For over 50 years, the Grammy Awards have been used as an opportunity to recognize achievement within the music industry covering a variety of genres ranging from pop to country. For the first time in 15 years the 60th annual ceremony returned to its home in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday January 28, 2017.   

Hosting music’s biggest night for the second time was comedian and actor James Corden from The Late Late Show with James Corden. Dedicated viewers of the annual broadcasted event such as senior Ashley Garcia were interested in seeing his comical approach on hosting one of America’s grandest events of the year.

“Watching the Grammys is like a ritual for me and I’m always interested in knowing who is going to host this year,” Garcia said. “I thought James was really funny and brought a lot of laughs the entire night.”

With live performances from some of the biggest names in the music industry such as Sam Smith, Lady Gaga, and a dual performance from rapper Cardi B and singer Bruno Mars, it was difficult for fans of the musicians and students of Downey High to determine which one was their favorite.

Senior Ramon Chavez, who watches the grammys every year agreed that Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid’s heart-wrenching performance of the single “1-800-273-8255” was the most meaningful to him.

“I would have to say that my favorite performance of the entire ceremony was Logic’s,” Chavez said. “It was just very touching, authentic, and from the heart.”

Eunice Han, 11, on the other hand was taken aback and blown away by R&B singer SZA’s performance of her song “Broken Clocks” from her second album Ctrl.

“Since I’m a really big SZA fan. I was really excited to see what songs she was going to perform and what style she would have on stage,” Han said. “I was happy to see that she sung “Broken Clocks” considering it’s one of my favorite songs from the album.”

Capping the most awards the night of the event was singer-songwriter Bruno Mars winning the Album, Record, and the coveted Song of the Year Award and others such as Best R&B Song, Performance, and Album. Kendrick Lamar, who was the second most-awarded artist, also swept up the awards in the Hip-Hop/Rap genre that evening.

Senior Emily Flores, a fan of rapper Tyler, the Creator, expresses the disappointment she felt when she found out that he did not win the award for Best Rap Album for his album Flower Boy.

“I was a little bummed that Tyler didn’t win the award because I personally thought the album was really good,” Flores said, “but it’s okay because Kendrick Lamar won and I like his music too.”

Jocelyn Martinez, 12 was another student who was not satisfied with the decided winners from the ceremony as well.

“I was really was praying that Liz Uzi Vert would win the category for Best New Artist,” Martinez said, “and even though he didn’t win he is still a great artist in my opinion and doesn’t need a grammy to prove it.”

If there was one moment that viewers of the televised event could not stop talking about it would be the fact that A-list musicians such as Drake nor Katy Perry did not receive any Grammy nominations for their work this year.

Antoinette Baylon, 12, who is a dedicated Drake fan reveals the surprise she felt when finding out the artist did not get any nominations for his mixtape More Life this year.

“I would have thought that he [Drake] would be nominated for something because of how popular his music is,” Baylon said, “but I know that 2017 was a great year for music and it was probably hard to pick out only a few nominees.”

Although the Grammys are intended to honor those that have been successful in the music industry, many artists such as Camilla Cabello and Kendrick Lamar took to the stage to tackle problems within politics and society through their performances.

“When I saw Camila Cabello give her speech supporting dreamers during the ceremony, it was really empowering and it spoke to me,” Baylon said. “The message she was trying to share with us was necessary since we have been dealing with immigration problems lately.”

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards was distinctive from previous ceremonies in the sense that it was used not only to recognize pioneers in the music industry but also as a way to shed light on issues within society that are still being faced today.