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2013 Grammy Awards Fashion

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The Grammy Awards aired last night and there was some great fashion on the red carpet but not many things that wowed.  Here are some of my hits and misses.

Rihanna in Alaia – Getty Images
Kelly Rowland in Georges Chakra – Getty Images
Solange Knowles in Ralph & Russo – Getty Images
Carrie Underwood in Roberto Cavalli – Getty Images
Estelle in Genelle brooks x Love Collins – Getty Images
Chrissy Teigen in Joy Ciocci – Getty Images
Justin Timberlake in Tom Ford – Getty Images
Katy Perry in Gucci – Getty Images
Kelly Osbourne in Paule Ka – Getty Images
Natasha Bedingfield in EMERSON by Jackie Fraser-Swan
Taylor Swift in J Mendel
Adele in Valentino – Getty Images
Kimbra in Jamie Lee Major
Ashanti in Tony Ward Couture – Getty Images
SWV – Getty Images
Esperanza Spalding in Eden Diodati – Getty Images
Florence Welch in Givenchy – Getty Images
Lupe Fiasco in Y3 – Getty Images
Sean Paul – Getty Images
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55th Annual Grammy Awards Winners

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The 55th Annual Grammy Awards aired tonight on CBS and while there were some  great performances, with a run time of three and a half hours there were plenty of boring moments (Frank Ocean and Taylor Swift’s performances, LL Cool J hosting).

The best parts of the show were Justin Timberlake’s performance of “Suit & Tie”, The Bob Marley Tribute which wasn’t much of a tribute at all with Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Sting, and The Marley brothers (Marley and Ziggy), the shade Chris Brown threw when Frank Ocean won by not standing when everyone else did, Kelly Clarkson’s cover of Tennessee Waltz and Natural Woman, Rihanna’s performance of Stay with Mikky Ekko and the in memorium performance of The Weight by Elton John, Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, Mavis Staples and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.

In the midst of all the performances, some awards were given. Unlike last year when the lovely Adele swept the show, everyone got some love from the Grammy committee. The top three awards (Album of The Year,  were split between Mumford & Sons, Gotye and fun.. The complete list of winners is below.

Album of the Year
The Black Keys — El Camino
fun. — Some Nights
Mumford & Sons — Babel
Frank Ocean — Channel ORANGE
Jack White — Blunderbuss

Best New Artist
Alabama Shakes
fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Record of the Year
The Black Keys — “Lonely Boy”
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger”
fun. — “We Are Young” feat. Janelle Monae
Gotye — “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean — “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift — “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Song of the Year
Ed Sheeran — “The A Team”
Miguel — “Adorn”
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
fun. — “We Are Young”

Best Pop Vocal Album
Kelly Clarkson — Stronger
Florence + The Machine — Ceremonials
fun. — Some Nights
Maroon 5 — Overexposed
Pink — The Truth About Love

Best Pop Solo Performance
Adele — “Set Fire to the Rain” [Live]
Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
Katy Perry — “Wide Awake”
Rihanna — “Where Have You Been”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Florence + the Machine — “Shake It Out”
fun. — “We Are Young” feat. Janelle Monae
Gotye — “Somebody That I Used to Know” feat. Kimbra
LMFAO — “Sexy and I Know It”
Maroon 5 — “Payphone” feat. Wiz Khalifa

Best Alternative Music Album
Fiona Apple — The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Björk — Biophilia
Gotye — Making Mirrors
M83 — Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Tom Waits — Bad As Me

Best Rap Album
Drake — Take Care
Lupe Fiasco — Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1
Nas — Life Is Good
The Roots — Undun
Rick Ross — God Forgives, I Don’t
2 Chainz — Based on a T.R.U. Story

Best Rap Song
Nas — “Daughters”
Wale feat. Miguel — “Lotus Flower Bomb”
Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz — “Mercy”
Drake feat. Lil Wayne — “The Motto”
Jay-Z and Kanye West — “Niggas in Paris”
Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars — “Young, Wild & Free”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Flo Rida feat. Sia — “Wild Ones”
Jay-Z and Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean and The-Dream — “No Church in the Wild”
John Legend feat. Ludacris — “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”
Nas feat. Amy Winehouse — “Cherry Wine”
Rihanna feat. Jay-Z — “Talk That Talk”

