pro when it comes to writing country songs. In fact, similarly to pop music's hitmaker-turned-solo artist, Sia, Clark has written songs for other artists, such as Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Sheryl Crow, Darius Rucker, and more.

10. St. Vincent

What she's nominated for: Best Alternative Music Album 
What you should know: This is St. Vincent's first Grammy nomination, even though her debut album, "Marry Me," was released in 2007. St. Vincent (real name: Annie Clark) was dubbed "Our David Bowie" by GQ Magazine for her massive guitar-playing talents and proclivity for writing unique songs.

11. Alt-J

What they're nominated for: Best Alternative Music Album
What you should know: Rolling Sonte noted that the British band counts Miley Cyrus as one of its fans (it helps that the band sampled one of her tracks on their recent album, "This Is All Yours"). The band is known for blending a wide variety of musical styles in their tracks.

12. ScHoolboy Q

What he's nominated for: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Album
What you should know:  ScHoolboy Q has been around for a few years, but now he's getting some more attention. When Pitchfork's Craig Jenkins reviewed Schoolboy Q's now-nominated album, "Oxymoron," he wrote:

ScHoolboy Q specializes in hairpin turns from cautionary street tales and remorseful reflection into wanton bacchanal, and Oxymoron is essentially a volleyball match between his warring proclivities ... Oxymoron is a victory in that Q’s sound has made the jump to the majors fully intact in an era where major label debuts often take a chop shop approach to assembly.

DJ Premier commented that ScHoolboy Q should take the prize for Best Rap Album over rap-pop star, Iggy Azalea.

13. Ledisi

What she's nominated for: Best R&B Performance
What you should know: Ledisi is up against Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, and Jennifer Hudson, which is huge competition. Her nominated song, "Like This," only has just over 100,000 views on YouTube. But even though the 42-year-old songstress may not be as mainstream as her competition is, she still has received ample praise. NPR noted that her performance at the Essence Music Festival "stopped the whole thing dead."

14. Jhené Aiko

What she's nominated for: Best R&B Song, Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
What you should know:
 Aiko has been singing for awhile, but many took notice when she sang alongside Drake during his "Saturday Night Live" performance in January 2014. Billboard celebrated her debut studio album with plenty of accolades:

On Aiko's major label debut, "Souled Out,"  the cuts run deep, searing with spite and indifference. Often, she's calling a love interest out on his missteps. Even more, she looks inward, chronicling her wearisome romantic history. The bulk of the 12-song set is delivered in a quiet fashion, in the way the emotionless speak when their well's run dry. [...] "Souled Out" is an insular album, not meant to spill from nightclub speakers or queued up on playlists at house parties. It's 'party of one' music to overthink with and lines to quote when angry at a significant other--the soundtrack for hard times.

SEE ALSO: Sam Smith top new face in Grammy nominations

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The most ridiculous outfits at the 2015 Grammy Awards

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Madonna grammys

The 57th annual Grammy Awards took place Sunday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

While artists like Kanye West, Rihanna, and Katy Perry all performed, the real attraction was on the red carpet.

Kanye West with Kim Kardashian, in Jean Paul Gaultier.



Beyoncé arrived in an all-black Proenza Schouler dress.



Rihanna rocked a poofy pink Giambattista Valli gown on the red carpet ...



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

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Paul McCartney got a little more air time on the Grammys than he expected.

It all started when Ed Sheeran and ELO's Jeff Lynne performed "Evil Woman."

EOL band grammys ed sheerhanThe majority of the crowd was a little young to know the 1975 hit, but not 72-year-old Paul McCartney!

McCartney stood up, shook his hips, clapped his hands, and sang along to "Evil Woman" as the two rocked out on stage.

But as soon as McCartney realized the audience camera was pointed directly at him, the Beatle went into a panic and hurriedly sat down, his embarrassment palpable from viewers' couches. 

Paul McCartney grammys GIF

McCartney then quickly returned to the comfort of his seat next to wife Nancy Shevell.paul mccartney wife Nancy ShevellLater in the show, McCartney regained his confidence and joined Kanye West and Rihanna onstage for "Four Five Seconds."

