Grammys backstage highlights: A humbled Justin Vernon, giddy Adele

Grammys 2012: Deadmau5 trolls Skrillex on the red carpet

Deadmau5 wears a T-shirt with Skrillex's phone number at 2012 Grammy Awards

Electronica artist Deadmau5, who performed during the landmark dance-music collaboration with David Guetta, Chris Brown, Foo Fighters and Lil Wayne, might have started a good-natured dance-titan beef on the Grammys' red carpet.

It began when Deadmau5 arrived on the red carpet wearing (in addition to his trademark mouse helmet) a black T-shirt with a phone number and the phrase “U mad bro?,” a popular comeback in the darker corners of Internet prankster subculture.

The phone number, with a 626 area code, apparently belongs to his fellow Grammy-nominated dance artist Skrillex. Skrillex was a good sport about it — posing with Deadmau5 and applauding his gumption on Twitter.

Skrillex shouldn't feel too bad about the joke though — he won both major dance-music Grammys for his e.p. "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites." That said, it's probably too late to call and congratulate him — the phone number’s mailbox is, naturally, over capacity now.

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— August Brown

Photo: Deadmau5 arrives at the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo / Chris Pizzello)

Twitter: @PopHiss

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For Neil Portnow, ‘the most emotional Grammys’

With Whitney Houston’s tragic passing 24 hours before Sunday’s telecast, Neil Portnow and producers of the Grammy Awards show were forced to scramble to figure out the most appropriate way to honor the fallen pop star.

In the hours following the news, Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich and his team announced former “American Idol” diva Jennifer Hudson would perform a "respectful musical tribute" on the show; and It was reported she would be joined by soul/funk diva Chaka Khan.

Ultimately Khan backed out and the powerhouse Hudson performed an understated, yet poignant, version of Houston’s signature “I Will Always Love You.” Show host, LL Cool J began the ceremony with a semi-impromptu prayer.

Adele's triumphant return to stage

“We decided to address this right on top of the show. We are able to be nimble," Portnow said backstage on Sunday. "We’ve changed stuff an hour before. There was a creative discussion. Because it's so fresh and significant. [LL Cool J] said, ‘What I would do is say a prayer.’ And we thought if that’s what you would do, no need to write that. Just do it from your heart.”

Portnow said despite his personal grief, he had to quickly assume a "dad" role to press forward.

“Whitney was a personal friend. I was at Arista when we signed her. I watched her take the stage for the first time on ‘The Merv Griffin Show,’ " said a more sullen Portnow. “First thing I had to do was steel myself to go to work. Really, in my responsibility, I’m in the dad role and I have to take care of my family.”

“We had to do something,” he said. “But what did that look like? What would that be? It needed to be simple. It needed to be elegant. It needed to be healing because we are all hurting.”

PHOTOS: Grammy Awards red carpet

Emotions ran high through the pre-show and the ceremony, with numerous winners paying tribute to not just Houston in their speeches, but also to family members and fellow musicians. Mitch Winehouse perfectly summed up the sense of loss from the past year when he accepted the Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group for his late daughter Amy’s duet with Tony Bennett.

“Long live Whitney Houston, long live Amy Winehouse, long live Etta James. What can I say? There’s a beautiful girl band up in heaven.”

Portnow said the ceremony turned out to be one of the heavier telecasts he’s been involved with.

“This is the most emotional Grammys I’ve ever been involved in. But, it needed to be. Not only because of Whitney,” he said. “Look at Adele. Look at Glen Campbell. All the drama and emotion around that. Also the Beach Boys, these are a group of guys that really hadn’t been that nice to each other [in recent years]. The theme to me was emotion. It was very strong in the house.”

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Adele affirmed, Whitney Houston mourned

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

Photo: Jennifer Hudson performs a Whitney Houston tribute during the Grammy Awards show Sunday at Staples Center. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @PopHiss

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Grammys 2012: Taylor Swift can get 'Mean' too

Noted music-industry gadfly Bob Lefsetz is rumored to have been the subject of Taylor Swift’s single “Mean.” But despite an ostensibly Lefsetz-friendly crowd of music biz veterans at Staples for the 2012 Grammy Awards, Swift seemed to make several thousand allies when she took the writer to task in her lyrics.

