I know Imogen Heap is taking a lot of flak for her weird outfit but A.) she always dresses weird so what’s the big deal and B.) her dress was a very special one that was broadcasting a live Twitter feed from her followers so that they could be with her at the Grammys last night. She gets snaps in my book. There was a lot of love, a lot of crazy mess and a lot of divas on the red carpet last night … which is pretty standard fare, I think. After the jump, check out a few photos from the show itself and find out who else took home Grammophone tropies from the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards last night …

[Taylor Swift], known for her blonde curly mane, had been expected to dominate the music industry’s top awards. But she was overshadowed by R&B singer Beyonce, who won six awards including song of the year — the most won by a female artist at a single event. Both were eclipsed for record of the year by Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon, who were the surprise honorees for their pop-radio hit “Use Somebody.” In winning album of the year, Swift broke a record held since 1996 by Alanis Morissette, who was 21 when she won for “Jagged Little Pill,” an album with decidedly more adult content. Swift also was the first solo female country winner ever of the award, and the first female pop winner since Celine Dion won in 1997 for “Falling Into You.” “I just hope that you know how much this means to me … that we get to take this back to Nashville,” said Swift … Kings of Leon, long more popular internationally, finally achieved mainstream success in the United States last year with “Use Somebody.” Brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill also won a pair of Grammys in the rock field for the song, taking their career haul to four. Country combo the Zac Brown Band was named best new artist as expected. The Atlanta-based group becomes the first band to win the award since 2005 … The televised ceremony was packed with diverse performances, since 100 of the 109 categories were announced during a low-profile ceremony earlier in the day. Mary J. Blige and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli earned a standing ovation for their version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” performed as a fundraising tribute to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The song was scheduled to go on sale at iTunes immediately afterwards. Swift dueted with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks for a version of the band’s “Rhiannon.”

Because of the 3D aspect, I thought the MJ tribute was the best performance of the night but I gotta give it up to P!nk and her Cirque du Soleil-ness for putting on a very fun performance. It’s easy to make fun of someone suspended from bedsheets in an open arena but I’m so impressed that she can handle the theatrics AND sing live (and well) all at the same time. I’m not the biggest P!nk fan but I give her props for her fun performances. That being said, she needs to come up with something new already … she did this hanging from the rafters bit back at the MTV VMAs last September. The show was pretty interesting, overall. It did drag towards the end but … HELLO, we got 3D. I was fine with it. Click HERE for a full run down of the major Grammy Award winners last night … did YOUR faves win awards? Were you overall happy, upset or meh about the show itself?

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

Now, I’ve been a HUGE Imogen fan from way back in the day … pre-electronics, pre-Frou Frou, back when it was just her and her piano opening up for Rufus Wainwright. I’ve been fortunate enough to see Immi live in concert many times so I was very excited to be able to see her kick off her latest tour in support of her new album Ellipse. After the jump, check out some of the photos that I was able to snap last night and hear all about the show …

Imogen confessed on Twitter over the weekend that she was feeling a bit under the weather and, very unfortunately, had to cancel her Santa Barbara, CA show on Sunday night. It was touch and go for a while as to whether or not she’d be able to perform in LA last night but she managed to pull off an amazing show. Sure, you could tell that she was having some difficulty hitting those super high notes but she really did sound fantastic thruout the entire show. Any of y’all who have seen Imogen Heap live in concert know that she can be a bit … quirky. She meanders around the stage talking to the audience (and to herself, sometimes in audibly to the crowd) but gets focuses and sure when she sings. She mentioned that the early shows of her tours aren’t always her best because she is still figuring things out … but it’s the quirky “figuring things out” part of the show that makes the live Imogen Heap experience so special. We had a blast … even tho the show ran late into the night and the bunch of us were super tired by the time the show was over …

… especially Josh :) I’m so glad David and I were able to hang out with Emma and Josh again … I think the next time we see them, we’ll make the trek out to the beach to hang on their turf. I understand they like to play Rock Band … HMMMM.

Tonight, David and I are meeting up with Darion to see Precious. I plan on bringing a whole box of Kleenex for the occasion.

