Rihanna. That’s it for the 2011 53rd Annual Grammy’s Red Carpet. Rihanna.
Opening performance is a power quintet tribute to Grammy performer favorite, Aretha Franklin, with Christina Aguilera and her frosty-white hair like lip gloss, clearly seeking redemption for a gaffed Super Bowl performance.
Followed by the spectacle that is Lady GaGa who follows a sharp producer-instinct as she multi-tasks on stage, satirizing Madonna with her big blonde braid and tall black boots and bared belly and chest plate with breasts – no cones – rather, nipples, and her creepy plastic face.
Hewlitt Packard offers up a super advertising spot when they work a classic Lou Reed track. And the much-tweeted Detroit-Eminem-Chrysler spot from Sunday's Super Bowl reappears.
Muse shows up with solid Brit rock, and Mumford & Sons lays on some hearty folk grooves. Then there’s an unanticipated and out-of-place cameo by Gwenyth Paltrow in duet with Cee Lo Green. Crowd-pleaser “Teenage Dream” is made complete with fluffy valentines by Katy Perry. John Mayer teams up with Norah Jones and Keith Urban for an acoustic cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” and together they go on to present an anti-climactic Song of the Year (as well as Record of the Year) award to “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum.
The quick jab by Seth Rogen about getting high backstage with Miley Cyrus earns the crowd’s verbal cringe. First time ever on Grammy stage, Mick Jagger -- ever the professional performer with his endless energy – pays tribute to Solomon Burke.
The act we’re all waiting for -- Rihanna & Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” – is over-poised and dramatic, chopped and diced so that the performers are separate, and then the song is gone, blended into an unfamiliar duet. Then Dr. Dre appears and raps briefly with Eminem, and all the hype is followed by a huge upset in Best New Artist category, which is awarded to Esperanza Spalding (NOT Justin Beiber nor Drake). Rihanna returns to the stage with Drake to perform “What’s My Name.” Steamy grind moves and appealing stage props still can’t beat what sounds better out of the studio.
Night closes out with another shock -- Arcade Fire takes home Album of the Year.
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