This year the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on Sunday, February 13th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles CA. If you don’t know what the Grammys are about, the Grammys honor excellence in the music industry. The awards are given to artists for their artistic and technical achievement in music. 

It’s a very long voting process. I’ll break it down for you.

• Submission: Record companies enter recordings and music videos that they think are eligible of recognition at the Grammy Awards.
• Screening: More then 150 experts in different music fields evaluate the music to make sure that each entry is eligible and placed in its proper music category. 
• Nominating: Voting members directly vote in their fields of expertise, and they can only nominate in the four general categories (record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist).
• Special Nominating Committees: Final nominations are figured out by national nomination review committees. 
• Final Voting: Finalists are sent to voting members, who figure out to which category each artist belongs. 
• Results: The winner isn’t known until the night of the awards, and then they are announced live at the Grammys. 

Winners of the 2011 Grammy Awards:

Album of the Year: “The Suburbs,” Arcade Fire

Record of the Year: “Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum

Song of the Year: “Need You Now” Lady Antebellum 

New Artist: Esperanza Spalding

Female Pop Vocal Performance: “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga

Male Pop Vocal Performance: “Just The Way You Are,” Bruno Mars

Pop Performance by a Duo or Group: “Hey Soul Sister,” Train

Pop Vocal Album: “The Fame Monster,” Lady Gaga

Alternative Album: “Brothers,” The Black Keys

Rock Song: “Angry World,” Neil Young

Rock Album: “The Resistance,” Muse

Rock Performance: “Tighten Up,” The Black Keys

R&B Album: “Wake up!” John Legend & The Roots

Contemporary R&B Album: “Raymond V Raymond,” Usher

R&B Song: “Shine,” John Legend & The Roots

R&B Performance: “Soldier Of Love,” Sade

Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: “Hang On In There,” John Legend and The Roots

Urban/Alternative Performance: “(Forget) You,” Cee Lo Green

Rap Album: “Recovery,” Eminem

Rap Solo Performance: “Not Afraid,” Eminem

Rap Performance by A Duo Or Group: “On To The Next One,” Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz

Rap Song: “Empire State of Mind,” Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

Rap/Sung Collaboration: “Empire State Of Mind,” Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

Male Country Vocal Performance: “‘Til Summer Comes Around,” Keith Urban

Female Country Vocal Performance: “The House That Built Me,” Miranda Lambert

Country Album: “Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum

Country Performance by a Duo or Group: “Need You Now,” Lady Antebellum

These aren’t even all the categories! There are categories for jazz music, Latin music, world music, children’s music, musical, movie soundtrack, etc. There are about 110 categories…it’s crazy!

What we see on TV is only the mainstream part of it, meaning that the music shown is what’s most popular and what people want to hear and see. A lot of music nowadays is about popularity, looks, and connections. The viewers only see the exciting stuff, and not the artists who have the raw talent. The Grammys have become too commercialized and it’s not like what it used to be. But that’s just my opinion…

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the Grammys this year. The hosts were funny, performances good, and I agreed with most of the winners. It was entertaining and I really liked the mixed styles of music that were performed. 

Here are my opinions of the highlights and disappointments of the show:

 Highlights: Lady Gaga’s performance on her new single “Born This Way;” the medley of the Aretha Franklin’s songs; Seth Rogen’s joke about Miley Cyrus’s risqué behavior; Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Skyler Grey’s performance of the song “I Need a Doctor”

Those performances stood out to me, but honestly, I loved all the performances. I knew the songs, they sounded good, and the performance they did was entertaining (for the most part).

Disappointments: Justin Bieber’s performance. Just stop singing and go away, PLEASE; Album of the Year goes to Arcade Fire…. Arcade Who? Um, NO, that award should’ve gone to Lady Gaga, Eminem, or someone else. Not them. Katy Perry didn’t win any awards… I think she had a great album and a great year. Bob Dylan and Avett Brothers… thought it was kind of boring. ZZZZZ……