This year’s Grammys had more of a serious side than usual with the live performances touching on heavyweight issues.

Katy Perry dedicated her performance of ‘By The Grace Of God’ to a survivor of domestic violence. Pharrell performed his sing-a-long hit ‘Happy’ with his back-up dancers holding their hands up which referenced the Ferguson protests. The ‘hand up, don’t shoot’ theme continued throughout the night, ending with Beyoncé  belting out ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ and John Legend together with Common performing ‘Glory’ from the movie Selma.

Here are the big Grammy winners of the night:

Sam Smith walked away with an amazing four Grammy awards for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year and Best Song of the Year both for the heart-breaking track ‘Stay With Me’.

Beck beat out Beyoncé to win Album of the Year, Morning Phase, and his acceptance speech saw Kanye West’s joker side come out, as he pretended to interrupt the rocker, like he did during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.

As well as getting to perform the joyous anthem on the night, Pharrell‘s ‘Happy’ won Best Music Video and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Best R&B Song was a throwback to last year’s opening performance by showstopper couple Beyoncé  and Jay Z with ‘Drunk In Love’.

Words: Cassidy Emmanuel
Image: Website