But it was more of a KO by Bruno Mars and Lamar, as Jay-Z left Sunday's ceremony empty-handed and Mars and Lamar carried six and five trophies, respectively.
Mars landed the high-profile album and record of the year (“24K Magic”), song of the year, best R&B performance and best R&B song (“That’s What I Like”) and best R&B album (“24K Magic”), while Lamar scored with best music video, best rap performance and best rap song for “Humble,” best rap/sung performance featuring Rihanna on “Loyalty” and best rap album for “Damn.”
“Rap music … showed me the true definition of what being an artist was. I thought it was about the accolades, but it’s about putting that paint on the canvas. Hip-hop has done that for me,” Lamar said from the stage at Madison Square Garden, before flashing a smile and adding, “Jay for president!”
Lamar opened the show — in New York for the first time in 15 years — with a blistering medley of “XXX,” “DNA,” “New Freezer” and “King’s Dead.”
His fiery set, which offered pyro, marching soldiers and plenty of social commentary, scored pop-ups from Dave Chappelle, as well as U2’s Bono and The Edge.
Host James Corden — back for a second year — aimed some city-centric jokes at Brooklyn native Jay-Z; presenters Tony Bennett and John Legend vamped on “New York, New York” (and the camera cut to a beleaguered-looking Jerry Seinfeld); and Sting, Shaggy and Corden engaged in a humorous takeoff of Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” feature with “Subway Karaoke.”
Ed Sheeran added two more Grammys to his collection, for best pop vocal album (“Divide”) and best pop solo performance (“Shape of You”), and the always-genuine Chris Stapleton scored a trifecta with best country album (“From a Room: Vol. 1”), best country solo performance (“Either Way”) and best country song (“Halos”).
Politics entered more prominently later in the show, when Cuban-Mexican immigrant Camila Cabello introduced a U2 performance from a barge on the Hudson River, in view of the Statue of Liberty.
The Grammys also included a humorous bit of staged auditions for the spoken-word version of Michael Wolff’s controversial “Fire and Fury” book. Cher, Snoop Dogg, Cardi B and DJ Khaled read passages, but were upstaged by the final candidate — Hillary Clinton.
Many performers also donned a white rose, which has been a symbol of the #TimesUp movement.
Janelle Monae introduced an emotional performance from Kesha, Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels, Andra Day and others with a powerful speech: “We come in peace, but we mean business. For those who would dare try to silence us, we have two words — time’s up!”
Best new artist winner Alessia Cara said backstage that to her, wearing a white rose “means speaking up for women who don’t have a voice, who aren’t as lucky to have a platform like I do.”
As usual with the Grammys, live music provided the highlights, and while there were bright performances from newcomers SZA ("Broken Clocks") and Cardi B with Mars ("Finesse"), the showstopping moment came from Broadway diva Patti LuPone, who rattled the rafters with a re-creation of her 1981 Grammy performance of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (in the original key, according to "Evita" mastermind Andrew Lloyd Webber).
More impressive belting came from Lady Gaga, who played a white piano decorated with feathers and a giant set of wings, during “Joanne” and “Million Reasons,” while Pink also demonstrated that purity reigns with her “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,” and Sting and bromance partner Shaggy added a touch of nostalgia with “Englishman in New York.”
The collective of Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris and Eric Church — who all performed during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in October — unveiled a heartfelt version of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” in honor of those gunned down during the last night of the event.
And Logic, Cara and Khalid provided the coda to the In Memoriam segment with an affecting rendition of “1-800-273-8255,” their suicide prevention anthem, which ended with Logic ad-libbing, “Bring us your tired, your poor and any immigrant who seeks refuge.”
During the "Premiere Ceremony," trophies for 75 of the 84 categories were distributed a few hours before the telecast in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The Atlanta hard rock mainstay, Mastodon, scored its inaugural Grammy with “Sultan’s Curse” in best metal performance.
Backstage, drummer Brann Dailor, guitarist Bill Kelliher and bassist Troy Sanders cradled their Grammy gold (guitarist Brent Hinds wasn’t feeling well, Dailor said, and didn’t make the trip).
Childish Gambino — aka Donald Glover — also nabbed his first career Grammy for best traditional R&B performance for “Redbone.”
The singer/rapper/actor earned five Grammy nominations this year and impressed with his falsetto on a seductive performance of “Terrified.”
Backstage, he said the evening felt “surreal” and confirmed his plans to say goodbye to Childish Gambino.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit bested the late Gregg Allman in two categories in which they shared a nomination — best American roots song (“If We Were Vampires”) and best Americana album (“The Nashville Sound”).
Backstage, a respectful Isbell said Allman’s influence was “huge on me. … Some of the first music I learned to play were Allman Brothers records.”
Reba McEntire delivered one of the most memorable speeches of the ceremony after winning for best roots gospel album ("Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope").
“Our job in the entertainment business is to heal hearts and to help other people,” she said. “Music is so healing.”
The eligibility period for the 2018 awards was Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017.
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