What Went Wrong With Adele’s Grammys Performance?

For musicians and music lovers alike, the Grammy’s is probably the biggest night of the year. This year Lady Gaga paid tribute to David Bowie, Rihanna and Lauren Hill were a no-show due to illness, Taylor Swift firmly put Kanye in his place – and to top things off, something went terribly wrong with Adele’s performance. Arising from all the much discussed disarray of the evening, one topic remains firmly on everyone’s’ lips – here’s what went wrong with Adele’s performance.

Usually the much-loved Adele can do no wrong. Her recent album ‘25’ smashed sales records, and given her consistently outstanding voice, her performance at the Grammy’s was eagerly anticipated. However, on Monday night shortly after she began singing her live rendition of the ballad ‘All I Ask,’ it became apparent there was a problem. Adele’s microphone cut out momentarily, her voice at times sounded shaky and missing the usual Adele explosion we’ve come to love and expect. Furthermore, a clinking noise reverberated in the background during the song. Although the annoyance on the singer’s face was obvious, Adele remained calm and professional, making the best out of the situation and finishing the ballad in style.

Following the show Adele tweeted an explanation: “The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that’s what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. S— happens.” At the end of the evening Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, offered further explanation to the press, stating that as the piano was lifted onto the stage, a microphone in the instrument dropped, which then caused audio glitches (sound problems) with the broadcast. Apparently, music technicians attempted to fix the issue by changing to a backup system, and this resulted in the feed being lost for a moment. Mr. Portnow said he wanted to make it clear that Adele did a fantastic job and that it was all an issue on their behalf. However it wasn’t the end of the world for Adele as she tweeted, “Because of it though…I’m treating myself to an in n out. So maybe it was worth it.”