Best Rap Performance
Drake feat. Lil Wayne — “HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)”
Jay-Z and Kanye West — “Niggas in Paris”
Nas — “Daughters”
Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz — “Mercy”
Young Jeezy feat. Jay-Z and André 3000 — “I Do”

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Chris Brown — Fortune
Miguel — Kaleidoscope Dream
Frank Ocean — Channel ORANGE

Best Traditional R&B Performance
Anita Baker — “Lately”
Beyoncé — “Love on Top”
Melanie Fiona — “Wrong Side of a Love Song”
Gregory Porter — “Real Good Hands”
SWV — “If Only You Knew”

Best R&B Song
Miguel — “Adorn”
Tamia — “Beautiful Surprise”
Trey Songz — “Heart Attack”
Anthony Hamilton — “Pray for Me”
Elle Varner — “Refill”

Best R&B Album 
Robert Glasper Experiment — Black Radio
Anthony Hamilton — Back to Love
R. Kelly — Write Me Back
Tamia — Beautiful Surprise
Tyrese — Open Invitation

Best Rock Album
The Black Keys — El Camino
Coldplay — Mylo Xyloto
Muse — The 2nd Law
Bruce Springsteen — Wrecking Ball
Jack White — Blunderbuss

Best Rock Performance
Alabama Shakes — “Hold On”
The Black Keys — “Lonely Boy”
Coldplay — “Charlie Brown”
Mumford & Sons — “I Will Wait”
Bruce Springsteen — “We Take Care of Our Own”

Best Dance Recording 
Avicii — “Levels”
Calvin Harris — “Let’s Go” feat. Ne-Yo
Skrillex — “Bangarang” feat. Sirah
Swedish House Mafia — “Don’t You Worry Child” feat. John Martin
Al Walser — “I Can’t Live Without You”

Best Dance/Electronica Album
Steve Aoki — Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers — Don’t Think
Deadmau5 — > Album Title Goes Here <
Kaskade — Fire & Ice
Skrillex — Bangarang

Best Country Solo Performance
Dierks Bentley — “Home”
Eric Church — “Springsteen”
Ronnie Dunn — “Cost of Livin'”
Hunter Hayes — “Wanted”
Blake Shelton— “Over”
Carrie Underwood — “Blown Away”

Best Country Album
Zac Brown Band — Uncaged
Hunter Hayes — Hunter Hayes
Jamey Johnson — Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Miranda Lambert — Four the Record
The Time Jumpers — The Time Jumpers

Best Spoken Word Album
Scott Cresswell and Dan Zitt — American Grown (Michelle Obama)
Bill Clinton — Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy
Rachel Maddow — Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
Ellen DeGeneres — Seriously … I’m Kidding
Janis Ian — Society’s Child: My Autobiography

Best Comedy Album
Jimmy Fallon — Blow Your Pants Off
Margaret Cho — Cho Dependent (Live in Concert)
Lewis Black — In God We Rust
Kathy Griffin — Kathy Griffin: Seaman 1st Class
Jim Gaffigan — Mr. Universe
Tenacious D — Rize of the Fenix

 

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The Voice Season 3 Finale (Spoilers In Case You Live Under A Rock)

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In case you have not watched the episode still and don’t want to know who won do not continue. STOP NOW!! Ever since my move to LA, I have found many opportunities to see some of the shows I watch tape live. Last night I had the pleasure of being at The Voice’s Season 3 finale. It was an amazing show. All of the performances – taped and live – were great.

I will start with how the show began for me. It actually began about an hour before the show went live on the East Coast with Bruno Mars taping his performance of “When I Was Your Man” that they would playback during the live show. Three takes were shot of the performance. The first take was good but judge Christina Aguilera was not in her seat yet and they had to get some sound issues straightened out. The second take was cut short by Bruno because one of the instruments went out. The third take was great and was what they in the show.  After this, the stage was cleared and then some stuff with Christina and Adam Levine was shot for host, Carson Daly’s New Year’s Eve special. Way to save money NBC.

