English soul singer and songwriter Sam Smith and American musician singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Beck were the big winners during the 57th Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on February 8.
Sam Smith dominated the ceremonies by bagging four awards including the prestigious Record of the Year for his song “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version),” Song of the Year for the same song, Best New Artist, and Best Pop Vocal Album for “In the Lonely Hour,” details Rolling Stone.
The Grammys has fittingly rewarded Smith for being the only solo artist to sell more than a million albums in both the UK and the US last year.
The four Grammy awards cemented Sam Smith’s place as one of pop’s biggest superstars some nine months after the release of his debut album titled “In the Lonely Hour,” which also won for him an award.
Being himself
During his acceptance speech for the Song of the Year, Sam Smith said that before making “Stay With Me,” he tried really hard to get his music heard. He said that he also tried to lose weight but that didn’t sit well with his music because his music became awful.
So when he decided to just be himself, the music started flowing right through him. That’s when he was able to finish “Stay With Me” which also won for him the Record of the Year award.
The Song of the Year is an attribution to the songwriter while the Record of the Year is a credit to the performer and the producer.
In accepting his Record of the Year trophy, Sam Smith expressed his gratitude to the man to whom the music is about, whom he said he fell in love with last year and who also broke his heart. He then thanked the person for bringing him four Grammys.
It would have been a complete romp for the English singer but he lost out on the Best Album award to Beck, who was honored for his 12th studio LP titled “Morning Phase.”
The awards Beck-on
Apart from Album of the Year Award, “Morning Phase” won for the long-serving indie troubadour the Best Rock Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical awards.
During his acceptance speech, which was nearly interrupted by Kanye West who did a reprise of his 2009 Taylor Swift moment, Beck said that he and his group made the record at his house. So he expressed gratitude to his kids for having the patience of being awake a little longer than usual while he worked on the songs in the winning album.
Other big winners during the 57th Annual Grammy Awards were Pharell Williams, Beyonce and Rosanne Cash, daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash, who each won three awards.
Madonna, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney were among those who performed during the lengthy awarding ceremonies.