GRAMMY Day

So that's it. I can officially say I have attended the GRAMMY Awards. The experience was surreal! We joined the masses of adorned couples outside the Staples Center, my eyes scouring the crowds for any sign of celebrity. The funny thing was most of their eyes were looking at me the same way. When I made eye contact with someone, I could tell that they were having the same inner query with themselves on whether the person they were looking at had any star status. As a result, everyone was very friendly, but a little absent-minded. There was almost a tangible haze of preparatory starstruck hanging in the air.

After Mom had taken her fill of photos, Dad and I presented our tickets and were directed to our seats in the arena. We walked around the back of the Staples Center, opposite of where the red carpet was happening. It was kind of weird: we were seeing nothing of what I saw posted on Instagram--the stars with their various fashion statements. Mostly, we were around industry professionals or college students who had scored tickets as a job perk, so everyone was pleasantly clad. There was one couple in kilts...

Anyway, we get seated in section 301, row 13--the closest we could get being the farthest away. We were looking in through the rafters lol! Although I couldn't recognize anyone, I knew from our vantage point, we were looking at a lot of very powerful people. They were real! Flesh and blood and real! A very calming feeling settled over me as I began to realize that this was simply another awards show honoring some great accomplishments. On TV, things seem a lot more glamorous than they really are; in reality, it was a lot more down-to-earth.

One thing is for sure, the GRAMMY's are definitely a TV show; the whole event is centered around the view of the camera. When performances and speeches happened, cameramen literally ran onto the stage in full view of the audience to catch the moment for the viewers at home. Commercial breaks were honored religiously, and everyone was asked to lend their applause a few seconds before the show came back in. It felt kinda cool to be a part of it all.

From our birds-eye view, we could also see all the set changes happening behind the scenes, which was awesome! They had no less than forty people working as stagehands, frantically rolling the next performance platforms into their places. Beyonce's set-up was begun almost two commercial breaks in advance; it was amazing to watch all the little details unfold!

So in looking back at the whole night and all of the incredible performances, I have chosen my three favorite moments. Number Three was Twenty-One Pilot's acceptance of their GRAMMY--without their pants. They were hilarious but genuine. They didn't do it as a publicity stunt but to honor all the hard work and time that had gone into making their music possible. I felt like I was witnessing history! XD

My second favorite part of the night was Chance the Rapper just overall. He gave all the glory to God in his acceptance speech and his rap with the worship song interwoven inside was incredibly powerful. He was so inspiring to a Christian artist as he showed that there is a way to have success in this industry while continuously putting God first. I'm a fan!!

But the winner of the night was hands-down Adele and not because of her awards. I don't think anyone has ever had enough guts to restart a performance in the middle of the GRAMMY Awards. It has happened to all of us; sometimes the notes simply come out wrong. However, this was a tribute to an influential musician, and she was not willing to continue the fiasco and give the tabloids something to rant about later. She was confident in herself enough to take ownership of her mistake, and the musicians were good enough to follow her through the redo. All her peers on the floor gave her applause in understanding support. It was so encouraging! I want to be the type of person who isn't afraid to say, "I messed up, and I need to start over." Just another reason that Adele is the GREATEST. It was definitely worth getting to see live, and I couldn't imagine seeing it with anyone other than my dapper date, my dad. :)