Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, ?uestlove, Herbie Hancock & Adam Blackstone - "Thinking Out Loud" (GRAMMY's Super-group)
Aside from a series of pretty lackluster mismatched performances and Kanye's attempted hi-jacking of Album of The Year winner Beck's spotlight, the only legitimate stroke of "real artistry" at this year's GRAMMY Awards came from Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, ?uestlove, and legendary bassist Adam Blackstone. Sheeran's GRAMMY-assembled super-group performed a spirited live rendition of his latest x single, "Thinking Out Loud;" making best use of recent Late Late Show hosts guitar playing-talents, The Roots drummer/bandleader's "chops," and the classically-trained Jazz pianist's gentle stroke of the ivory keys. It seems as though Ed Sheeran and John Mayer (both reported exes of Taylor Swift) have put aside whatever differences they might have had, effectively becoming "the weirdest friends ever," to paraphrase Leslie Mann from The Other Woman. I, for one, would definitely not mind hearing a John Mayer Trio-esque full-length album from Ed Sheeran's GRAMMY super-group, which actually seems pretty plausible, considering Sheeran and Mayer's new-found musical friendship.
Fun fact: John Mayer & ?uestlove affiliation in fact dates back much, much further than most of you might ever imagine... way back to Dave Chappelle's barber shop "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" sketch/social experiment (2004). "Thinking Out Loud" then seamlessly segued into an ELO performance, which Ed Sheeran was suspiciously absent for opener "Medieval Woman," but soon re-emerged to join Jeff Lynne and the band for "Mr. Bluesky." By night's end, "Thinking Out Loud" rapidly rose to the No. 1 spot on the charts, even though the academy neglected to present Sheeran with a much-deserved award(s). ATTENTION ALL PHILLY-BASED "SHEER-FANS:" The red-headed Folk-Rock wonderkid himself will be making an appearance right outside of Fairmount Park at The Mann Center this upcoming May 26th (on-sale Feb. 27th). Fingers crossed... The Legendary Roots Crew drummer/bandleader Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson will grace us with his presence!!! ha. While his GRAMMY-nominated x and its "A-Team"-featuring predecessor, + are definitely worth picking up, I myself would strongly recommend checking out Ed Sheeran's 4-track The Slumdon Bridge FreEP recorded with Alabama-bred rapper, Yelawolf.