Florence Welch brought her wild and weird vibe to the Grammy Awards last night. She worked every inch of a shiny and studded, jade green Givenchy design that was actually a runway design way back in 2009. I can’t think of another artist who could have pulled this off at the Grammys last night. This color looks fantastic on Florence with her bright red locks, and the face-framing fringe somewhat softens her already dramatic facial features. Florence doesn’t usually show a lot of skin, but that thigh slit is just right. And she didn’t try to pull a Jolie either — this look is all Florence.

Katy Perry and her massive rack chose to shake things up (compared to her pre-Grammys looks) with a mint-colored Gucci dress that put her boobs front and center. This dress is actually probably pushing it for CBS’ ridiculous dress code, but whatever. It’s the Grammys! This dress actually wasn’t bad — the fit was great, and that little train was just right. If anything, the color was completely wrong. A jewel tone would have been better than a shade generally found upon Easter eggs.

Allison Williams was also in attendance as Katy Perry’s “date,” which means … I have no idea. At this point (and it sounds terrible, I know), I would believe it if you told me that she, Katy, and John Mayer were partner swapping. Anyway, Allison wore a rather frumpy Kaufmanfranco gown that didn’t do anything to highlight her shape and (from far away) looked like it was made of the same material as the sails on pirate ships. It’s a very simple dress though, which fits the fact that she was only there for fun and not to take attention away from the artists being recognized. Up close, her gown was prety sparkly though, and her hair is just gorgeous.

Kaley Cuoco wisely decided to trash those awful clip-on bangs that she wore for the SAGs. She also chose to go against the general formal trend with leather pants, a white t-shirt, and a jacket by Amen. I actually like this look! It’s very hair-band rock ‘n’ roll in a classier way than Axl Rose used to wear it.

Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa also walked the red carpet together. Amber’s dress wore a dress by Donna Karan, and her most important accessory (of course) was her huge baby bump. I love how Wiz seems to worship her.

Photos courtesy of WENN

You know I’m a progressive nerd, right? Well, I was watching Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC yesterday morning, and she did a panel discussion on Rihanna and Chris Brown and VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) and whether Rihanna should acknowledge that she’s a role model to young women and act accordingly. It was a really interesting discussion! So, Rihanna and Chris Brown came to the Grammys together, they sat with each other, and people had to deal with that… four years (exactly) after Chris almost killed her and left her for dead. What is there to say at this point? I can’t.

So let’s just talk about fashion and styling. Rihanna wore this Azzedine Alaia gown on the red carpet, and she’s redone her extensions/weave. I thought she looked incredibly, heartbreakingly beautiful last night. When she performed “Stay” all I could think about was how pretty she looked. Ugh. Damn it, Rih-Rih.

Rihanna’s performances:

riri by yardie4lifever2

Also, another sketchy couple (but not as sketchy as Rihanna and Chris): Alicia Keys and Swizz. Alicia also wore Azzedine Alaïa on the red carpet – I think I like this dress better than Riahnna’s!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I just can’t with Jennifer Lopez at this point. WHY is she doing this to me?! She could be so much fun. But I feel like she’s taking herself too seriously. After the Grammys producers sent out a dress-code notice, everybody is talking about how Jennifer totally did her own thing with this dress. But is it weird that I don’t even think this Anthony Vaccarello dress is sexy at all? It’s not sexy at all. It’s a bad design, it’s unflattering, and the fabric bulges in a weird way around her crotch. Gross. Also gross? Casper Smart. I can’t.

God, you know I love Adele. I think she’s magic. I think she’s a goddess. I think she’s incredibly cool. And while I love that she tried something different from her stand-by sleeved black gown, I’m not sure that I’m in love with this Valentino dress. The fabric is too much like upholstery. But Adele won last night (for “Set Fire to the Rain”) and she IS a goddess. I felt like Adele was making a wave of girl-power happen last night.

And here’s poor Kat Dennings in Vivienne Westwood. She wears a lot of Westwood, and usually I like Westwood, but this sucks. It just looks really cheap.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Taylor Swift managed to make it all about SWIFTY, didn’t she? Swifty wore this J. Mendel gown on the red carpet, then booked it to be ready to open the Grammys with a (not great) performance of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. First, the fashion. The J. Mendel gown is… fine. It’s okay. I don’t hate it, but it’s pretty pageant-gown-y. She also won a Grammy before the big show even began (for Best Song Written For Visual Media Award), but I think she lost all of the big awards she was nominated for.

Also – her hair. I’m so damn tired of the bangs. And the braid? Ugh.

