Grammy Award

A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award), or Grammy, is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the music industry as that of the other performance arts: Emmy Awards (television), the Tony Awards (stage performance), and the Academy Awards (motion pictures).

The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 57th Grammy Awards was held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

History

The Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. As the recording executives chosen for the Walk of Fame committee worked at compiling a list of important recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized there were many more people who were leaders in their business who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating an award given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. After it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it; one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, which were first given for the year 1958.

56th Annual Grammy Awards

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards were held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid competing with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as was the case in 2010.

The eligibility period for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards was October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013. The nominations were announced on December 6, 2013 during a live televised concert on CBS, The Grammy Nominations Concert Live – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night.Jay Z received the most nominations with nine. Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Pharrell Williams each received seven nominations. Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams were nominated twice for both Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Sound engineer Bob Ludwig received the most nominations by a non-performing artist, with five.

Daft Punk won five awards, including Album of the Year for Random Access Memories and Record of the Year, with Pharrell Williams, for "Get Lucky".Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won four trophies, including Best New Artist, and led an industry show of support for gay marriage with a performance of their song "Same Love" to accompany a mass wedding of gay and heterosexual couples, which was presided over by Queen Latifah.Lorde's "Royals" received awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year.Carole King was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on January 24, two days prior to the awards ceremony.

Daft Punk

Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The duo achieved significant popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement and were met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house music with funk, techno, disco, rock, and synthpop. The group was managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter (Busy P), the head of Ed Banger Records.

Bangalter and de Homem-Christo were originally in a rock band called Darlin' together, which disbanded after a short period of time, leaving the two to experiment musically with drum machines and synthesizers. The duo became Daft Punk, releasing their debut album Homework on Virgin Records in 1997 to highly-positive reviews. The 2001 release of Discovery was even more successful, driven by the club singles "One More Time", "Digital Love", and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". In March 2005, the duo released the album Human After All to mixed reviews. However, the singles "Robot Rock" and "Technologic" achieved success in the United Kingdom.

Drunk in Love

"Drunk in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé featuring her husband, rapper Jay Z. The duo along with Detail, Andre Eric Proctor, Rasool Diaz, Fragment, Brian Soko, Timbaland, Jerome Harmon, and Boots composed the song for Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album (2013). Columbia Records released "Drunk in Love" as one of the two lead singles from Beyoncé on December 17, 2013. The song is dominated by trap beats in chunks and bass. Its lyrics, which depict female sexuality, are sung by Beyoncé in a sensual and confident way.

"Drunk in Love" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, many of whom called it a follow-up to Beyoncé's and Jay-Z's song "Crazy in Love" (2003). They also commended its appeal to urban radio and the pair's vocals. "Drunk in Love" peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It also reached the top ten in France, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. At the 57th Grammy Awards, "Drunk in Love" won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.

Award

An award is something given to a person, a group of people, or an organization to recognize their excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signified by trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons. An award may carry a monetary prize given to the recipient; for example, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements. An award may also simply be a public acknowledgment of excellence, without any tangible token or prize.

Overview

Awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder. Usually, awards are given by an organization of some sort, or by the office of an official within an organization or government. For instance, a special presidential citation (as given by the President of the United States) is a public announcement giving an official place of honor (e.g., President Ronald Reagan gave a special presidential citation in 1984 to the Disney Channel for its excellent children's television programming.)