The Queen of Pop started the hype for her eagerly-anticipated David Bowie tribute by getting a tattoo of the late Rock God in the build-up.
Then, just so there’s no doubt in our minds over her allegiance to the legend who died from cancer in January, she posts this teary Instagram video while getting her make-up back stage.
But theatrics aside, everyone agreed there was perhaps no better modern pop star to honour Bowie than Lady Gaga, as her performance at the 2016 Grammys proved.
The singer, who used to paint a thunderbolt on her face in honour of the late singer, performed a medley of the rock star’s greatest hits and paid tribute to his iconic looks and flamboyant performances.
Dressed like Ziggy Stardust with a mane of flaming red hair, Gaga blew through hits like Suffragette City, Rebel Rebel, Fashion, Under Pressure and Heroes.
She was joined on stage by Chic guitarist and long-time Bowie collaborator Nile Rodgers.
On a night when the performances seemed to outweigh the gravity of the gongs at stake, there were a slew of highlights.
Adele, who was not eligible for awards this year because her new album came out after the deadline for the show, struck technical snags as the sound cut in and out.
But most fans were able to look past those issues as she belted out a powerful rendition of All I Ask, a song co-written with Bruno Mars.
Others took to social media to blame Justin Bieber for the glitches – why wouldn’t you!
The twangs sounded similar to an acoustic guitar, so when Bieber followed by strumming his acoustic guitar to Love Yourself fans began to speculate that his guitar was accidentally plugged in during Adele’s moment.
“Did @justinbieber guitar tuning mess up @Adele ‘s performance?? #GRAMMYs #SomeonesGettingFired,” @kjs_nyc tweeted. And @marylanehaskell added, “Did @justinbieber throw his guitar just to be cool or because it ruined queen @Adele’s performance and he was #sorry? #Grammys2016 #GRAMMYs.”
Musician Preston Wait wrote, “I think the mystery person playing acoustic guitar behind Adele was Bieber”.
But it was left to Adele herself to later set the record straight with these posts to her Twitter account. Nothing a consolotory In and Out burger can’t fix, laments the singer.
The biggest disappointment was the no-show from Rihanna who cancelled her Grammy performance at the 11th hour due to bronchitis.
She was slated to sing Kiss It Better, the smoochy jam off her recent release Anti, for the 58th annual ceremony.
Her rep says that the singer’s doctor put her on vocal rest for 48 hours because she “was at risk of hemorrhaging her vocal cords”.
Rihanna had been taking antibiotics for three days, though the meds “did not kill the infection adequately”.
The major winners were:
Record of the Year
Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson, featuring Bruno Mars
Album of the Year
1989, Taylor Swift
Song of the Year
Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran)
New Artist
Meghan Trainor
Rap Album
To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar
Musical Theatre Album
Hamilton
Country Album
Traveller, Chris Stapleton
Rock Performance
Don’t Wanna Fight, Alabama Shakes
