After kicking off with the performance by a be-catsuited Swift, the biggest night in music was emceed by five-time host LL Cool J, who emphasized the diversity of the medium as a guiding light for a divided America looking to “celebrate the awesome power of music”.

“With all that divides us today, our shared love of music unites us – all of us,” LL Cool J said as he opened the awards show-slash-concert. Highlighting the racial and stylistic diversity of the nominees – a salient fact during an awards season that has come under heavy fire for disproportionately celebrating the accomplishments of white artists – LL Cool J emphasized achievements in rap and hip-hop.

Taylor Swift’s 1989 took the album of the year award at the 58th Grammy awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday night. Having opened the show with a version of her hit Out of the Woods, the singer made a defiant acceptance speech which seemed to allude to her argument with Kanye West earlier in the week. The rapper’s new song Famous, referring to Swift, claims: “I made that bitch famous.”

Swift pointed out in her speech that she is the first woman to win album of the year twice and added: “I want to say to all the young women out there – there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”

Adele struggled through a performance of All I Ask which was bedevilled by technical difficulties in which her microphone cut out and an extra guitar – which some suggested was being played by Justin Bieber’s band warming up on the other stage – played over her song. The singer also sounded slightly out of tune at times.

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie was a hectic mash-up of his most famous hits done in full glam rock regalia. The musical director was Nile Rodgers, who produced Bowie’s Let’s Dance album, but many thought Gaga had tried too hard, and even Bowie’s son Duncan Jones appeared to offer veiled criticism, tweeting: ""overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?"

Kendrick Lamar won the most awards. The 28-year-old rap artist scooped five prizes: best rap song, best rap performance, best rap/sung collaboration, best music video and best rap album. He galvanized the event with a politically charged performance of The Blacker the Berry and Alright with a stage production that saw him coming on stage in chains, and finished with a map of Africa with the word “Compton” in the middle – his home city. Lamar had received 11 nominations for this year’s Grammys, beating Eminem’s record as the rapper with the most nominations in a single night.