“They gon’ think I won a Grammy / They gon’ think I won a Grammy,” said Drake, Beyonce and any of their non-Adele friends after the 2017 Grammy Awards.
And while both artists did, actually, win Grammys — you wouldn’t know it after watching Adele break a sweat running up and down those stairs, collecting an unreasonable number of small golden gramophones (assuming any number of small golden gramophones can be considered reasonable).
But if you had something (anything, God, anything) better to do on a Sunday night, here’s a quick lil’ recap of the 30 Hours of Highlights, Lowlights, and other Kanye West songs that did not win Grammys:
1. James Corden was hilariously unfunny
James Corden was, like, a Family Guy quote away from being forced out of comedy entirely. The Late Late Show host had the unenviable job of bringing lighthearted fun to a ceremony seemingly fashioned after 127 Hours. And even though he did his best to remain likable throughout, there’s no forgetting his awful slapstick introduction and the rapping that followed.
2. Chance the Rapper had a Good Ass Night
The young Chicago emcee won Best Rap Performance, Best New Artist and Best Rap Album off the strength of his last album Coloring Book — despite our own Anna Muckerman’s poor review. It was the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy, and the “three” on his hat ended up being prophetic — it’s the number of Grammys he won.
3. Adele cussed
Once again proving herself to be the bad girl of pop music, Adele said a big, bad (bleeped out) swear word during her tribute performance to George Michael, and then profusely apologized for it. Here’s to hoping by the 2018 Grammys she has loosened up a little and cusses non-stop. That would be cool as heck.
4. Anderson .Paak didn’t win, but he did kill it onstage
While the “New” in Best New Artist isn’t always an accurate description, it certainly works for Anderson .Paak, who went from relatively unknown to Grammy-nominated in a year. While he lost the award to Chance, his performance with A Tribe Called Quest proved that he might have been the most talented performer nominated. Performing “Award Tour,” he was able to make the ’90s hip-hop classic his own while honoring the legends he shared the stage with.
5. Krzysztof Penderecki won Best Choral Performance for Penderecki Conducts Penderecki, Volume 1
You probably don’t need to know this one but I just listened to it and it’s fire. Nice work, Krzysztof!
For a full list of winners, you can check out the Grammys’ official website.