Paul Mccartney kanye west rihanna

SEE ALSO: The most ridiculous outfits at tonight's Grammy Awards

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Kanye West almost grabbed Beck's best album Grammy onstage

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Beck surprised Grammy viewers and musicians alike Sunday night by beating out Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell for the show's biggest award  best album.

As soon as Prince read Beck's name ...

Prince grammysKanye West — who notoriously rushed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards after Taylor Swift won best female video over Beyoncé — then jokingly began to crash Beck's acceptance speech. 

But he quickly turned around and went back to his seat, with a big smile on his face.

Let's see that again.

Kanye Beck Grammys GIF
Beck was left onstage alone and confused. "I need some help!" he quickly said into the microphone, before his collaborators joined him at the podium.

Beck grammys

Jay Z seemed mortified when it looked as if Kanye were serious, but he broke into laughter when he realized it was a joke.


At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye interrupted 
Swift's acceptance speech, saying, "Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

SEE ALSO: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

MORE:  The most ridiculous outfits at Sunday's Grammy Awards

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Pharrell gave Taylor Swift's Grammy dancing some serious side-eye

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Taylor Swift is never one to shy away from a little dancing in her seat during awards shows.

Sunday night's Grammy Awards were no exception.

taylor swift dancing grammys gif
But one person did not seem amused by Swift's moves. Cue Pharrell's major side-eye.


The above Vine has since gone viral and has been played nearly 3 million times in just a few hours.

SEE ALSO: Kanye West almost grabbed Beck's best album Grammy onstage

MORE: Paul McCartney got super embarrassed when the Grammy cameras caught him dancing

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An incredible moment between Taylor Swift and Kanye West at the Grammys

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Back in 2009, Kanye West quickly earned the hatred of many Taylor Swift fans when he interrupted Swift's win for best female video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

West took stage during Swift's acceptance speech, stealing the microphone, to say "I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."

Entering Sunday's Grammy Awards, the two had not been photographed together since, and you never saw interaction between the two artists.  

That seemingly changed Sunday when West and Swift appeared to put that all behind them.

kanye west taylor swift grammys 2015

The photo was in stark contrast to this moment from 2009.

taylor swift vma 2009 kanye west

It looks as if West and Swift have shaken off any bad blood.

kanye west taylor swift grammys 2015

SEE ALSO: Why Katy Perry was wearing light-up devil horns at the Grammys

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Why Katy Perry was wearing light-up devil horns at the Grammys

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If you tuned in to the Grammys Sunday night, you may have noticed Katy Perry and pal, singer Ferras, sporting a pair of devil horns at the start of the awards show.

katy perry devil horn grammyskaty perry grammys

The next time we saw Perry, the horns were noticeably gone, but many fans and viewers online were confused by the look.

http://trollingkatyperry.tumblr.com/post/110496372511/i-summon-thee-grammys-god

What was the deal?

The horns weren't Perry's idea.

The horns went along with the AC/DC performance of "Highway to Hell" which opened the show.

Look closely and the horns say AC/DC on them.

katy perry devil horns

It looks like all audience members at the Grammys had their own pair of light-up horns on their seats.

Take a closer look at one of the other photos of Perry again, and you can easily notice dozens of people in the background sporting the light-up devil horns, too.

katy perry devil horns crowd

There's a good reason you didn't see the horns for the rest of the show or on other celebrities. 

The Grammy show politely banned them from being worn during the rest of the awards ceremony. 

A message on a prompter read, "Ladies & Gentlemen: The devil horns are yours to keep, but please put them away for the rest of the show. Thank you."

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Perry, Ferras, and others were left stashing the horns underneath their seats or on their laps for the remainder of the show.

devil horns grammys

SEE ALSO: The most ridiculous outfits at the Grammy Awards

AND: See everything inside the $25,000 Grammy Awards gift bag

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KANYE WEST RANT: 'Beck should have given his Grammy award to Beyoncé'

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Grammy viewers began to panic Sunday (including Jay Zas Kanye West briefly crashed the stage after Beck won best album over Kanye's pal Beyoncé.