And now it’s 8pm on the East Coast and we are live. Everything is live up until the point where they cut to Rihanna’s performance of “Diamonds”. That was shot after the Monday performance show of The Voice. We sit and watch the performance on the video screen. At the end of it the audience stands to applaud and make it seem like it just happened in front of us. I have to say Rihanna has definitely improved from her “Pon De Replay” and “Unfaithful” days. She will never be the greatest singer but I can respect growth.  During the commercial break, the audience guy pumps up the crowd. He talks to the audience, there are t-shirt giveaways and music. While that is happening the audience keeps shouting to the coaches, who are getting touch-ups done on their makeup, tweeting or just walking around talking to crew members and producers.

Continue reading The Voice Season 3 Finale (Spoilers In Case You Live Under A Rock) →

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MTV Video Music Award Nominations

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The MTV Video Music Awards nominations were announced last week and Rihanna and Drake lead the pack with 5 nominations each. Rihanna is up for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video with “We Found Love” and Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects with “Where Have You Been?”

Katy Perry is right behind them with four nominations. Beyonce, Coldplay, Frank Ocean and M.I.A have 3 nominations each. I heart Frank Ocean and I’m happy for his nominations but it just feels like MTV just wanted to give him some reason to show up to the show, which he probably won’t. The full list of nominees is below and you can see who takes home a moon man when the show airs Thursday, September 6th at 8/7c on MTV with performances from Alicia Keys and One Direction.

Video of the Year
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Gotye, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”

Best New Artist
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
The Wanted, “Glad You Came”

Best Hip-Hop Video
Childish Gambino, “Heartbeat”
Drake feat. Lil Wayne, “HYFR”
Kanye West feat. Pusha T, Big Sean & 2 Chainz, “Mercy”
Watch the Throne, “Paris”
Nicki Minaj feat. 2 Chainz, “Beez in the Trap”

Best Male Video
Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Chris Brown, “Turn Up the Music”
Usher, “Climax”

Best Female Video
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Katy Perry, “Part of Me”
Beyoncé, “Love on Top”
Nicki Minaj, “Starships”
Selena Gomez & The Scene, “Love You Like a Love Song”

Best Pop Video
One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
Rihanna, “We Found Love”
Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa, “Payphone”

Best Rock Video
Coldplay, “Paradise”
The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
Linkin Park, “BURN IT DOWN”
Jack White, “Sixteen Saltines”
Imagine Dragons, “It’s Time”

Best Electronic Dance Music Video
Duck Sauce, “Big Bad Wolf”
Calvin Harris, “Feel So Close”
Skrillex, “First of the Year (Equinox)”
Martin Solveig, “The Night Out”
Avicii, “Le7els”

Best Video With a Message
Demi Lovato, “Skyscraper”
Rise Against, “Ballad of Hollis Brown”
Kelly Clarkson, “Dark Side”
Gym Class Heroes, “The Fighter”
K’Naan feat. Nelly Furtado, “Is Anybody Out There?”
Lil Wayne, “How to Love”

Best Art Direction
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Lana Del Rey, “Born to Die”
Regina Spektor, “All the Rowboats”
Of Monsters & Men, “Little Talks”

Best Choreography
Chris Brown, “Turn Up the Music”
Rihanna, “Where Have You Been”
Beyoncé, “Countdown”
Avicii, “Le7els”
Jennifer Lopez f/Pitbull, “Dance Again”

Best Cinematography
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
Adele, “Someone Like You”
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Take Care”
Coldplay feat. Rihanna, “Princess of China”
Lana Del Rey, “Born to Die”

Best Direction
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
Duck Sauce, “Big Bad Wolf”
Coldplay feat. Rihanna, “Princess of China”
Frank Ocean, “Swim Good”
Watch the Throne, “Otis”

Best Editing
Beyoncé, “Countdown”
A$AP Rocky, “Goldie”
Gotye, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Watch the Throne, “Paris”
Kanye West feat. Pusha T, Big Sean and 2 Chainz, “Mercy”

Best Visual Effects
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Rihanna, “Where Have You Been”
David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj, “Turn Me On”
Linkin Park, “BURN IT DOWN”

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Videos, Videos, Videos

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Not one to watch many music videos but there are a few that I recently watched that I wanted to comment on.