Swift, looking especially radiant in a gold gown and straightened hair, directed the lyrics of "Mean" to implicitly rebut Lefsetz's charges that “she can’t sing,” calling the tune’s subject “a liar” and “pathetic.”

Plenty of audience members at Staples clutched their proverbial pearls in recognition that one of their own was in the song's cross-hairs.

But Swift has a way of elevating sly in-song gossip to something like myth, and the massive Grammy platform only made her riposte feel more charged.

"Mean" won two Grammys for country solo performance and country song (a relatively small haul given her dominant 2010 Grammys), and Swift's wink-nudge reference -- OK, more like a cannon-sized warning shot -- got the crowd to its feet.

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--August Brown

Taylor Swift, center, performs during the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, in Los Angeles. Credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press

Twitter: @PopHiss

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More in: August Brown, Grammy Awards 2012: Live coverage, Grammys, Taylor Swift

Grammys 2012: Nicki Minaj and five other weird moments we saw

The Grammy Awards: What would the ceremony be without its weird moments, its awkward collaborations or puzzling choices? Although Adele’s clean sweep lent the night a classy air -- even in spite of her admission that snot was running down her face; hey, anything sounds suave in a British accent -- Sunday night was rife with the kind of fodder that pushes Twitter close to overload. Nicki Minaj performing an exorcism on herself? That was just for starters.

Here are six of the most notable of the evening’s slip-ups, gaffes and other “I don’t get it” moments:

1) The Recording Academy did a tremendous job responding to the sudden death of former pop titan Whitney Houston, arranging a gorgeously simple tribute from Jennifer Hudson. But nobody could’ve predicted the awkwardness of the ceremony’s opening line. Gearing up to perform “We Take Care of Our Own,” Bruce Springsteen asked the crowd, “Anyone alive out there?” Funny how standard warm-up banter can suddenly seem cringe-worthy.

2) The Foo Fighters, the traditionalist guitar rockers led by Dave Grohl, must’ve been on sale when the Grammys were budgeting Sunday’s performance schedule. The band was omnipresent at the show, from playing in the parking lot outside –- they must’ve torn up too much of the furniture inside already -– to inexplicably joining the late-hour dance-music collaboration with Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, DeadMau5 and David Guetta.

As far as the latter performance, is Grohl really the best representative of the genre-blurring intentions of dance music when only an hour previous, he groused about music made with computers?

3) What’s an award show without Kanye West? He won for best rap performance for his “Otis” collaboration with Jay-Z and also took the best rap album in the pre-telecast for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” but the Chicago spitfire was nowhere to be seen.

We think we understand why. The innovative Kanye thrives on excitement and unpredictability. And with the recently recovered, wholly genial Adele set to take all her awards, it was the kind of odds lockdown that makes betting, or chest-beating, a moot point.

4) Chris Brown: Did we need to see him perform twice? Are we ready to embrace him so full-heartedly? Three years after assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, Brown was embraced by the academy, which invited him to perform his own music on top of some sort of Cubist contraption seemingly designed by Atari. Then later on, he leads the aforementioned dance party that showed rich people what the Coachella dance tent has been like for the last several years.

We have to say that Rihanna would’ve been the better choice to lead that number; her music has tracked bigger with dance crowds from the start. “We Found Love,” her collab with electronica wiz Calvin Harris, is the perfect example of pop, dance and R&B merging into one powerhouse strain. Or what about Lady Gaga –- and why was she relegated to quietly wearing a veil all night? Are performances with eggs or meat-dresses not cool anymore? (Wow, we just got hungry typing that.)

5) Praise for Rihanna aside, we can’t totally let her off the hook for one of the night’s most plodding medleys. “We Found Love” dribbled into a Coldplay acoustic puddle –- a serious downtick in momentum. If only they’d flipped the order and saved Rihanna’s slick jam for last. Regardless of who started, the set behind both performers was a torrent of images seemingly ripped from someone’s crashing iPhone, an onslaught of multicolor slashes and glowing auras. If this was homage to Steve Jobs, he’s not happy right now.

