The spotlight of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards immediately turned to the leading nominee, Kendrick Lamar, who won the first award of the night: best rap album for “To Pimp a Butterfly.”
Lamar may have a big night. He’s nominated for 11 Grammys and won four in the pre-show honors, for rap performance, rap song, rap/sung collaboration and music video.
The latter was only a partial honor for Lamar. The song was Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” on which Lamar was a featured performer.
Swift is Lamar’s primary competition Monday night.
Swift, who opened the show with her song “Out of the Woods,” earned seven nominations, including nominations in the top three categories: song, record and album of the year.
She’s up against Lamar in the song and album of the year categories. Also doing well: The Weeknd, whose seven nominations include nods for record and album of the year.
LL Cool J, the host of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, took care of the obvious joke immediately, introducing “Hello” singer Adele from the audience and then suggesting Lionel Richie — also the singer of a song called “Hello” — tell Adele, well, you know.
In the pre-show honors (with 83 Grammy categories, most awards are given out before the broadcast), Swift won two trophies, for best pop vocal album and best music video.
The Weeknd also had a pair of Grammys in the early going: R&B performance for “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” and urban contemporary album for “Beauty Behind the Madness”. “Beauty” is also up for album of the year.
Other winners included the other album of the year nominees, Alabama Shakes (for alternative music album and best rock song) and Chris Stapleton (for country solo performance), as well as former President Jimmy Carter (for the audiobook of his memoir, “A Full Life: Reflections on Ninety”), Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars (for pop duo/group performance) and Ed Sheeran (pop solo performance).
Stapleton’s “Traveller” won best country album.
But the Grammys are as much — if not more — about performances as they are about awards. Much of the action tonight will be in the form of tributes.
Lady Gaga plans to pay homage to David Bowie with an “experiential tribute” and “multisensory testament,” and Eagles Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Bernie Leadon, joined by “Take It Easy” co-writer Jackson Browne, plan to salute Glenn Frey.
Bowie and Frey died in January.
The show also plans to honor the late Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire as the band’s surviving members present the award for record of the year. White died February 4. The Grammys announced that Earth, Wind & Fire will receive one of its Lifetime Achievement Awards at a separate ceremony in the spring.
Other performers include Adele, Hollywood Vampires, Pitbull, Skrillex, Rihanna and the cast of the Broadway hit “Hamilton.”
Lionel Richie received a tribute — in the form of a medley of his songs — from Luke Bryan, Meagan Trainor, John Legend, Demi Lovato and Tyrese. He’s the MusiCares Person of the Year.
Kanye West, who released his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” on Saturday, isn’t scheduled to perform, but he’s been raising eyebrows for days with his tweets. The Grammys themselves responded puckishly to one of them in which West stated he wouldn’t be coming unless he’s promised album of the year.
For that, he’ll have to wait.
On the other hand, he and Swift do have a history, so be ready for an uninvited guest if Swift accepts any awards on the broadcast.
The 58th annual Grammy Awards are being hosted by LL Cool J.