Alessia Cara 1st Canadian to win best new artist Grammy, Bruno Mars scores big

Bruno Mars took home six trophies including album, record and song of the year at Sunday's Grammy Awards while Alessia Cara became the first Canadian to win the category of best new artist.

In her acceptance speech, the Brampton, Ont.-born singer encouraged people to "support real music and real artists."

"Everyone deserves the same shot," Cara, 21, said on stage at Madison Square Garden in New York. "And that goes for everyone — not just those in the industry."

Fellow Canucks Drake, Justin Bieber, Feist and Alanis Morissette have been nominated for best new artist but no Canadian has brought it home since its inception in 1959.

Mars scored big for his album 24K Magic and the hit song That's What I Like.

The Hawaiian singer-songwriter saluted fellow nominees Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino in his thank you speech, but his wins also indicated the record academy's reluctance to embrace hip hop.

Despite the genre's prevalence on the charts and leading nominations for Jay-Z and Lamar this year, no rapper has ever won record or song of the year at the Grammys. Hip hop duo Outkast won album of the year with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below  in 2004. 

Lamar left with five Grammys for his album DAMN. and songs LOYALTY. and HUMBLE. Four of those wins were in rap categories. He also opened the night with a powerful performance about politics and race. Jay-Z, who went into the show with eight nominations, was shut out.

#MeToo, Time's Up movements honoured

Singer Kesha performed a moving rendition of her song about redemption called Praying as a tribute to the campaign against sexual misconduct.

The pop star has been embroiled in a legal battle with hitmaker Dr. Luke after accusing him of sexual and physical abuse in 2014. He has denied any wrongdoing and is suing for defamation.

Andra Day, Camila Cabello and Cyndi Lauper were among the group of female artists who joined Kesha on stage. They received a standing ovation afterward and surrounded a visibly emotional Kesha in an embrace.

Musician-actress Janelle Monae introduced the performance, referencing the growing women's movement.

"We come in peace but we mean business," she said. "To those who would dare try to silence us, we offer two words: Time's Up," Monae said. "It's not just going on in Hollywood. It's not just going on in Washington. It's here in our industry, too."

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Earlier, Lady Gaga was among the stars sporting a white rose on the Grammy Awards red carpet. Sam Smith, Lisa Loeb, Sting and host James Corden were also wearing the flower to show support for the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.

Political performances

Maren Morris, Eric Church and Brothers Osborne performed Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven — written after his son died — in honour of the 58 people who died at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas last October. 

"Together we cannot just build a better country, but a world that is destined to be united," rapper Logic said onstage after performing suicide prevention anthem 1-800-273-8255 with Cara and Khalid. It included a group of suicide-attempt and loss survivors selected by the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Posthumous wins, Canadian contingent

Leonard Cohen was awarded a Grammy posthumously at the pre-televised ceremony in the category of best rock performance for You Want It Darker.

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So was Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, for best spoken word album (The Princess Diarist).

Toronto's The Weeknd won best urban contemporary album for Starboy. Nova Scotia soprano Barbara Hannigan scored a Grammy for Crazy Girl Crazy in the best classical solo vocal album category. Charles Moniz of Burlington, Ont., shared a Grammy win for 24K Magic by Mars, which won best engineered album, non-classical.

A full list of winners can be found here.