On Sunday 8th February the world will be watching the 57th annual Grammy Awards. Known for its epic live performances, team Grammy are slowly but surely teasing out the line-up, with Madonna, Ariana Grande, Usher, Common and John Legend already in the bag and Sam Smith and Pharrell just announced today. It’ll be Londoner Sam Smith’s Grammy debut whereas Pharrell is somewhat of a veteran, having performed with the likes of Daft Punk, Stevie Wonder and Nile Rogers in the past, and even selecting the awards as the sacred birthplace of his infamous hat.
And it is sacred, with artists coming together for joint performances that would never normally happen. Our minds have been reeling surrounding potential collaborations, looking back to the perfect pairings of the past. There was that time Eminem and Elton John showed that the former’s homophobic lyrics were not reflective of his views as they teamed up on Stan in 2001; Christina, Pink, Lil’ Kim, Mya, Missy and Patti LaBelle turned the heat up with a super sexy rendition of Lady Marmalade in 2002; and, weirdly, Gorrilaz and De La Soul were joined by a hologram of Madonna in 2006. That’s not to mention the moment that lives were made as Beyoncé introduced “The Queen” Tina Turner before joining her for a beautiful performance of Proud Mary in 2008, or when Jay-Z, M.I.A., Lil’ Wayne and Kanye formed the Rap Pack in 2009.
Last year saw Macklemore awkwardly beat Kendrick to the award for Best Rap Album, 33 couples get married on stage and Jay Z tell baby Blue that daddy got just won her a gold “sippy cup”. The role of host will be reprised this year by lip-smackingly great LL Cool J and we’ve got our fingers crossed for some wildly inappropriate snogging from Madonna, more minimal moves from intergalactic teen dream Ariana Grande and big wins for the woman tugging at our Elastic Heart strings, Sia.