As for Swifty’s performance… well, was it just me or did it kind of suck? Like, her voice always sounds so weak live. The whole vibe of the performance was “Swifty in Wonderland” because SRSLY. And then she did a mocking British accent for the “talking part” of the song, which I guess was supposed to be directed at Harry Styles. Except… he dumped her? And she spent weeks trying to get back together with him? Hahaha.

TSwift by yardie4lifever2

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Miranda Lambert was one of the first performers at last night’s Grammy Awards, she did a duet with Dierks Bentley of “Home” and “Over You,” (video is here and a complete list of winners is here). The audio for the vocals was so low that you could barely hear them. I nded up feeling sorry for her, and it makes me wonder why, with the best audio engineers in the whole damn world, the Grammy Awards can’t get the sound perfect for every performance. About 3/4 of the way through the vocals were adjusted to sound clearer, but it was too little too late. Miranda and Dierks got shafted.

In terms of her fashion, Miranda wore this plunging navy Roberto Cavalli gown on the red carpet that I thought was pretty sexy, if a bit underwhelming. She didn’t go with her usual short, sequin look, and reserved that for her performance dress. I really liked her statement earrings and bold cuff bracelets. Her hair and makeup were also very well done. During her interview with Ryan Seacrest, Miranda joked about the letter that went out ahead of the Grammys warning the performers not to show too much skin. She pointed to her cleavage and talked about “puffy skin” being banned, but that part of the letter was clearly about “genitals” not boobs. They also didn’t want any nips showing. (See: Rihanna) Oh and Miranda was nominated for Best Country Album, which went to Zac Brown Band for Uncaged.

Also in Roberto Cavalli was the adorable Carly Rae Jepsen. I DVRed the red carpet interviews on both the TV Guide Channel and E! (although I only watched E! most of the time) and Carly was there at the beginning and she spoke to both Chris Harrison and Ryan Seacrest. Carly compared finding this dress to when Ariel the Little Mermaid got her legs for the first time. She was very gracious and happy to be there, and I came away with a lot of affection for her. In terms of the dress, it shimmered beautifully on camera and fit her perfectly. These photos don’t do it justice, it was gorgeous. I’m not a fan of her thick bangs, and her foundation looked really orange on camera when she was presenting, but overall this was a win for Carly. (She didn’t take home any Grammys though. She was nominated in the Best Solo Performance and Song of The Year categories, for “Call Me Maybe,” which went to Adele and Janelle Monáe.)

Faith Hill wasn’t as successful, in my opinion, in J. Mendel. The dress was somewhat cheap-looking to me, with mesh and sequins overlaying a sweetheart bodice. I think the skirt section is navy while the top is black, too. Plus her hair really doesn’t suit her swept up like that. She was probably going for edgy, but a softer, loose style would have lightened up the whole look. She looked really cute next to her husband, though. Faith and Tim McGraw are one of those couples that looks so alike that you can tell their relationship is solid. (Or not, they’re famous after all. Maybe they’re just good at keeping up appearances.)

In contrast to this longstanding married couple we have the on-off-on again engaged twits, Kat Von D and Deadmau5. They were interviewed by Giuliana on the red carpet and I got so distracted by Kat’s vocal drone. She wore this sweater dress that looks like she just picked it off the floor and threw it on to go for a coffee run. Trash to the E. He looks so over it, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re fighting and breaking up over Twitter again.

Finally I wanted to add Estelle in there as she wore this kind of funky dress that Kelly Osbourne was gushing about. It was a dress that Estelle designed along with her team, and I can’t decide if I like it. It’s very 70s and it’s not totally fug, it’s just funky and different. That must be her style and she looks like she has a sense of humor about it too.

photo credit: Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.com

Yay! I love it when women wear sleek pantsuits or jumpsuits to awards shows. Wearing pants is always acceptable in my book! Beyonce appeared at last night’s Grammys, and it was as if she was saying to the world, “I will allow this one night to not just be about me.” Like, she made the conscious choice not to dominate the Grammys. And we should be thankful. Beyonce wore this Osman Yousefzada jumpsuit which looks great on her, and hugs her every curve. Her booty really is amazing. Like… I have no words. Her booty is a work of art. I liked low-key Beyonce so much!

Ashanti is still a thing? Debatable. She wore this Tony Ward Couture which is… not bad. I don’t hate it at all.

Kelly Rowland in Georges Chakra – ugh! Kelly is better than this. We don’t need to see shadowy biscuit. But I will say this – her body is killer! Hate the dress though.