6) Nicki Minaj’s performance –- Catholic nightmare overload or inspired frightfest? Wait, notice how those two things aren’t that different? It might take us years to process all the ideas at work in Minaj’s performance, and while we applaud her for presenting them all with gusto, it seemed a case of too much, too late. So there was a video in there? And a cross she was hanging from? Or did she levitate? That’s a start, Nicki, but if you want to do “The Exorcist,” your head has to spin around, not ours.

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--Margaret Wappler

Photo: Nicki Minaj scaring the bejesus out of the crowd at the Grammy Awards. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @PopHiss

More in: Awards, Grammys, Margaret Wappler

Grammys 2012: Adele's '21' wins album of the year

This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details.

Soul traditionalist Adele triumphed over pop stars, a veteran rock act and an up-and-coming songwriter/producer to win the most prestigious Grammy prize, album of the year, for her "21." It was her sixth award out of six nominations, a clean sweep. The heavy front-runner, Adele shocked no one in taking the top honor at the 54th Grammy Awards.

Her "21" was championed by critics and embraced by fans, as it was the top-selling album of 2011 and hasn't left the top 10 on the U.S. pop charts since its release last February.

Adele, who was named best new artist at the 2009 ceremony, underwent vocal surgery in November and was forced to cancel her U.S. tour. Tonight's Grammys marked her return to the stage, and her album of the year win signaled that Grammy voters will opt for songcraft, raw emotion and a dazzling voice over pop trends or guitar slingers. She bested the performance-art pop of Lady Gaga, singles machine Rihanna, pop/R&B handyman Bruno Mars and alt-rock survivors Foo Fighters.

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The substance-over-style singer was the heavy favorite heading into the awards. Her "21" was the top-selling album of 2011, with a final tally of 5.82 million copies moved during the year. Meanwhile, her hit single "Rolling in the Deep" was the year's bestselling cut with 5.81 million copies. Both numbers are taken from Nielsen SoundScan's year-end data. Critics also flocked to the artist, as the album came in at No. 6 in the Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop poll of the nation’s critics.

Twitter: @PopHiss

Grammys 2012: Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' wins record of the year

Adele's gospel-inflected "Rolling in the Deep" was named record of the year at the 54th Grammy Awards, her fifth award out of six nominations. The song was the top-selling single of 2011, having sold 5.81 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has helped keep her album "21" near the top of the pop charts since its release last February.

Record of the year is awarded to the artist, producers, mixers and engineers. Song of the year is awarded to the songwriter. In addition to Adele, those sharing in "Rolling in the Deep's" win are producer Paul Epworth, and engineers/mixers Tom Elmhirst and Mark Rankin.

Adele's "Rolling In the Deep" was no doubt the favorite to win the prize. Steeped in soul traditions, the song's heavy bass gives it a contemporary feel. In addition to Adele, the category this year featured largely young artists, including the subtle folk-pop of Bon Iver ("Holocene"), hot producer-songwriter Bruno Mars ("Grenade"), 2010's folk-rock breakouts Mumford & Sons ("The Cave") and lightweight pop star Katy Perry ("Firework").

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Grammy voters have been relatively consistent in the record of the year field in recent years, favoring rootsy rock acts and country artists even as the industry has seen a rise in superstar producers. Last year the prize went to the adult-pop song "Need You Now" from Lady Antebellum, and in 2010 the Grammys awarded Southern rock act Kings of Leon for their cellphone-in-the-air-ballad "Use Somebody."

This year's record of the year crop featured a number of veterans of the category. Bruno Mars, for instance, was nominated along with B.o.B last year for "Nothin' on You," and Adele's "Chasing Pavements" was in contention at the 2009 awards, the year she was named best new artist. Foo Fighters were nominated in 2008, the year Amy Winehouse won for her hit "Rehab."

The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011. The 2011 awards are being held at Staples Center and telecast on CBS. They are broadcast live except for viewers on the West Coast. The latest headlines and any breaking news will be posted here on Pop & Hiss.

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— Todd Martens

Photo: Singer Adele accepts one of her many awards onstage at the 54th Grammy Awards held at Staples Center on Feb. 12. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Twitter: @PopHiss

Grammys 2012: Bon Iver wins for best new artist

Wisconsin-bred band Bon Iver, the indie folk project founded by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, was named best new artist at the 54th Grammy Awards, besting crowd favorite Nicki Minaj as well as a diverse set of performers from electronica, rap and country music. Vernon first gained attention for his 2007 debut, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” recorded in isolation in rural Wisconsin and filled with soaring vocal harmonies.

