Pink hanging in the air from a sling as she performed her hit Try.Pink hanging in the air from a sling as she performed her hit Try.

Two unconventional acts, French electronic music deejays Daft Punk and New Zealand teen Lorde, took home the top Grammy awards on Sunday in a night that rewarded robots and newcomers, and recognised marriage equality.

In a first for the Grammys or any big US awards show, 33 couples, both same-sex and straight, were married by singer Queen Latifah, to the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis gay rights anthem, Same Love. Madonna emerged in a white suit and cowboy hat to conclude the singing ceremony with Open Your Heart.

The music industry’s glamorous gathering also saw the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, come together for a rare performance coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the British group’s breakthrough on American television.

The quirky robotic duo, Daft Punk, scored the double win of album of the year for Random Access Memories, and record of the year with Get Lucky, featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.

Lorde accepting the award for best pop solo performance for Royals.Lorde accepting the award for best pop solo performance for Royals.

Rodgers praised the French duo for creating their electronic music album using live music recorded on to analogue tape, calling it “a labour of love”.

“The fact that they decided to put this much effort into the music and bringing in musicians, they had this incredible vision and believed they achieved something greater by doing that,” Rodgers said.

Formed in the early 1990s by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Daft Punk were pioneers of the electronic dance music phenomenon that has recently swept the US mainstream pop industry.

It was impossible to know what the two masked musicians thought about their big win because they choose not to speak as part of their act.

Lorde, 17, won the Grammy for song of the year with her breakout hit Royals, sharing the award for songwriters with Joel Little. They triumphed over the writers behind Katy Perry’s Roar and Bruno Mars’ Locked Out of Heaven, among others.

“Thank you to everyone who has let this song explode because it has been mental,” said Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor, known for a gothic aesthetic that goes against the sexy, scantily clad norm of young pop artistes.

The Recording Academy also anointed Seattle-based rapper-producer newcomers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with the Grammy for best new artiste and three other awards in rap categories.

“Before there was any media, before there was any buzz about us, before there was a story, there was our fans and it spread organically through them,” said Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, as he accepted the best new artiste award. With their homage to marriage equality, the duo also presided over the biggest dramatic moment of the night, the ceremony in a cathedral-like setting, an initiative that Queen Latifah hoped would be emulated across the rap genre.

“I hope this is inspiration to all the rappers out there and hip hop artistes out there that they can continue to tackle any subjects you want,” Queen Latifah, said backstage, before her power to marry in California expired at midnight.

The 56th Grammy Awards, the music industry’s top honours handed out by the Recording Academy across 82 categories, also rewarded a crop of newcomers in several genres.

Kacey Musgraves, 25, won best country album with Same Trailer Different Park, while alt-rockers Imagine Dragons won best rock performance for Radioactive. “This last year has kind of just blown up,” said Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds.

Thank you to everyone who has let this song explode because it has been mental- Lorde

There was also 71-year-old McCartney, who teamed up with former members of grunge rock band Nirvana, including Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, to win best rock song for Cut Me Some Slack.

“It was magic for me playing with these guys,” said McCartney, adding: “I found myself in the middle of a Nirvana reunion and I was very happy.”

Yesterday, the Recording Academy’s The Night that Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles paid homage to the Fab Four’s February 1964 performances on the Ed Sullivan Show, credited with launching rock ’s so-called British Invasion.

With McCartney at the piano and Starr at his drums on Sunday night the two played a new song, Queenie Eye, a catchy tune that hearkened back to the Beatles’ hits. It was only the fourth time they had performed together since a 2002 concert to honour the late George Harrison.

Key winners

• Album of the year
Random Access Memories – Daft Punk

• Record of the year
Get Lucky – Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers

• Song of the year
Royals – Joel Little and Ella Yelich O’Connor (Lorde), songwriters

• Best new artist
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

• Best pop vocal album
Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars

• Best rock album
Celebration Day – Led Zeppelin

• Best alternative music album
Modern Vampires of the City – Vampire Weekend

• Best R&B album
Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys

• Best rap album
The Heist – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

• Best country album
Same Trailer Different Park – Kacey Musgraves

Beatles, robots and marriage acts that rocked the awards

Beyoncé and Jay Z

A scantily-clad, sultry Beyoncé opened the Grammy awards by gyrating on a fog-filled set, singing Drunk in Love with rapper husband Jay Z, her first performance since the stealth release of her latest, self-titled album. The song is a follow-up to the couple’s 2003 duet on Crazy in Love.

Later in the show, Jay Z gave a shout-out to the couple’s two-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, while accepting the award for best rap collaboration for Holy Grail featuring Justin Timberlake – “I want to tell Blue, look, Daddy got a gold sippy cup for you.” Within minutes, the hashtag #GoldSippyCup became a top trending topic on Twitter.

Robots Get Lucky with Wonder

French electro-music duo Daft Punk performed their second televised performance ever with their hit Get Lucky, sung by Pharrell Williams and veteran soul singer Stevie Wonder. Daft Punk, dressed in white suits with white helmets, fused Get Lucky with 1970s hit song Le Freak and Wonder’s Another Star on a stage resembling a recording studio. The audience was its feet, dancing along to the infectious beats.

Beatles come together

The two surviving members of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, joined forces to perform a new song, Queenie Eye.

Madonna, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis celebrate Same Love

Thirty-three couples, both same-sex and heterosexual, were married live on television as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert performed Same Love, an ode to marriage equality and gay rights. Queen Latifah officiated the mass marriage on a Grammy stage made to resemble a cathedral with giant arches, while Madonna, dressed in a white suit and cowboy hat, came on to sing her hit, Open Your Heart, before joining Lambert to finish the ceremony.

Las Vegas meets Compton

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, from Compton, California, and Las Vegas alt-rock group Imagine Dragons fused their musical styles together to perform a mash-up of their singles M.A.A.D City and Radioactive, accompanied by large drums and strobe-lights.

Flying high

Pink performed aerial acrobatics over the Grammy audience while singing Try, before jumping on stage to sing Just Give Me a Reason with fun. frontman Nate Ruess.

Metal meets ivory keys

Hard rock group Metallica stormed the Grammy stage with Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, performing a rousing rendition of the band’s single, One. Lang Lang later showcased his classical talents by performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 to lead the Grammys’ tribute to late pianist Van Cliburn.

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