Is it just me or does Solange look amazing in this Ralph & Russo Couture gown? Great color, great body, great hair. One of my favorite looks ever from Solange.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Is it weird that I think Nicole Kidman actually gets a kick out of coming to these music awards shows with her husband? She’s done the red carpet and awards-show circuit so many times in Hollywood, it must be relaxing for her to come to the Grammys where there’s no pressure, and she just gets to sit around and sing along to her favorite music. That must be why she always comes to the Grammys (and all of the country music awards shows) – she actually likes being there. And it shows! Nicole looked very relaxed (for her!) in this sparkly gold Vera Wang gown. I’ve been bitching about the whole “half-unlined gown skirt” thing for a few months now, but I actually think this is okay on Nicole. She has great legs, and it’s the Grammys. It’s acceptable, and I always love her in gold. One complaint: the middle-part. Blah.

Here’s Carrie Underwood in Roberto Cavalli. She looks like a pageant girl. Always. Forever. Too much makeup, big blonde hair, fake smile. I would have liked the dress more if it wasn’t two pageant-y black gowns fighting to live together. Either make the whole gown like the bodice, or make the whole gown that lacy stuff.

Natasha Bedingfield in EMERSON by Jackie Fraser-Swan gown from the Spring/Summer 2013 collection. HATE IT. That’s not some weird beige fabric at her waist either – that’s her actual flesh. For that alone, I hate it.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Ah, Beyonce. I’m disappointed! But I’m disappointed because the rumor mill was working overtime last week, with multiple sources claiming that FLOTUS Michelle Obama had scored her second Vogue cover, the March “Power Issue”. Considering Anna Wintour is so tight with the Obamas (Wintour was one of Obama’s top bundlers/fundraisers), I really was expecting to see a cover full of first lady bangs. But instead I get Beyonce! Just as well. If I had a Vogue cover full of bangs, I wouldn’t know what to say about it.

So Beyonce covers the March “Power Issue” it seems. I guess it’s not completely 100% – this wasn’t leaked by Vogue or anything, and God knows, it could be Photoshopped, although I don’t think it is. I think Bey is just continuing on her path of total world and media domination. Allegedly, Beyonce will be at tonight’s Grammys. Remember when everybody thought she would be at last year’s Grammys too? She and Jay-Z released Blue Ivy’s first photos and everybody was expecting them to show up but they never came. Probably because Bey knew she’d be losing big-time to Adele. Speaking of, Adele is going to be there too, allegedly. You know Beyonce and Adele are sort of close, right? Adele has said that they’ve met several times and she (Adele) loves Bey.

So, will Beyonce be able to achieve complete Grammy domination if people like Rihanna, Adele, Taylor Swift and The Black Keys are around? Oooh, I had forgotten about The Black Keys. They’re my favorite!!! Anyway, this is your Open Post to discuss all things Grammys. We’ll have lots of coverage tomorrow, in addition to lots of BAFTA coverage too.

Cover courtesy of Vogue, additional photos courtesy of Beyonce’s Tumblr.

It was three years ago that Chris Brown severely beat his then girlfriend, Rihanna, before a Grammy party. According to the police report, Chris hit Rihanna repeatedly across the face and body, threatened to kill her and bit her on the ear and hand. We saw the photos of her face afterwards and it was frightening and sad. Rihanna told police that it was not the first time that Chris had beaten her. Chris did pay some minor consequences after pleading guilty to assault and was put on five years probation. From all accounts he has performed his community service well and on time, and has been praised by the judge presiding over his case. He’s also completed court-ordered domestic violence and anger management courses.

In interviews, Chris has been less than willing to take responsibility for his actions or to even talk about that night. He busted up a dressing room at Good Morning America last year after Robin Roberts asked him a question about the incident. Plus, he just comes across as a total a**hole. I know the kid is young at 22, but he’s behaved like a whiny bitch for years. He’s tweeted homophobic slurs on several occasions, once to a molestation victim. He regularly parks in handicapped parking spaces despite warnings, and he seems entirely unaware of how lucky he is to even be able to get paid to sing and perform. He complains constantly when anyone dares question him.

Chris has had a career comeback lately that has raised a lot of eyebrows. Many people were disgusted to see him both perform at the Grammys and win a Grammy for Best R&B Album, and Chris has a message to all of them: in your face, basically. The title of this story doesn’t capture how pissy he was about it, since he used all caps and added an expletive for effect:

Chris Brown is known for his violent temper, but on Tuesday, according to his Twitter account, his anger was aimed at his followers on the social networking site, rather than his ex-girlfriend.

The R&B singer’s official Twitter feed lashed out at critics who had slammed the Grammys for honoring him during Sunday’s awards show, and had bitter words for those bashing him.

“HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! That’s the ultimate F**K OFF!” The tweets from Brown’s account said at the height of the rampage.

Earlier in the rant came: “Strange how we pick and choose who to hate! Let me ask u this. Our society is full of rappers (which I listen to) who have sold drugs (poisoning).