Kanye West Beck Grammy AwardsBut Kanye quickly sat back down, smiling in acknowledgement that this stunt was just a reference to the 2009 incident in which the rapper took over the stage of the MTV Video Music Awards when Taylor Swift beat Beyoncé.

While Kanye's latest antics were initially played off as a joke, it turns out he was actually pretty peeved about Beck's win.

During an appearance on the "E! After Party" after the Grammys telecast, Kanye went on a major rant, saying: "Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé."

Kanye West mad Kim KardashianKanye continued to slam the Grammys:

All I know is if the Grammys want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain't gonna play with them no more. 'Flawless,' Beyoncé video. Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé, and at this point, we tired of it.

Because what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you're disrespectful to inspiration, and we as musicians have to inspire people who go to work every day and they listen to that Beyoncé album and they feel like it takes them to another place.

Then they do this whole promotional event … and they're running music over somebody's speech, the artist, because they want commercial advertising. Like, no, we not playing with them no more! By the way, I got my wife, my daughter and my clothing line, so I'm not going to do nothing to put my daughter at risk but I am here to fight for creativity. That's the reason why I didn't say anything tonight. But you all know what it meant when 'Ye walks on the stage.

Kim Kardashian stayed silent throughout her husband's rant but looked pretty mortified.

Kim Kardashian awkward Kanye West GIF 
Beck, meanwhile, is taking Kanye's comments in stride.

"I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody," Beck told Us Weekly when asked how he felt about West's crashing the stage. "How many great records has he put out in the last five years right?"

Even though Kanye said Beyoncé should have won? "Absolutely," the musician replied. "I thought she was going to win. Come on, she's Beyoncé!"

Beck then further killed Kanye with kindness, adding: "You can’t please everybody, man. I still love him and think he's genius. I aspire to do what he does."

Watch Kanye's full rant below:

SEE ALSO: Kanye West almost grabbed Beck's best album Grammy onstage

MORE: The most ridiculous outfits at Sunday's Grammy Awards

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Kim Kardashian used an iPhone light to take incredible Grammy selfies

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KIm Karadashian selfie Chrissy Teigen John Legend grammys 2015

Kim Kardashian takes her selfies very seriously, she even has an entire published book full of them.

So it's no surprise that Grammy-goer and The Hollywood Reporter executive editor, Matthew Belloni, caught Kardashian using SELFIE LIGHTS on her iPhone.

Companies like LuMee actually make illuminated iPhone cases that allow users to snap selfies with more ideal lighting. Want to take selfies like Kim? It will only set you back around $45.

Kardashian had a field day with the selfies during Sunday night's Grammy Awards.

This one with Chrissy Teigen and John Legend in the background she posted to Instagram with the caption: "This is the Beck won that award face?!?!?!"

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Then there was this one that got blasted to Kardashian's 26 million followers:

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Getty caught more photos of Kim's many takes:

KIm Karadashian selfie Chrissy Teigen John Legend grammys 2015A match made in heaven, as Teigen isn't one to shy away from a selfie, either. Now the model just needs one of Kim's attachable lights!

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SEE ALSO: KANYE WEST RANT: 'Beck should have given his Grammy award to Beyoncé'

MORE: The most ridiculous outfits at Sunday's Grammy Awards

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Pop music hasn't been this white since 1981

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Beck Kanye West

The Grammy for most dramatic moment definitely went to Kanye West this year for storming the stage in outrage after Beck beat Beyonce for album of the year.

But West was just one person giving voice to an issue that, apparently, has been on many minds.

Shortly after, Twitter users began demanding #JusticeForBeyoncé.

Many, including West, questioned whether race played a part in the decision, adding to the chorus of initial criticism over the general whiteness of the nominations.

And it turns out that the awards show has been getting paler for a long time.

In fact, a close look at the data reveals that the Grammys—and popular music in general—are whiter than they’ve been in 35 years.

