lifestyle TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014 Daft Punk gets lucky at Grammys being overruled. Queen Latifah, who was certified by the state of California to perform the wedding ceremony, spoke out after the show about rap being more inclusive. “I think this is exactly what hip-hop is capable of,” she said. “When I started rapping it was much more common for rappers to speak about different things going on in the world. We’re part of the reason that apartheid (in South Africa) was changed. ... Or violence in the communities or anything that was some type of social injustice we’ve always been able to talk about through hip-hop.” Musgraves explored similar themes to take home coun- try album for “Same Trailer Different Park” and country song “Merry Go ‘Round,” categories that Swift seemed des- tined to win given her history with the Grammys. Musgraves also performed a neon-inflected version of “Follow Your Arrow,” a song that includes the line “Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/if that’s something you’re into” among other socially conscious messages. And then there’s the curious case of Lorde, the New Zealand teenager whose invitation to ignore all the status symbols and swag signifiers of pop music in her song “Royals” was one of the year’s out-of-nowhere hits. She took major award song of the year and best pop solo performance. The singer shyly Metallica performs onstage. he Grammy Awards celebrated outcasts and out- siders, lionizing a couple of French robots, white rap- Singer Katy Perry performs onstage. Tpers and a country gal espousing gay rights, and a Goth teenager who’s clearly uncomfortable with the cur- rent themes in pop music. The Recording Academy’s voters mined some of pop music’s biggest hits to send an open hearted message, awarding French electronic music pio- neers Daft Punk for teaming with R&B legends to make a hybrid album that celebrated both genres, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kacey Musgraves for espousing gay rights and Lorde for her anti-swag message to the masses. Daft Punk and collaborator Pharrell Williams won four awards, including top honors album and record of the year, and best new artists Macklemore and Lewis matched that with four of their own. Lorde won two awards for her inescapable hit “Royals.” Beyond their awards, each offered one of the more powerful moments at the Sunday night ceremony at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lorde per- formed “Royals” wearing black lipstick and fingernail polish with little production, standing in opposition to the large- scale presentations from some of the night’s other per- formers. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem- Christo of Daft Punk continued the celebratory feel of their hit, record of the year “Get Lucky,” by asking Stevie Wonder to join them with Williams and Nile Rodgers in a colorful performance. And Macklemore and Lewis invited 33 cou- Winners of Best Record Of The Year “Get Lucky” Daft Punk celebrate their award onstage at the 56th Grammy ples, including some of the same sex, to get married with Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, January 26, 2014. — AFP/AP photos Lang Lang performs onstage. Madonna serenading them and Queen Latifah presiding. The moment brought tears to the eyes of Keith Urban the duo richly deserved the win after taking years to put and though the robots don’t reveal themselves or speak in the album together as they sought authentic musical summed up the experience in just a few words during her public, they had feelings about it, too, asking producer moments that can only be recorded live by real musicians. acceptance speech: “Thank you everyone who has let this Paul Williams to relay their thoughts. “It was the height of “The fact that they decided to put this much effort into the song explode. Because it’s been mental.” — AP fairness and love and the power of love for all people at music and bring in musicians, it shows that they had an any time in any combination, is what they wanted me to incredible vision and they believed that you actually say,” Williams said. The robots, clad in formal white suits achieve something greater by doing that,” Rodgers said. “I and masks, spent much of the night humorously deferring happen to believe in that philosophy, too, that as a com- to collaborators as they stood on stage. The job of poser I can write a composition but when people interpret spokesman often fell to producer of the year Pharrell, who that composition it gets better.” Hours earlier, it looked like guessed his way through a couple of acceptance speeches. the day might belong to Macklemore and Lewis, a couple “I suppose the robots would like to thank ...,” he joked of virtually unknowns from Seattle who dominated the before noting, “Honestly, I bet France is really proud of pop world with three huge hits that were wildly different these guys right now.” and rivaled “Get Lucky” in popularity - “Thrift Shop,” “Can’t Their “Random Access Memories” was the year’s event Hold Us” and the gay rights anthem “Same Love.” album, capitalizing on both the growing popularity of elec- They won three awards during the Grammys’ pre-tele- tronic dance music and the presence of popular music fig- cast ceremony - rap song and rap performance for the ures like Rodgers and Pharrell. They beat out reigning pop comical “Thrift Shop” and rap album for “The Heist,” beating queen Taylor Swift, the odds-on favorite to win the award. out Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z and Kanye West in that The award helps to square The Recording Academy with category before taking major award best new artist. the burgeoning dance music crowd, who’ve been waiting They’re just the third rap act to win best new artist, but for a major win since the Bee Gees’ 1977 “Saturday Night their wins in the rap categories are sure to chafe average Fever” soundtrack, the last dance LP to win album of the hip hop fans - especially after Kendrick Lamar failed to win year. an award despite seven nominations. The Recording “If you go to the headwaters of EDM, electronic dance Academy’s own rap committee tried to exclude Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z perform onstage. music, you’ll find them,” Paul Williams said. Rodgers said Macklemore and Lewis from the genre’s categories before Musician Taylor Swift performs onstage. Singers Gloria Estefan (left) and Marc Anthony speak onstage. Singer Robin Thicke performs onstage. Singers Miguel (left) and Ariana Grande speak onstage. (From left to right) Rapper Macklemore, singers Mary Lambert and Madonna, musicians Ryan Lewis Musician Ringo Starr performs onstage. and Queen Latifah perform onstage..