John Mayer – “Shadow Days”

“Shadow Days”  is the first single from Mayer’s new album, Born and Raised, out May 22nd. I love Mayer’s music. He’s just so great. I like this song and the video is minimalist at best which I also like. Sometimes you don’t need a lot to tell a story with visually about the song. I’m sad though because this will probably be it for the promotion of this album as he has had to cancel his tour because of some problems with his vocal cords.

Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”

This song is one of my favs from Rihanna’s Talk That Talk album and I didn’t know it was going to be a single but it makes sense. This video is just giving me EVERYTHING right now. I love it. She’s actually dancing in it for more than a couple of seconds and its not dutty wining. There is actual true choreography. Granted it is fairly simple but this Rihanna, do yall remember the “Pon De Replay” video? Ok so lets applaud some effort lol. Although that is like getting a medal for last place but whatever. I have to get her on her little belly dancer hip movement though. Hahah she tried but it was so stiff. Regardless this is going on repeat along with the “We Found Love” video.

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Best and Worst Looks of The Grammy Awards

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Definitely slim pickings when it came to fashion at the Grammy Awards tonight. Here are the best and worst looks of the night.

Best Looks

Jessie J

Love her. I like the dress but the hair is awful. Like I said slim pickings.

Adele

This woman and do no wrong to me. Love her, love her. She looks great. Simple. Elegance

Kelly Rowland

Kelly looks wonderful. Great dress and makeup. The back of her dress which can’t be seen in this pic makes her but look amazing. The dress just fit her really well.

Gwyneth Paltrow (Glee, Country Strong)

I usually hate what she wears but she looked great here. Loved the cut outs on the side and yes she only put her hair up but its something different than her usual straight hair that is down.

Rihanna

She was my best dressed of the night. Some might not agree but she just owned that carpet when she walked on. Its a simple black Armani dress that she helped design with him. Love the shoes. Her makeup looks good too. The only thing I’m not a huge fan of is the hair. She looks a little like Tina Turner/Angela Basset from What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Worst Dressed

Skylar Grey
Esperanza Spaulding
Taylor Swift

Ughh

Robyn

I just can’t with this outfit. Really? I love Robyn but man she needs to hire a stylist.

Fergie

This dress would have been fine if she had something underneath. I don’t even understand what she was thinking with this. It makes no sense.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki tried to show up Lady Gaga from last year’s show. She showed up with some guy dressed as a pope. I guess this wasn’t Nicki it was “Roman,” one of her other personalities.

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American Music Awards

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The American Music Awards aired last night on ABC and it was a performance heavy show with few awards given. This is what all award shows should do. give out a few awards but let it be mostly performances and montages for the rest of the show to keep the fast pace going. Nicki Minaj opened the show with David Guetta singing their song, “Turn Me On.” Nicki did a lot of singing. There is like one line of rapping in this song and its terrible. Why is Nicki singing? Her voice was ok I guess for a rapper but I need these rappers to stop singing if they ey are not singers. She then transition into her hit song “Super Bass.”

That performance was a little better but nothing to scream about. Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez apparently are huge favs of hers and have become besties. The camera kept panning to them rapping and jamming. Ugh. Her performance outfit was ok too. I don’t understand the speakers (I think they are speakers) on the outfit but whatever.

Some awards were presented. Taylor Swift won favorite country female artist. I call B.S on that one. Miranda Lambert has been slaying all flipping year. She should have taken that award. I hate that the AMAs have now become like the VMAs in that they are voted on by 13 year olds.

I can’t stand this girl and I don’t know why. I think it might be just all her cutesy stuff. I just don’t think she’s sincere at all. She had a cute dress. Very typical of the way she dresses but man that hair is awful. You have hair and makeup artists please get them to do something to your hair. Continue reading American Music Awards →

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Rihanna – We Found Love Video

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Rihanna unleashed the video to her first single,”We Found Love”, from her upcoming album, Talk That Talk. The video was shot in Ireland and co-stars her rumored new boyfriend, a London boxer/model, Dudley O’Shaughnessy. Enjoy or not lol. Continue reading Rihanna – We Found Love Video →