The 54^th Annual Grammys has been hyping up everyone since November 30, 2011. That was the night that the Grammy nominations were announced for the Grammy awards on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles. Everyone has been excitedly awaiting the big night for a while now. Just as stars were getting pumped up during the pregame Grammy parties the night before, a tragedy had occurred. International superstar Whitney Houston was found dead in her hotel room on the night of February 11^th. Whitney herself was a numerous Grammy winner. Although the tragedy was still on everyone’s mind, the Grammys still went on. To start the big night off, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened up with ‘We Take Care of our Own.’ LL Cool J hosted us during the night, which was out of the ordinary, considering the Grammys hasn’t had an official host for the past 7 years. Throughout the night, many artists performed their hit songs.

            The performers all had a good night. The main performers were Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Coldplay, Adele, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Aldean, Foo Fighters, etc. Katy Perry was a closed watch performance, due to her performing her new song ‘Part of Me’ for the first time. As for tributes go, Jennifer Hudson was what people had said, ‘The best performance of the night.’ Jennifer Hudson did a tribute performance to the late Whitney Houston with Whitney’s hit song, ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Despite how beautiful Jennifer Hudson sounded during her tribute, there was one artist who seemed to really make an impact.

Out of the many artists performing during the night, Nicki Minaj’s performance had people talking. Nicki Minaj, the ‘Super Bass’ hip/hop singer, had people talking even before the Grammys started. The red carpet entrance from Nicki Minaj was the start of the turning of the heads. She arrived wearing a red, draped Versace dress with a hood. Many people had referred to Nicki as a ‘Little Red Riding Hood lookalike.’ Nicki Minaj’s alter ego, Roman, was what made her performance outrageous. The performance included her new song Roman Holiday, dancing priests, an exorcism, and ending the performance was Nicki Minaj herself twitching uncontrollably while being levitated into the air.