Great Britain’s big-ticket music awards ceremony, the Brit Awards, just concluded in London, but, like the Grammys, the trophies themselves weren’t the trending topic after Madonna took a frightful spill during an onstage performance and Kanye West unveiled a hot new track.
The bad news first. During the early moments of Madonna’s performance of her new song “Live for Love,” the artist’s red and black cape got snagged on one her backup dancers while she was on a staircase. When the dancer moved away from the singer, she was pulled off the stairs and fell onto the ground below.
It was quite the tumble, but what occurred next was impressive: Ever the professional, Madonna, notably out of breath and seemingly shaken, lifted herself up, quickly recovered and moved through the rest of the song.
The better news? Kanye West introduced a new song, “All Day,” presumably from his forthcoming album. The stage was filled with bouncing men, many of them producers of a resurgent British beat genre called grime, as West moved through the track.
Strikingly minimal but much heavier than West’s recent collaboration with Paul McCartney, “Only One,” the new track reveals yet another angle to his forthcoming work. (Video of his performance is popping up — and being taken down — fast on Youtube. This link worked last we checked.)