The Grammys aren’t exactly known for their Latino inclusion, but last night’s award show fared slightly better than previous years with an incredible performance (and acceptance speech!) from the Hamilton cast, Lifetime Achievement nods to Celia Cruz and Linda Ronstadt (granted they got like two seconds of air-time), and a closing performance by Pitbull that elicited some pretty strong love/hate reactions.
We watched so you didn’t have to. Here, we have rounded up 10 of things that went down at the February 15 award show:
1
Antonio Sanchez wins Grammy for 'Birdman' soundtrack
He didn’t make the cut for the televised portion of the night, but drummer Antonio Sanchez won the Best Soundtrack Grammy for Birdman. According to Variety, Sanchez was upset that the score was disqualified from the Oscars last year – and he wasn’t shy about throwing shade at the Oscars.
“It’s great to get a Grammy after being nixed for an Oscar,” he said. “So I wanted to thank this Academy, rather than the other one, because I don’t have anything to thank them for.”
2
Gina Figueroa wins a Grammy for D'Angelo's "Really Love"
I am so grateful for winning a Grammy as a co-songwriter for D’angelo’s Best R&B song “Really Love”. D’angelo has always…
Posted by Gina Fig on Monday, February 15, 2016
In January 2015, Remezcla wondered who the mystery woman speaking at the beginning of D’Angelo’s “Really Love” was. One year later, and we know it’s D’Angelo’s ex-girlfriend, Gina Figueroa, who is now in the process of receiving a proper songwriting credit for her intro to the song.
Learn more about the newly minted Grammy winner and how she ended up collaborating with D’Angelo in our feature here.
3
A$AP Rocky takes A$AP Yams' mom to the Grammys
In January 2015, Steven Rodriguez, aka A$AP Yams, died. At the time, A$AP Rocky wrote a touching message about his friend and collaborator, and at this year’s Grammys, he took Yams’ mom as his date. So heartwarming. ?
4
Pitbull and Natalia Lafourcade tied
Because the mainstream Grammys crams as many different genres as possible in their Latin categories, Pitbull and Natalia Lafourcade tied for Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album. This might be the most random tie in the history of time.
5
Demi Lovato got Lionel Richie's approval
Demi Lovato sang “Hello,” and Lionel Richie was really feeling it. Or he was reminding himself that he’s a musical genius.
6
Lin-Manuel Miranda performed and won a Grammy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f8LwqbC2E
Lin-Manuel Miranda and the rest of the Hamilton crew broke the Internet. After their performance of Hamilton’s opening number, people crashed the site trying to buy tickets to the sold out show.
Then, the Broadway show was named Best Musical Theater album, and Lin-Manuel rapped his acceptance speech, because it’s obviously the only logical way to accept his award.
Google later tweeted that Alexander Hamilton got four times the normal amount of searches.
But for Lin-Manuel, acknowledgment from Don Francisco may have been more than enough excitement for one night.
7
Selena Gomez's reaction to Justin Bieber's performance
Unfortunately, the camera person didn’t give us what we wanted: a Selena Gomez reaction shot as Justin Bieber performed “Love Yourself,” the song that has been rumored to be about her. But after he was done, Gomez politely clapped, and Taylor Swift begrudgingly gave him props.
8
Lady Gaga channeled both David Bowie and Walter Mercado
You know you’ve seen Walter Mercado in an outfit like that.
9
Bruno Mars cheered on Beyoncé
When Beyoncé hit the stage to announce the winner of Record of the Year, Bruno yelled, “Let’s go Beyoncé! Let’s do it!” It was easily a top 5 Grammys moment.
10
Pitbull was Pitbull
Pitbull performed “El Taxi” and “Bad Man.” And he also had Sofia Vergara dressed up as a taxi, so she was also herself.