Between his debut and his self-titled second album released last year, Vernon collaborated with Kanye West, a move that introduced his name to a much wider audience. The Chicago hip-hop artist uses Vernon’s voice on the first track of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” and closes the album with a song based on Bon Iver’s “Woods.”

Bon Iver’s second record, with each song based on a real or imaginary place, opened up his sound to soft-rock influences, as well as synths, horns and other instrumentation that veered away from his folk roots. It’s also nominated for alternative music album, counting as one of Vernon’s four Grammy nods this year.

This year’s crop for best new artist is heavier on hip-hop than it has been in the last few years, and was also notable for the inclusion of up-and-coming dance titan Skrillex. Notable winners of the award in the last decade include Amy Winehouse, Adele, Carrie Underwood and John Legend.

The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011. The 2011 awards are being held at the Staples Center and telecast on CBS. They are broadcast live except for viewers on the West Coast.

The latest headlines and any breaking news will be posted here on Pop & Hiss.

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Photo: Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, right, goes to the stage to receive his Grammy. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @PopHiss

Grammys 2012: Lady Antebellum wins for country album

Barnstorming trio Lady Antebellum triumphed in the country album field that included works by rising artists who scored career breakthroughs last year (Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party,” Eric Church’s “Chief” and Blake Shelton’s “Red River Blue”), another young but well established genre superstar (Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now”) and one standard bearer (George Strait’s “Here for a Good Time”).

Lady Antebellum made it two in a row with “Own the Night,” following on the heels of its previous country album Grammy winner “Need You Now” that also earned the band a group vocal award for the title single. “Own the Night” continues to mine the niche the group captured on its previous two efforts, both highlighted by colorful duets between singers Hillary Scott and Charley Kelley.

Most recently, the country album award went to crossover blockbusters from Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift (“Fearless,” 2009). But over the years, Recording Academy voters have tended to recognize more adventuresome, and more often critically lauded acts than those typically honored by the Country Music Assn. or the Academy of Country Music.

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The Dixie Chicks took the Grammy four times in the 1990s and 2000s. Strait snagged the award in 2008 and twice last decade the trophy was awarded to multi-artist tributes to country pioneers in 2001 (“Timeless—Hank Williams Tribute”) and 2003 (“Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’—Songs of the Louvin Brothers”), which could bode well next year for the recent “The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams” all-star project spearheaded by Bob Dylan.

The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011.

The 2011 awards are being held at the Staples Center and telecast on CBS. They are broadcast live except for viewers on the West Coast. The latest headlines and any breaking news will be posted here on Pop & Hiss.

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--Randy Lewis

Photo: Lady Antebellum at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Twitter: @PopHiss

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Grammys 2012: Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' wins song of the year

Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” won the trophy for song of the year at the 54th Grammy Awards on Sunday night. It’s another boost in what is widely considered to be a cleanup year for her at the Grammys after she garnered six total nominations, including the top categories of record of the year and album of the year.

The last few months have been a nonstop roller coaster for the 23-year-old British songstress, who returned to the Grammy stage to perform after being sidelined since early October with vocal cord trauma that required surgery. But despite her health problems, Adele’s overwhelming nominations are well-earned.

Her sophomore effort “21” was the top-selling album of 2011, moving a total of 5.82 million copies during the year, with “Rolling in the Deep” becoming the album’s bestselling single with 5.81 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan’s year-end data.

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Looking at overwhelming similarities in the nominees for song of the year and record of the year (the one variable being Katy Perry’s “Firework”), it seemed as if the Recording Academy put all its adoration into only six songs that dominated radio in 2011.

Recording Academy voters have had a history of appreciation for big commercial pop hits (e.g. Beyoncé’s win for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” in 2010). Last year offered a bit of a shake-up when Nashville darlings Lady Antebellum walked away with the Grammy for “Need You Now,” besting last year’s perceived shoo-in, Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie.”

The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011.

The 2011 awards are being held at the Staples Center and telecast on CBS. They are broadcast live except for viewers on the West Coast. The latest headlines and any breaking news will be posted here on Pop & Hiss.

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