An average of 28.12 million viewers tuned into the 2013 Grammy Awards on Sunday to watch both the stellar performances and to see who would win in each of the 11 award categories presented at the show.

Taylor Swift kicked off the show with a rather interesting performance of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," a song that was surprisingly nominated for Record of the Year despite its bothersome repetition and whiny 15-year-old sound. She incorporated some sort of carnival posse, and the performers were doing stunts such as playing with fire. Swift sort of resembled the Mad Hatter in white, although it was an obvious attempt at a ring leader costume. Swift added a twist to the song for the performance, changing the lyrics in the song's simulated phone call to, "He calls me up and he's like, 'I still love you.' And I'm like, 'I'm sorry, I'm busy opening up the Grammys.'"

Host LL Cool J proceeded to set the tone for the night with an inspiring speech about how the Grammys, or as LL Cool J called it "music's biggest night," brings everyone together. "Wherever you come from, eventually you have that moment where it hits you-the Grammy Award is music's ultimate honor. For me that moment came when I saw Michael Jackson cradling all those Grammys he won," he said. "That magical image inspired me to go after my own dream, and the same is true for many of us in this great hall tonight."

The show continued with a moving performance by Ed Sheeran and Elton John performing Sheeran's hit "The A Team," which was nominated for Song of the Year and unfortunately lost to the equally deserving song "We Are Young" by fun. The duo ended the song with a high-five, because, why not?

One of the most memorable moments of the night for me was Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull's presentation for the Best Solo Performance, won by Adele, of course, for "Set Fire to the Rain," because what is a Grammy awards ceremony without Adele winning? Pitbull, upon introducing the category, injected his characteristic expression, "D??le."

Ellen DeGeneres and Beyonc?(c) teamed up to introduce the legendary Justin Timberlake, who performed his new single "Suit & Tie" featuring Jay-Z. Timberlake was born to perform, with his ability to dance and sing simultaneously. However, his vocal performance in the following song "Little Pusher Love Girl" was far superior to that in "Suit & Tie," primarily because he did not dance in "Little Pusher Love Girl."

Carrie Underwood's performance of "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs" showcased Underwood's amazing vocal skill, but she barely moved throughout the duration of her performance. Instead, the silver gown she wore was used almost as a projector screen, on which images of varying colors were cast.

Several tribute performances were also included in the show. Bruno Mars, Sting, David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley and Rihanna all performed in a tribute to Bob Marley. The set included Mars' "Locked out of Heaven," Sting's "Walking on the Moon" and a hit by Marley himself, "Could you be Loved?"

Elton John, Zac Brown, Mavis Staples, Mumford & Sons and Brittany Howard, among others, performed a final tribute to notable musicians who passed away over the past year. The musicians performed "The Weight" by The Band in honor of Levon Helm, a member of The Band who passed away in April 2012. The song is one of my favorites, so I was excited to hear it performed by an extraordinary group of performers. 

Prince presented the award for Record of the Year, which was clinched by Gotye and Kimbra for the hit "Somebody that I Used to Know," a truly worthy candidate for the award. I was rather surprised by Prince's nonchalant manner, wearing both a black hood and sunglasses without anything else to say other than, "Here are the nominees."

So many of the presenters attempted humor throughout the night, but all of them seemed like fraudulent jokes through which their grudges and jealousy were evident, except for the humor of Adele. Upon presenting Album of the Year to Mumford & Sons for Babel, She joked that, "Most artists who win Album of the Year tend to go on to have even more phenomenal, global success, embark on humongous tours or get knocked up like last year's winner." It was the only sincere laugh I got out of the night, other than the consistent close-ups of Swift dancing and singing along throughout the entire night-why there was such a focus on Swift as opposed to other prominent celebrities I am still unsure, but I did not watch the Grammys just to see her face the whole time.

The other laugh was from fun.'s acceptance of Best New Artist, for which Ruess found it necessary to share with the entire audience and millions of viewers that he had to "pee so bad, so I'm just going to leave it up to one of these guys."