Grammy Awards 2014: Daft Punk and Lorde sweep main prizes

With five awards, it can be said that Daft Punk ran away with the 2014 Grammy Awards, with the French duo achieving best album, best electronic album, best duo performance (with Farrell) and best non-classical album production for their fourth album Random Access Memory.

Lorde, whose number one hit Royals shot to the top of the charts in 2013, won best song of the year along with best solo performance. Speaking of relative newcomers to the height of the music scene, Imagine Dragons won best rock performance with their song Radioactive that gained over 100,000,000 views on YouTube last year. On the hip hop side of things, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won in the categories best new artists, best rap performance, best rap song with Thrift Shop and best rap record, The Heist.

Dave Grohl, Kris Novoselic and Paul McCartney, won with Cut Me Some Slack, the best rock song and Led Zeppelin were awarded best rock album with Celebration Day.

Live performances, which included several of the evening’s winners, began with Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s rendition of Drunk in Love. Despite potentially being a little risqué for a pre-watershed performance, it was certainly enough to get the evening going.

After this edition of the Grammy Awards, it seems that the health of Western music might be quite poor, leaving little space for new music or names, with McCartney and Zeppelin taking home awards above other, perhaps more current acts.

Lorenzo Cribario

For further information on The Grammy Awards 2014, visit here.

Winners:

Album of the year: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk

Record of the year: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers

Song of the year: Royals, Lorde

New artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Pop solo performance: Royals, Lorde

Pop vocal album: Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars

Pop/duo group performance: Get Lucky, Daft Punk with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers

Rap/sung collaboration: Holy Grail, Jay Z with Justin Timberlake

Rock song: Cut Me Some Slack, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear

Traditional pop vocal album: To Be Loved, Michael Buble

Rap performance: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz

Rap song: Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz

Rap album: The Heist, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

R&B performance: Something, Snarky Puppy with Lalah Hathaway

Traditional R&B performance: Please Come Home, Gary Clark Jr

R&B song: Pusher Love Girl, James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley and Justin Timberlake

R&B album: Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys

Urban contemporary album: Unapologetic, Rihanna

Rock performance: Radioactive, Imagine Dragons

Rock album: Celebration Day, Led Zeppelin

 Hard rock/metal performance: God Is Dead, Black Sabbath

Alternative music album: Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend

Dance recording: Clarity, Zedd featuring Foxes

Dance/electronica album: Random Access Memories, Daft Punk

Producer of the year, non-classical: Pharrell Williams

Latin pop album: Vida, Draco Rosa

Latin rock, urban or alternative album: Treinta Dias, La Santa Cecilia

Latin jazz album: Song for Maura, Paquito D’Rivera and Trio Corrente

Tropical Latin album: Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Pacific Mambo Orchestra

Country solo performance: Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker

Country duo/group performance: From This Valley, The Civil Wars

Country song: Merry Go ‘Round, Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne

Gospel song: If He Did It Before … Same God (Live), Tye Tribbett

Gospel album: Greater Than (Live), Tye Tribbettlatin

Blues album: Get Up!, Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite

Folk album: My Favorite Picture of You, Guy Clark

Americana album: Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

Bluegrass album: The Streets of Baltimore, Del McCoury Band

Reggae album: Ziggy Marley in Concert, Ziggy Marley

World music album: Live: Singing for Peace Around the World, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and “Savor Flamenco”, Gypsy Kings (tie)

Children’s album: Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well, Jennifer Gasoi

Spoken word album: America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t, Stephen Colbert

Comedy album: Calm Down Gurrl, Kathy Griffin

New age album: Love’s River, Laura Sullivan

Jazz vocal album: Liquid Spirit, Gregory Porter

Jazz instrumental album: Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, Terri Lyne Carrington

Large jazz ensemble album: Night in Calisia, Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic

Pop instrumental album: Steppin’ Out, Herb Alpert

Compilation soundtrack album: Sound City: Real to Reel, Dave Grohl and various artists, Butch Vig

Score soundtrack album: Skyfall, Thomas Newman, composer

Song written for visual media: Skyfall, Adele and Paul Epworth

Musical theater album: Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Sammy James Jr., Stephen Oremus and William Wittman

Producer of the year, classical: David Frost

Instrumental composition: Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orechestra, Clare Fischer

Orchestral performance: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4, Osmo Vanska, conductor

Opera recording: Ades: The Tempest, Thomas Ades, Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, Alan Oke, Jay David Saks

Choral performance: Part: Adam’s Lament, Tonu Kaljuste, conductor

Short-form music video: Suit & Tie, Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z, David Fincher, Timory King

Long-form music video: Live Kisses, Paul McCartney, Jonas Akerlund, Violaine Etienne, Aron Levin and Scott Rodger

Historical album: The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums, Bill Withers, Leo Sacks, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Tom Ruff and Mark Wilder, and Charlie is My Darling, Teri Landi, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Rosenthal and Bob Ludwig