There were thrills, spills, and disses aplenty at the Grammy Awards on Monday night. Taylor Swift, who won Album of the Year after opening the show with a performance of “Out of the Woods,” used her acceptance speech to hit back at Kanye West, who recently rapped, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous / God damn / I made that bitch famous. ” A composed Swift told the crowd, “I wanna say to all the young women out there: There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” won Record of the Year, while Meghan Trainor won Best New Artist. Ed Sheeran picked up Best Song for “Thinking Out Loud.” Kendrick Lamar accepted an award for Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly, while Alabama Shakes took three awards in the rock categories. A major talking point of the show was Lady Gaga’s medley of David Bowie hits, which divided opinion online, with Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, among those apparently unimpressed. The Moon director tweeted the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word Gaga: “‘Overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused.’ Damn it! What IS that word?” he wrote. There were also technical snafus, including Adele’s mic going dead after a microphone fell onto the strings of an accompanying piano during her set. Rihanna canceled her performance on doctor’s orders just minutes before the show began, while Lauryn Hill bailed on a planned duet with The Weeknd.
