by Wilfred Okiche

The 55^th Grammy awards were held last night at the Staples centre in Los Angeles. Top honors were shared among acts as varied as Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys, Jay-Z and fun. But the Grammys are as much- maybe more- about the performances as they are about the winners. This year had an embarrassment of choices and we plow through all of them to bring you the 6 we truly liked and 5 we did not quite care for.

We loved these 6 : 

Mumford & Sons

The English rockers proved why they deserved to take Album of the year with a rousing, flourishing rendition of their anthem, ‘I will wait’. We were stomping along with them

Rihanna

She may be unable to keep her clothes on of late but Rihanna put all the haters to rest with a stunning moody version of her new single ‘Stay’ alongside the song’s writer Mikky Ekko. She may be tabloid fodder for days but when she puts her mind to it, girl can sing.

Bob Marley tribute

It wasn’t really a tribute. Ok maybe it was. Bruno Mars was energetic as always, Sting was a class act and by the time Rihanna and the Marley Brothers (Damian and Ziggy) joined them upstage for an unabashed dance hall performance of ‘Could this be love’, everyone was on their feet. We dare say Bob Marley would have approved.

Justin Timberlake

JT made a triumphant return to the big stage with an introduction by two of the most powerful women in entertainment, Beyonce and Ellen. We don’t quite approve of all the hero worship- it’s Timberlake after all but we must say his set, comprising of two new singles; ‘Suit and tie’ and ‘Pusher love girl’ was fantastic. Of course Jay-Z’s cameo appearance and the Sepia-tone  effects didn’t hurt at all.

Carrie Underwood

The former American idol belted it out like no man’s business in an acoustic version of her Grammy winning hit ‘Blown away’ before segueing into ‘Two black cadillacs.’ All the while, her ball gown put on a show of it’s own as different images were projected on it.

Kelly Clarkson

Simon Cowell once suggested Ms Clarkson makes everyone else into an amateur whenever she sings and her simple understated performance left us in awe of her poise and talent.

These 5, not so much

Taylor Swift

Miss Swift’s circus act was easy on the eye but her vocals did not quite translate to easy listening.

Fun.

The all dude band may have made it rain on stage but their shaky rendition of ‘Carry on’ did not quite lift us up.

Miguel and Wiz Kalifa

Far too short on Miguel and too long on Wiz Kalifa. We didn’t like that it was over before it began. The Wiz rocked that suit though.

Frank Ocean

Poor Frank always has his nerves getting the better of him at major events like this. We are not sure about ‘Forest Gump’ as a song choice and felt more familiar hits would have served him better.

LL Cool J

LL Cool J, Travis Parker, Chuck D, Z Trip and Morello attempted to bring back nineties rap but there’s a reason those things belong in another decade. Thankfully, it was the closing act and we weren’t obligated to watch.