The 2017 Grammy Awards are officially over and unsurprisingly, much of the post-show talk revolved around Adele’s clean sweep (she went 5 for 5, winning everything she was nominated for and more importantly, for the second time in her career, completing the trifecta of SOTY, ROTY, and AOTY) and more importantly, Beyonce’s once again coming up empty handed for AOTY.

Naturally, I have my own thoughts and opinions on the matter but first, allow me a moment to gloat at how near spot on my predictions for this year’s ceremony was. In case you forgot what they were, you can check it out here.

So on to this year’s ceremony, where hard to believe based on post-show media, more than Beyonce vs. Adele did happen. Yes, there were a couple of other performances and some people besides Adele won awards. The following are my best and worst moments of the night.

Best

Tributes – Every year, the Grammy Awards ceremony pays tribute to performers we lost the previous year and this year’s ceremony was no different, with tributes to George Michael and Prince – two brilliant singer/songwriters who left us way too soon. Much attention was paid to Adele’s stopping and re-starting her tribute to George Michael but I applaud her for doing so. It was a wise decision because the result was a spellbinding and heartbreakingly emotional farewell to an amazing talent. And while the tone of the Prince tribute was decidedly different, it too was also a fitting tribute to the man being honored. The inclusion of The Time was a wise and obvious decision and Bruno Mars proved why he is one of the most talented performers in music right now, honoring Prince in a way that surely made him proud wherever he is.

The Tribe Gets Political – Throughout history, singers and artists have often reflected their thoughts and opinions about the political age they were living in, whether good or bad. Frankly, at this point, most people expect them to do so. So naturally, considering the current climate of the country, many were expecting the Grammy Awards to have a lot of political messages. And there were certainly quite a few sprinkled throughout performances and intros. However, the performance that likely resonated and made the most impact on many was A Tribe Called Quest’s of We The People. The song title alone tells you everything you need to know. From Busta Rymes’ savage reference to the President as “President Agent Orange” to the parade of individuals of different ethnicities and Q-Tip’s final “Resist” at the end of the performance, the message was raw, bold and direct.

Chance Gets His Due – A not so hidden secret for a few years now, Chance The Rapper, an artist that has truly been doing it his way, with no major label backing, got his due in a big way at this year’s ceremony, winning Best New Artist and Best Rap Album. What makes Chance’s success so amazing is once again, the fact that it has come by not playing by the rules or doing things the way they’ve always been done. Chance is a true representation of this new age we live in, where you can get a following, build a career and become a star without a billion dollar machine behind you. He also proved that you can be a success in Hip Hop/Rap talking and rapping about God and your faith.

Bruno Does His Thing (Twice) – I have been a huge fan of Bruno’s for a few years now. Not only is he an amazing singer/songwriter and producer in my opinion but he’s also a hell of a performer and at this year’s ceremony, he proved once more why he’s arguably the best male pop performer right now. He kept things cool and slick for his performance of That’s What I Like (J-Lo was certainly loving it) and of course, came out later in full Prince get up, complete with eyeliner and nailed Let’s Go Crazy.

Adele Reigns Supreme – Okay listen, I get it. I get why some Beyonce fans are upset. I also get the arguments regarding African American performers and their lack of success at the Grammys in the past decade, particularly in the major categories and it is certainly a fair one. And trust me, I was plenty furious last year at Kendrick Lamar’s extraordinary To Pimp A Butterfly losing AOTY to Taylor Swift’s vanilla and basic 1989 (you can relive my full meltdown here). So yeah, I get it. And as my previous blog showed, I absolutely predicted Beyonce to win AOTY. However, I also said I would have been fine if Adele won and I am because despite what others believe, I think it was deserved. Yes, Lemonade was a good, solid album and quite likely Beyonce’s best. But it wasn’t perfect by any means in my opinion. I’ve expressed many times how mediocre I think Formation as a song is and ultimately I feel like the concept and visual execution of the album was more impressive than the actual quality of the songs. But more importantly, 25 is also a good, solid album. I think some have gotten so caught up in the Beyonce fervor that there is almost a dismissal of other artists and their hard work and their effort. Yes, Adele didn’t reinvent the wheel or step too far outside her comfort zone on 25. But you don’t really have to do that when your ordinary is most people’s amazing. 25 delivered on what Adele has always been about – beautiful, heartfelt and honest singing and songwriting.

Worst

Technical Problems – The Grammy producers should really be ashamed. Year after year, the show gets plagued with technical issues and this year was no different. For the second year in a row, Adele had technical issues during one of her performances, causing her to drop the F-bomb and later apologize for it. The absolute worse though was James Hetfield’s mike being completely off during Metallica’s performance with Lady Gaga. That is completely unacceptable in my opinion. It’s like watching an amateur hour, not the music industry’s biggest award show.

John Travolta Continues To Be Weird – Serious question – why do people keep inviting John Travolta to present or introduce anything at these award shows? No matter how simple his task is, he makes it weird and awkward by nature of being him. And this year’s Grammy Awards were no different when he showed up to introduce Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood’s performance. That weird dangly necklace situation he had on also didn’t help. And as an aside, love both Keith and Carrie but really hated that song and performance.

James Corden – Well, he gets points for being enthusiastic and seeming like he was genuinely happy to be there. But other than that, there wasn’t much Corden really added to this year’s ceremony. And most of what he did add was sort of awkward, to be honest, none more so than his “impromptu” carpool karaoke with some of the stars in the audience, complete with cardboard car. This would not have been so bad if any of the celebrities actually knew the words to the chosen song – Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. But they didn’t and so the whole bit fell pretty flat. The only thing that almost saved it was Blue Ivy adorably coming over to join the number in her “too cute for words” homage to Prince suit.

Fashion – Listen I don’t expect to see the same type of fashion I’ll see at The Oscars or The Golden Globes at The Grammys. This is music and I expect the fashion to be bold, wild and daring. But I didn’t see that this year. I saw a lot of plain bad or just boring and safe. About the only number that stood out was Rihanna’s Armani Prive orange crop top paired with wide tiered black skirt number. Everything else was either boring, predictable, safe or just weird.

Beyonce & Adele Underwhelm – I know this will be very unpopular but sorry, I was not in love with Beyonce’s number. Sure there is something to be said for female empowerment, celebrating women’s strength and beauty. I get all that. But honestly, I found the entire production and number overwrought and self-indulgent. It didn’t move me and instead, I found myself wondering when it was going to end. That said, I was equally underwhelmed by Adele’s performance of Hello. I love Hello and I love Adele. However, it came out in October 2015. In other words, I’ve already heard it a lot. I get that this is the single she was nominated for but after so much time, I wish she’d have done something new and interesting with the song or at least paired it up with one of the other amazing songs from the album. It just felt a bit underwhelming in my opinion, especially for the opening number.