Because we are just a few days away from Hallowe’en, MJ’s Thriller is getting a lot of play all over the place … which is why I think it was very smart of Imogen to cover it on this radio show. Unfortch, I couldn’t find a way to download the track but after the jump you can hear it in full in a You Tube video that has been made available online …

Imogen Heap has been an insanely creative and beautifully talented musician for years and I am so happy that she has finally come into her own. I remember seeing her on her first tour when she opened for Rufus Wainwright (her music was all piano, no electronics then) and to see how far she’s come, it’s wonderful. She has always had a flair for the dramatic when it comes to her personal style … you can see how genuine she is (rather than contrived like other pop stars who try too hard). I’ve been listening to Ellipse almost non-stop since it became streamable online last week. It’s fabulous … she’s fabulous. Woot!

[Photo credit: Splash News]

The name Es Devlin is not well-known to music fans, but the British set designer is a rising star in the scene, having collaborated with Kanye West on his ‘Touch the Sky’ tour. However, Imogen Heap became familiar with Devlin through electronic artist Nitin Sawhney, who they’ve both collaborated with. “She directed this very graphic, very visual beautiful piece that she did for Nitin Sawhney and it was an hour-long piece and only the 300 people in the IMAX cinema while Nitin was performing saw it,” Heap tells Spinner. “It was great because I was one of the only people that saw it, but it’s a shame because it didn’t have a life after that.” Heap is rectifying everything by giving Devlin the opportunity to showcase her talent on a much more enduring scale. Devlin directed the video for ‘First Train Home’ — the first single from Heap’s new album, ‘Ellipse’ — a pairing that came about the night of the IMAX film. “Also my friend Mika had worked with Es on a stage set design, so I had two kinds of people on the same night who knew her very well,” Heap recalls. “So I ended up chatting to her and it turns out she’s a fan and she really liked one of the ones I’d done with Nitin and she was really into my music and I just said, ‘We have to do something together.’” “This is her first directing video and so it was a bit of a kind of a challenge for both of us,” Heap continues. “Es had never made a video before, but I knew we had a great relationship. I really like her as a person, I think she’s a genius creative person and I just thought, ‘Two girls together…’ I’ve never been directed by a girl either and I thought we could do something really great together.” According to Heap, having a woman director made some things easier. “She’s an amazing woman and I felt very at ease around her, I felt I could talk to her on the level of even my body and making sure I was happy with the way I looked and just being able to be very open with her,” Heap says. “But if you talk to a man about any kind of woman-y thing they slightly twist around awkwardly.” In fairness, Heap gets that. “I’m equally awkward when a man talks to me around man things.”

Imogen is such an innovative and creative artist, she just effing rules. I’ve been such a big fan since her debut album iMEGAPHONE which was much less electronic. I’m so happy that her work with Frou Frou catapulted her into the fame that she so richly deserves. I hope she tours extensively with this new album cuz I can’t wait to see her live in concert again! After the jump, check out the music video for her first single First Train Home off her new album Ellipse …

Imogen has made her entire album available for streaming online IN FULL for the week leading up to the album’s release next Tuesday. After the jump, check out a streaming media player where you can hear Ellipse in its entirety right here, right now …

The video is also comprised of scenes from many of the vlogs that Imogen has been releasing in the last two years that she has been writing and recording her album. After the jump, check out the fun video trailer in full …

British singer-songwriter-producer and two time Grammy nominee Imogen Heap will now be releasing her much anticipated new solo album Ellipse on August 25th 2009 through RCA Records. The same day Imogen wrapped up her tour in support of her last breakthrough album Speak For Yourself, she delved into the writing process for Ellipse’s thirteen tracks. Beginning in Hawaii and working her way through Fiji, Tasmania, Japan, China and Thailand, accompanied by only a small writing set up, Ellipse began to take shape. Imogen then returned home to continue work on the record and remained true to her do-it-yourself ethos, building her new studio in the “playroom” of her old family home (an 18th century ‘oval villa’ restored by her parents) on the outskirts of London. Below please find the full track listing for Ellipse:

01. First Train Home
02. Wait It Out
03. Earth
04. Little Bird
05. Swoon
06. Tidal
07. Between Sheets
08. 2-1
09. Bad Body Double
10. Aha!
11. The Fire
12. Canvas
13. Half Life

If you are at all familiar with Imogen’s amazing music then you should be as excited as I am at the release of this new album. Imogen has been updating her fans on the progress of Ellipse on her official Twitter profile and I am counting down the seconds until this album is released. Imogen has been one of my fave musicians for many years now … I fell in love with her when she opened for Rufus Wainwright on his first tour. I know that there are quite a few Imogen Heap fans out there so this one’s for you. We’ll count down the seconds together …

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