“But yet we glorify them and imitate everything they do. Then right before the worlds eyes a man shows how he can make a Big mistake and learn from it, but still has to deal with day to day hatred! You guys love to hate!!! But guess what???”

The tweets from Brown’s account were responding to a number of prior tweets from celebrities who didn’t believe he deserved to not only win a Grammy for F.A.M.E., but also to perform twice during the show.

[Radar Online]

So selling drugs in the past is equivalent to beating on women in Chris’ world. At least he deleted it, but he surely had some prompting. This is but a small sample of the kind of behavior that should have sunk this kid’s career years ago. He makes a lot of money for a lot of people so they’re going to continue to let it slide. Not everyone in the industry is a team Breezy apologetic, though. Miranda Lambert tweeted that she didn’t “get it. He beat on a girl.” Other celebrities, like Sherri Shepherd, Jack Osbourne and Wil Wheaton had similar sentiments. There were also some very good editorials about this, particularly Sasha Pasulka’s (formerly of Evil Beet) at Hello Giggles and Marlow Stern’s at The Daily Beast. These editorials and tweets were made before Chris tried to call his Grammy “the ultimate F*** off” to anyone that dared question his career.

Meanwhile people are showing Chris love on Twitter and basically writing that they’d take a beating for him anytime. Kaiser pointed me to analysis of this disturbing trend by Slate and Jezebel. I just don’t get it at all. How could anyone even joke about that?

Here’s Chris outside a recording studio on 2-10-12 and out shopping on 12-4-11. Credit: FameFlynet

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This news came out yesterday, but that just goes to show how much we pay attention to Nicki Minaj, even when she’s making headlines for yet another stunt. So Nicki took a page out of the Madonna/Lady Gaga handbook and went for shock value with a religious-themed exorcism and alter ego performance at The Grammys. Not only was it a bad copy of something we’ve seen other artists do to death, it was also predictably offensive to religious groups. The girl showed up at the Grammys in a Red Riding Hood nun costume with a Pope lookalike in tow. Of course she expected this kind of backlash and she was surely hoping for it in order to extend whatever mileage she could get out of her performance. It worked, sort of. I’m not thinking she’ll be around much longer, but that was my assumption about Katy Perry circa 2008′s “I Kissed a Girl” and I was so wrong about that. Here’s more on the controversy:

Nicki Minaj is known for her over-the-top stage persona, but her performance at Sunday’s 54th Annual Grammy Awards took things to a whole new level.
Wearing an Oscar de la Renta dress, the 29-year-old shocked viewers when she performed her new song “Roman Holiday” for the very first time. Channeling her alter ego Roman Zolanski, Minaj’s performance pushed religious boundaries.

“I had this vision for Roman for him to be sort of exorcised,” she explained on Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show Monday. “People around him tell him he’s not good enough because he’s not normal and he’s not blending in with the Average Joe.”

The Grammy nominee’s performance included a Catholic confessional, demonic possession, dancing monks and a levitation scene.

“The people around him are afraid because they’ve never seen anything like him. He wanted to show that not only is he amazing . . . but he’s never going to change. He’s never going to be exorcised,” Minaj said. “Even when they throw the holy water on him, he still rises above.”

The rapper’s performance angered the the right-wing Catholic League, who issued a press release condemning it Monday. “Whether Minaj is possessed is surely an open question,” president Bill Donohue said, “but what is not in doubt is the irresponsibility of The Recording Academy. Never would they allow an artist to insult Judaism or Islam.”

“It’s bad enough that Catholics have to fight for their rights vis-a-vis a hostile administration in Washington without also having to fend off attacks in the entertainment industry,” Donohue seethed. “The net effect, however, will only embolden Catholics, as well as their friends in other faith communities.”

[From US Weekly]

A male alter ego named Roman Zolanski, really?

I’m a former Catholic, so I’m probably not the person who should be commenting on this, but you know I will anyway. In theory I don’t have a problem with making fun of Catholicism. It’s not like they’re some persecuted religion struggling for recognition. They’re a huge, powerful religion with a history of abusing their power. Nicki’s performance was incredibly over the top, though, and unlike Madonna or Gaga she didn’t just use a few religious props – she threw the whole lot at us in one sensory-assaulting go. It’s like a church threw up all over an 80s music video. Some people are saying that this performance wasn’t just offensive to Catholics, but to Christians in general and that it was inappropriate for the Grammys. Personally I’m not offended, but I can see how people would be.

My issue with this performance is how much it sucks and uses religion for cheap shock value. It starts with a confessional booth and an exorcism and takes place in a faux church complete with dancing monks and altar boys. They even have the stained glass windows “shatter.” Give me a break. At least she’s singing live and not lip syncing.

Video via VH1′s Tuner