The Grammys

This Sunday, the best of the best in the music industry came together to celebrate the 56th Grammy Awards. The Grammys is usually my favorite award show because, unlike the Oscars, I am familiar with the nominees.

This year I wasn’t a fan of my favorite show.

The show was way too long. It started at 8 p.m. and didn’t end until 11:30ish.

Beyoncé’s opened the show with a provocative performance of one of her songs from her new album, which eventually led to husband Jay Z joining her on stage. It’s really hard to criticize America’s power couple — as always, they were flawless. In my book, Jay Z had the best one-liner when he won the award for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” and said now Blue has another gold sippy cup.

LL Cool J hosted the show and opened it with the typical speech about how powerful and inspiring music can be. It was sweet and to the point. He stated how Taylor Swift has inspired a new generation of girls to be brave, share their stories and let that be a warning to all boys that they better be nice. Preach it.

I’ll be honest, after his monologue, I forgot that LL Cool J was hosting the show due to his lack of face time throughout the night.

There were some very good performances and some very bad performances. Let’s start with the good.

I loved every minute of Katy Perry and Juicy J performing “Dark Horse.” Like the song, the performance was very dark and there was a fake horse; it was very mysterious and had this Snow White vibe to it.

Besides some awkward head banging, Taylor Swift sounded great and looked flawless performing “All Too Well” at the piano. You could really see the conviction and passion in her eyes while she sang and played the piano.

Obviously, Pink’s Cirque Du Soleil-esque performance showed that she is extremely talented. Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr’s performance together was historic. John Legend always gets an A+ in my book because he believes all men should be feminists and the Carole King and Sara Bareilles collaboration was so empowering.

And onto the bad: Lorde. While she performed “Royals,” I thought that Janice from “Mean Girls” was up there singing in the raspiest voice she could possibly make. I couldn’t decide which was more uncomfortable to watch: this performance, Taylor Swift’s dancing or when Taylor Swift thought she won album of the year. I will admit however, that I am bitter against Lorde because she beat Katy Perry for “Best Pop Solo” performance and “Song of the Year.” I was lying on the bitter girl couch for sure.

Hunter Hayes: Although he is absolutely adorable and I would want nothing more than for him to serenade me, I felt as if I was watching a crappy “American Idol” semi-final round performance. I did like the giant quotes on the screen from Steve Jobs, John Lennon, Lady Gaga and others that accompanied Hayes’ performance.

Chicago and Robin Thicke: We all know how I feel about the song “Blurred Lines,” so I don’t need to say much, but the transitions between songs was awful.

Overall, I would have appreciated the Grammys so much more if it were shorter, if there were better collaborations and more Justin Timberlake.

Although I have been negative for majority of this post I do like to end on a positive. During Macklemore’s performance of “Same Love,” more than 30 couples of different sexualities and backgrounds were officially married while he sang.

Labeling the performance as powerful would be an understatement.

No one would have imagined that gay couples would be getting married live at the Grammy Awards while a song about equality was playing 10 years ago. There really are no words for how far civil rights have come along.

So although this years Grammys weren’t my favorite, it definitely gave an interesting start to the award season and I can’t wait for what is to come.