Here’s how the Grammy nominations in four major categories—record, album, song and best new artist of the year—break down historically by race:

GrammyRaceBreakdown.r63044715679But the trend isn’t necessarily exclusive to the Grammys—or to the out-of-touch voters who make up the Recording Academy. We crunched the numbers on Billboard’s Hot 100 list over the past 50 years, too. And the picture is almost identical.

BillboardRaceBreakdown.r44188065284The recent drop in diversity comes after a long climb toward equality. The end of the civil rights era saw the number of black nominees and winners take a dive—a slump paralleled on the Billboard charts—which only got worse during the disco inferno of ’70s, the low water mark for racial diversity in modern pop music.

In 1984, the Grammys stretched toward parity as Michael Jackson took home a record-breaking eight awards. And by 1989, the number of black artists nominated (13) actually exceeded the number of white artists nominated (7) for the first time.

Through the ’90s, Grammy nominations and wins stayed fairly level, but black artists on the Billboard charts exploded.

Then something happened in the mid-2000s, when the presence of black artists on the charts and the Grammy rolls went into sharp decline. Even as the number of other races has climbed, white artists have felt the strongest gains and black artists the steepest losses.

2013 was the first year there wasn’t a single black artist with a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, the only time that’s happened since Billboard started making the charts. Black artists represented less than a quarter of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2014, which puts the year on par with the late 1960s. 2015 isn’t looking much better.

Meanwhile, a black artist hasn’t won a Grammy in any of the four major categories since 2010.

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How Jennifer Lopez's infamous 2000 Grammys dress inspired Google image search

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It was the year 2000  seven years before anyone had even heard of Kim Kardashian or before Beyoncé walked red carpets nearly nude.

Up until this point, red carpets were fairly tame, fully clothed affairs.

That is, until Jennifer Lopez arrived to the 2000 Grammys in that now infamous green Versace gown with a neckline that plunged down to her naval; it was held together simply by fashion tape.

Jennifer Lopez Versace DressIt was even Diddy-approved.

JLO and PuffyAnd before Kim Kardashian self-admittedly "broke the internet" with her bare-bottom photos, J.Lo's dress really did.

In an essay published in January on Project Syndicate, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, writes: "At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J.Lo wearing that dress."

As a result, Schmidt says, "Google Image Search was born."

Schmidt further explained how Google expanded from just text to images:

Our co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — like all other successful inventors — kept iterating. They started with images. After all, people wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world’s attention.

E! News recently asked Lopez if she knew she inspired the photo-based search tool, to which she responded, "I heard that, who knew?!" 

But Lopez has yet to receive any compensation for her contribution. "I'm a little bit upset about it," she joked. "I'm sure Versace's in on it as well."

When asked whether or not she wished she had gotten something from it, she teased, "Just a small part of it ... a truck full of money."

Today, Google has thousands of options when looking for J.Lo's Grammys dress.

Jennifer Lopez Versace dress google image search

SEE ALSO: Here's The Critical Money Lesson That Shaped Jennifer Lopez's Career

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How Jennifer Lopez's infamous 2000 Grammys dress inspired Google image search

0
0

It was the year 2000  seven years before anyone had even heard of Kim Kardashian or before Beyoncé walked red carpets nearly nude.

Up until this point, red carpets were fairly tame, fully-clothed affairs.

That is, until Jennifer Lopez arrived to the 2000 Grammys in that now infamous green Versace gown with a neckline that plunged down to her naval and was held together simply by fashion tape.

Jennifer Lopez Versace DressIt was even Diddy-approved.

JLO and PuffyAnd before Kim Kardashian self-admittedly "broke the internet" with her bare-bottom photos, J.Lo's dress really did.

In an essay published in January on Project Syndicate, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, writes: "At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J.Lo wearing that dress."

As a result, Schmidt says, "Google Image Search was born."

Schmidt further explained how Google expanded from just text to images:

Our co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin – like all other successful inventors – kept iterating. They started with images. After all, people wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world’s attention.

E! News recently asked Lopez if she knew she inspired the photo-based search tool, to which she responded, "I heard that, who knew?!" 

But Lopez has yet to receive any compensation for her contribution. "I'm a little bit upset about it," she joked. "I'm sure Versace's in on it as well."

