Free Press wire report

LOS ANGELES

Singer-songwriter Adele flubbed on a tribute Sunday night to the late George Michael at the 59th Grammy Music Awards, but she still walked away as the belle of the televised awards program.

The London-born singer took home five awards Sunday night, including album, record and song of the year.

She beat Beyoncé in the top three categories with her latest album “25,” repeating her accomplishments from 2012 when the British star also won all three awards.

In accepting, Adele used her speech to honor Beyoncé and her groundbreaking “Lemonade” album, which also was nominated.

“The way you make my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel is empowering,” Adele said at the Staples Center in accepting the Grammy for Album of the Year.

She did fine on her opening number, “Hello,” but she stopped and had to restart her rendition of Mr. Michael’s 1996 classic “Fastlove,” because of technical difficulties. She brought off the song the second time around to a standing ovation.

Until Adele’s abrupt restart, Beyoncé was the talk of the show, which became a showcase for everything from religious imagery and thanks to God to political commentary on President Trump’s travel ban on Muslims, deportation of immigrants and resistance.

Wearing a glittery gown, halo-like gilded crown ornamented with roses and a gold choker, a pregnant-with-twins Beyoncé took the Grammy stage, evoking iconography of the divine feminine from several faith traditions.

In her lengthy performance of two songs from her critically acclaimed album “Lemonade,” special effects made it appear she had many arms, mimicking Kali, a Hindu goddess who has been worshipped as the Divine Mother and the Mother of the Universe.

Observers on social media also made references to Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty; Mami Wata or Yemoja, the Yoruba patron deity of women, especially pregnant women; and the Virgin Mary, including the Virgin of Guadalupe in Catholicism.

Her mother and former stylist Tina Knowles introduced her: “Ladies and gentlemen, with my mother’s pride, my daughter, Beyoncé.”

She sang “Love Drought” and, later, “Sandcastles,” to loud applause from the audience, including daughter Blue Ivy and husband, Jay Z.

Beyoncé won two awards: Best Music Video for “Formation” and Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Lemonade.”

“My intention for the film and album is to create a body of work that would give voice to our pain, our struggles, our doubts and our history, to confront issues that make us uncomfortable,” Queen Bey said.

“It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow in a world, where they look in the mirror, first with their own families as well as in the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys and see themselves,” she said, reading from a card.

“This is something that I want for every child of every race, and I feel that it’s vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes,” she said.

David Bowie, who died last year from cancer, won all four awards he was nominated for. He won three in the pre-telecast, and was awarded best rock song for “Blackstar” during the live show.

“Blackstar,” his final album released days after he died, also won best alternative music album, rock performance, and engineered album, non-classical. In the engineered category, he beat out Prince, who also died last year.

Bruno Mars and his band gave a memorable performance of “That’s What I Like” — as Jennifer Lopez, Faith Hill, Rihanna and even some of the men in the audience watched closely, looking impressed.

Chance the Rapper won the first award in the live telecast for best new artist. He also won best rap album, besting Drake and Kanye West.

“Glory be to God. I claim this victory in the name of the Lord,” said Chance, who also won best rap performance. “I didn’t think we were gonna get this one.”

He wore a black hoodie with “Obama” on the back and “thank you” on the front.

Various artists brought up the divisive political atmosphere and the need to speak out.

A Tribe Called Quest performed a politically charged medley with nominee Anderson Paak and Busta Rhymes, who called out to “Agent Orange,” a nickname for President Trump, sarcastically thanking him for his “unsuccessful attempt at the Muslim ban.”

At the end of the song, performers including a woman in a hijab, knocked down a wall constructed onstage and cried, “Resist!”

During her introduction of a Metallica-Lady Gaga mashup performance, Laverne Cox, a star in the Netflix hit, “Orange Is the New Black,” put out a call for viewers to look up info on a 17-year-old transgender high school senior in Gloucester, Va., whose case to use the boys’ restroom is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Everyone, please Google Gavin Grimm,” Ms. Cox said. “He’s going to the Supreme Court in March. #StandWithGavin.”

Gavin, who was born female but identifies as male, has become a focal point for the fight for transgender student rights.

“At this point, that’s the role I occupy and I want to make sure I’m using the platform for positive,” a shy Gavin told The Washington Post this week. “I definitely didn’t set out at the beginning wanting to or expecting to (be) shouted out at the Grammys.”

In the pre-telecast, Beyoncé’s younger sister, R&B darling Solange, won her first Grammy for best R&B performance. It also was her first nomination.

Drake, who didn’t attend the live show, won best rap song and rap/sung performance for the smash hit, “Hotline Bling.”