5 eliza's - first burn (hamilton the musical)
if you haven't been following for the past year, hamilton creator lin manuel miranda has given fans a new #hamildrop every month to not only celebrate the musical but to give different creatives a way to interpret the songs for a new audience. this month he's managed to gather 5 actresses (arianna afsar, shoba narayan, lexi lawson, rachelle ann go, julia harriman) who have played/or are playing scorned wife eliza to sing a 1st draft of her anthem 'burn' called 'FIRST burn'. fans of the song will be surprised to hear some lyrical changes and well... just press play!
after much talk about a mixtape curated and produced by hamilton creator lin manuel miranda, we are FINALLY getting to hear the results in advance of it's december 2nd release. don't worry we will be updating these tracks as soon as they're available!
kelly clarkson - it's quiet uptown
how fascinating to spin the song from a mother's perspective. kelly clarkson's version is a completely different take on what is probably the most emotional crux of the hamilton score and it's equally heartbreaking. try to not cry when the words "forgiveness" is sung. brilliant!
though this years grammys clocked in at a solid 3 1/2 hours (!!!), the show managed to get some seriously exceptional performances from the nominees/winners. here are my fave performances of the night (and no, adele's painful mic clanging performance didn't make the cut)
kendrick lamar - the blacker the berry / alright
seriously this is one of the best things i've seen on grammys PERIOD. intense, political and just showcasing the lyrical genius that is kendrick, no wonder he walked away with 4 awards by the end of the night!
hamilton cast - alexander hamilton
the closest thing that most of us will get to seeing hamilton up close and personal (sold out thru the summer yo!!), the show also picked up a grammy soon afterwards!
stevie wonder & pentatonix - that's the way of the world
this awesome vocal moment is what happens when stevie wonder collaborates with the acapella act pentatonix to celebrate the music of earth wind & fire's maurice white. bliss.
little big town - girl crush
i've seen so many excellent live performances of this song, but stripping it down to just strings is pretty darn wonderful. congrats on the 2 grammys btw!
alabama shakes - don't wanna fight
seriously brittany howard is pure vocal goddess. 3 wins. nuff said.
lady gaga + intel - david bowie tribute
gaga's tribute to bowie was also an interesting visual experiment that was at once beautiful to watch and camp extravaganza. which in the spirit of bowie is exactly what he would have enjoyed.
taylor swift - out of the woods
i gotta say our tswift hit some serious notes in this performance and then gave a solid third finger speech to kanye when she picked up the album of the year award. nice one t!
adele - all i ask
ok fine, here is the adele performance that not only started messed up (the mic fell on the piano and made clanging noises) but you can see it jarred her singing until she just decided to sing through the mistake. but yeah, not a great one...
