Viewers of the 2012 Grammys witnessed two things: Adele is terrible at giving acceptance speeches and she is an ugly crier.

Adele was one of two women who ran the show on Sunday night.  The other was the late Whitney Houston.

The show opened with LL Cool J’s opening monologue. While this would be normal for any other award show, the Grammys hasn’t had a host in seven years. 

Regardless, with only a day’s notice to put together something for Whitney Houston, they did a great job of showing their respect without turning the show into a memorial service for her.  All throughout the night, performers dedicated their songs to her. Jennifer Hudson also did an amazing rendition of Whitney Houston’s most renowned song, “I Will Always Love You.”

The show had a wide range of great performers compared to years past.  Coldplay and Rihanna did an amazing acoustic rendition of “Princess of China” followed by Coldplay wrapping up the performance with “Paradise.”  Bruno Mars made America realize that young singers can still sing well live while Adele gave her first amazing performance following the surgery on her vocal cords late last year. 

Some of the most eyebrow raising moments of the show came from Nicki Minaj and the Beach Boys.  Nicki Minaj’s performance left every viewer with their jaw on the floor, and not in a positive way.  Her performance was awkward, offensive, and a slap in the face to the Catholic Church.  There were cardinals and bishops mimicking sex on stage as well as girls in nude suits crawling everywhere. 

The Beach Boys are an all-boy band that began in the early 60s when they were young and singing about summer, beach life, and girls.  Now, however, they have aged and are still singing same youthful songs.  Even though they sang with two young bands, Maroon 5 and Foster the People, the performance was still weird and uncomfortable.

 Adele was the big winner of the night.  She took home six awards including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year, just to name a few.  Other winners included Chris Brown for Best R&B Album, and Jay-Z and Kanye West for Best Rap Album. 

 Overall, the 2012 Grammys was a wonderful success as the focus was redirected to the musical performances of the songs that resulted in the artists’ recognition.

Amanda Graziano is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com