When asked whether or not she wished she had gotten something from it, she teased, "Just a small part of it... a truck full of money."

Today, Google has thousands of options when looking for J.Lo's Grammys dress.

Jennifer Lopez Versace dress google image search

SEE ALSO: Here's The Critical Money Lesson That Shaped Jennifer Lopez's Career

Join the conversation about this story »

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The diss that motivated Taylor Swift to take control of her career

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You have Daft Punk to thank for Taylor Swift's chart-topping album, "1989," even if indirectly.

In a recent listening session in Nashville for the Recording Academy, which explored the songwriting process behind Swift's latest album, "1989," she told an interesting story about its creation.

According to Swift, the full-on pop album was motivated by losing the 2014 Album of the Year Grammy to Daft Punk. She felt that her previous album, "Red," was unfocused because she was still being marketed as a country artist, despite increasingly leaning towards pop.

After the devastating loss, she decided to take control of her career and make the '80s synth-pop album she always wanted to make, despite her record label's apprehension.

The decision paid off. That album, “1989,” will be her biggest album yet, as it has been in the Billboard Top 10 for all 50 weeks since it came out.

Story by Tony Manfred, editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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Adele didn't make an album for four years because 'life happened'

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After a four-year absence from the music world, Adele is back. In an open letter announcing the release of her new album, “25,” she explained why she was gone for so long, and how her music will be different.

She says that her 2011 album, “21,” (which was the best-selling album of the decade) was a break-up album, whereas this is a “make-up album,” and about what it’s like to be in your mid-20s.

“25 is about getting to know who I’ve become without realising. And I’m sorry it took so long, but you know, life happened,” she wrote.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Ben Nigh.

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Nobody had a bigger impact on music this year than Kendrick Lamar

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The Grammy nominations were announced on Tuesday, and rapper Kendrick Lamar led the pack with a whopping 11 nominationsThat's the second-most nominations an artist has ever collected in a single year.

This shouldn't surprise anyone.

Lamar had a huge year in 2015. His album "To Pimp a Butterfly" hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, while his song "Alright" has became an anthem at Black Lives Matter protests across the country.

He also helped a few other artists along the way, collaborating with Taylor Swift on "Bad Blood," and co-writing Kanye West's "All Day." Both were nominated for Grammys. 

Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Adam Banicki

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Drake's 'Hotline Bling' reportedly didn't get a Grammy nomination because of a really simple mistake

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Drake

Drake scored five Grammy nominations on Monday, but his recent hit "Hotline Bling" was noticeably absent.

The song is his biggest hit on the charts, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and spawned memes galore, so why was it snubbed from the Grammys?

Well, according to music-news site Hits Daily Double, it wasn't that "Hotline Bling" didn't have its fans. Instead, the song "was not submitted, due to a clerical error on the part of label Cash Money."

Even without "Hotline Bling" being submitted, Drake earned nominations for "Back to Back" and "Energy," as well as Nicki Minaj's "Truffle Butter" and "Only," on which he's featured. His album "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" was also nominated for Best Rap Album.

But with one of the biggest hip-hop songs of the year that's impossible to miss in "Hotline Bling," he surely would've had a much better chance if someone had remembered to do the paperwork.

SEE ALSO: How Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar went from homeless to top of the hip-hop game

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Kendrick Lamar dedicated his Grammy to these pivotal rappers who have never won one

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GettyImages kendrick lamar grammys best rap album win

Kendrick Lamar used his Grammy win for best rap album to honor hip-hop artists who have surprisingly never won the music industry's most-coveted award.

Lamar came into this year's Grammy Awards with a leading 11 total nominations. And even before Monday's live show started, he had already won five of them. But Lamar really took the chance to honor the genre when he accepted the award for best rap album for "To Pimp a Butterfly."

After thanking his parents and wife, Whitney Alford, and his label Top Dawg, Lamar dedicated the award to hip-hop, then named two legendary artists and their pioneering rap albums.

"This for hip-hop," Lamar said after Ice Cube presented him the award. "This for Snoop Dogg 'Doggystyle,' this for 'Illmatic,' this for Nas. We will live forever, believe that."

