Taylor Swift wins top Grammy Award, Kendrick Lamar wins 5

Earlier, Kanye West attracted criticism after he claimed in his song “Famous” that he made Swift a star, referring to that moment at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when he hijacked her acceptance speech for “Best Female Video” to argue that Beyonce deserved the award instead.

Taylor Swift opened the show with her latest chart topper, “Out of the Woods“, the sixth single from her album “1989”, which won Album of the Year.

She remained unfazed and ended it with a tribute to Lamar, shouting: “I love you Kendrick, you’re incredible”.

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A spokesperson for CBS, where the Grammys aired, said “there was a brief 5-8 second technical issue that was out of our control”.

In 2010, Swift also made history when she won Album of the Year for “Fearless“, becoming the youngest artist to take the prize as the album was recorded when she was 20. The number earlier was recognized as best rock song, while the group’s sophomore set “Sound & Color” scored the best alternative music album trophy.

Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy which administers the Grammys, said that the awards recognized excellence regardless of chart performance but that there was no contradiction in bestowing accolades on successful artists.

She managed to fit together snippets of 10 of his iconic songs, including “Space Oddity” and “Heroes“, into a psychedelic sing-along as she danced all over the stage.

“My heart is beating a mile a minute”, said frontwoman Brittany Howard. Stapleton, who has written for dozens of country acts, won best country solo performance and country album for “Traveller“. While West tweeted that the pop singer had given her approval, a representative for Swift said she had cautioned him for “misogynistic” language in the song and had not been aware of the actual lyric. As well as video of the year, he won best rap album for To Pimp a Butterfly, best rap song and rap performance for Alright and best rap/song collaboration with These Walls.

The debut TV appearance by Hollywood Vampires (the collective featuring Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Guns “N Roses” Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry) was capped by a noisy slice of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades”; the English band’s front man Lemmy Kilmister died on December 28.

Rihanna was due to perform near the top of the show, but didn’t make it because he doctor ordered her to rest her voice for two days.

In an only-in-LA mishap, hip-hop star Lauryn Hill had been expected to perform with the Weeknd on the telecast but didn’t get back to the downtown L.A. venue in time for the show.

Collaborative performances were one of the themes of the Grammys: Carrie Underwood sang with Sam Hunt; Ellie Goulding and Andra Day performed; and while Lovato, Legend, Luke Bryan and Tyrese sang with Lionel Richie to honor the icon. She was also nominated for Best New Artist at the ’08 Grammys but lost to Amy Winehouse.