Neither Nas nor Snoop Dogg has won a Grammy.

The dedication is absolutely in line with the show's special hip-hop theme of the night. The cast of "Hamilton," Broadway's hit hip-hop show, is performing. And rap trailblazers Run DMC will be honored with the Grammy lifetime achievement award.

In addition to rap album, Lamar also won best rap performance (“Alright”), best rap/song collaboration (“These Walls,” with Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat), best rap song (“Alright”), and best music video (“Bad Blood,” with Taylor Swift).

At the time of this writing, he was still up for album of the year, song of the year for “Alright," and best pop duo/group performance on “Bad Blood” with Swift.

SEE ALSO: Here are all the winners of the 2016 Grammy Awards

SEE ALSO: Why the Grammys hand out most of the awards before the show even begins

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Rihanna canceled her Grammy performance because of illness

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Rihanna just released her newest album, ANTI

Rihanna was scheduled to perform during Monday night's Grammy Awards, but has canceled her performance.

According to TMZ, Rihanna was at the Staples Center, where the awards show is taking place, and rehearsed but canceled her performance due to health reasons. 

She has reportedly been struggling with bronchitis and doctors warned her to avoid performing or risk vocal chord damage. 

Billboard has confirmed her cancellation. 

A rep for the singer said that a doctor put her on 48-hour vocal rest because she "was at risk of hemorrhaging her vocal cords." She had been taking antibiotics for three days, but they "did not kill the infection adequately."

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Kendrick Lamar gave the best performance of the Grammys with this fiery rap

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kendrick lamar

All eyes have been on Kendrick Lamar at the 2016 Grammy Awards Monday night, with his leading 11 nominations.

After having won multiple awards in the night, the rapper took the stage for an incredible, fiery performance of "The Blacker the Berry" and "Alright." 

Lamar and his dancers were dressed as prisoners, before he was joined by performers doing a tribal African dance around a huge bonfire on the stage, which looked very much real.

"To Pimp a Butterfly," Lamar's Grammy-winning album, extends many of his themes about racial identity in America and police abuse. He ended the performance with an image of Africa and the word Compton inside it. Lamar is from Compton in Los Angeles.

kendrick lamar grammys

 See the whole performance below:

 

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Lady Gaga crushed it performing David Bowie's classics for a Grammys tribute

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lady gaga

Lady Gaga channeled Ziggy Stardust and more David Bowies in a moving tribute to the late legendary musician and pop icon.

Performing a mashup of a number of his hit songs, including  "Space Oddity,""Rebel Rebel," and "Heroes," which spanned his more-than-five-decade career, Gaga honored the musician who died January 10 after a battle with cancer. He had celebrated his 69th birthday, as well as the release of his newest album, "Blackstar," two days before.

Bright lights and eclectic costumes threw back to Bowie's 1973 "Aladdin Sane" album. Video projections recreated his lightning bolt on her face. She even played on a mechanical keyboard that moved and shifted on robotic legs. 

According to E! Online, Gaga's tribute was one of the longer performances of the night.

lady gagaThe National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) president Neil Portnoy said, "She will take us through quite a bit of history of David Bowie's repertoire. It's one of the longest, larger segments of the night."

She also paid an homage to Bowie with her red-carpet look. Sporting dyed red hair, blue eye shadow, and a space-inspired outfit, Gaga was channeling Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era.  

Gaga shared a video on Instagram preparing for the Grammys. She shed a tear as she listened to "Blackstar" off Bowie's newest and final album of the same name. "The world loves you David," she wrote.

The world loves you David.

A video posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Feb 15, 2016 at 3:08pm PST on

Two days before performing at the Grammys, Gaga posted a photo and video on Snapchat of her getting a tattoo in honor of Bowie. Her new ink is a portrait of the Starman from his "Aladdin Sane" album. "This was the image that changed my life," she captioned one of her pictures. 

 

Watch the tribute below:

 

SEE ALSO: Kendrick Lamar gave the best performance of the Grammys with this fiery rap

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