Mumford & Sons
Andrew Dost, Nate Ruess and Jack Antonoff of Fun.
- The 55th Grammy Awards were held Sunday night on CBS
- Adele wins the first award of the night
- The Black Keys were among those who won awards earlier
- There was a lot of focus on Chris Brown leading up to the show
(CNN) -- Sunday night's 55th annual Grammy Awards kicked off swiftly: Taylor Swift that is.
The popular singer took to the stage dressed as a ringmaster and surrounded by circus/canival types as she sang her hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."
"I'm sorry, I'm busy opening up the Grammys, and we are never getting back together," Swift said, changing her lyrics to fit the evening.
The first award of the night, best pop solo performance, went to Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain."
"We work so hard; we make it look so easy," Adele said in sending "big love" to the other nominees.
CBS wants stars covered up at Grammys
Katy Perry's 2011 red carpet look included a sparkly bra top and wings.
Grammy awards sexy and scandalous style
Friends since 2005, Chris Brown and Rihanna went public with their romantic relationship in 2008. The couple went their separate ways after Brown pleaded guilty in June 2009 to assaulting the Barbadian singer on the eve of the 51st Grammy Awards. Here's a look back at Brown and Rihanna, who have been spotted together again, most recently in Brown's car on Wednesday, February 6.
In August 2007, Brown and Rihanna joined Timbaland, center, and Robin Thicke onstage during MTV's "Total Request Live" in New York
The couple spent time together on the beach in Barbados in August 2008.
Rihanna and Brown danced together at a club in Paris in December 2008.
Months after the incident, Rihanna left a preliminary hearing at court in Los Angeles in June 2009. "We just fell really fast, and the more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other -- equally as dangerous -- because it was a bit of an obsession," Rihanna said during a 2009 interview with Diane Sawyer.
In June 2010, Brown performed a tribute to Michael Jackson during the BET Awards in Los Angeles. After Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna, a restraining order mandated that the pair cut off communication and remain a certain distance apart.
Rihanna performs onstage during the 2011 Grammy Awards. In February, Schnegg lifted the "stay away" order imposed on Brown.
Brown with a cake at a party in New York honoring the March 2011 release of his "F.A.M.E." album.
The "Birthday Cake" singer opened up to Oprah about the night that changed everything between her and Brown during an August 2012 interview. "I lost my best friend," she said. "Everything I knew switched -- switched in a night -- and I couldn't control that, so I had to deal with that, and that's not easy for me to understand."
In 2012, the pair shocked onlookers when they cozied up to one another at a Lakers game on Christmas. "When you add up the pieces from the outside, it's not the cutest puzzle in the world," Rihanna told Rolling Stone in January. "You see us walking somewhere, driving somewhere, in the studio, in the club, and you think you know. But it's different now. We don't have those types of arguments anymore. We talk about s***. We value each other. We know exactly what we have now, and we don't want to lose that."
Jennifer Lopez presented the first award to Adele, with co-presenter rapper Pit Bull, and joked about the Grammys reported memo asking stars to cover up.
"As you can see I read the memo," Lopez joked, wearing a black dress cut extremely high and fully exposing one leg.
Host LL Cool J referenced last year's tragedy of the death of singer Whitney Houston the night before the Grammys before launching into some remarks about the importance of the award to the various performers. While they came from different parts of the world and different genres, the artists shared the same desire to make it in the industry, LL Cool J reflected.
"Cause when you get right down to it a Grammy isn't just a shiny trophy to hold on to," he said. "A Grammy is a dream come true."
It was expected to be a bit of a boys' club on CBS Sunday with a six-way tie among Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean, Fun., Kanye West, Jay-Z and the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach for lead nominee, as each received six nods apiece.
55th annual Grammy Awards: The Nominees List
In keeping with the "guys night" theme, British artist Ed Sheeran was joined by fellow countryman, Sir Elton John, for a duet of the former's hit song "The A Team" which is nominated for Song of the Year.
Much of the Grammys occurs pre-show and some of those who won before the ceremony even aired included Skrillex, who snagged awards for dance recording, dance/electronica album and remixed recording non-classical; the Black Keys, who won rock song and rock album. The group's Dan Auerbach was named producer of the year, non-classical.
This year's Grammy awards ceremony had plenty of news leading up to it, with much of it involving singer Chris Brown.
The days leading up to Sunday's ceremony found Brown being investigated for an alleged brawl that resulted in Grammy nominee Ocean later saying he was declining to press charges or file a civil suit.
On Feb. 6 Brown was in court as a prosecutor asked a judge to order the singer to restart the community labor portion of his service tied to his probation for assaulting Rihanna. Friday marked the fourth anniversary of that assault, which occurred before that year's Grammy ceremony. Rihanna was in court with Brown this time around as the pair further fueled chatter surrounding their renewed "friendship."
The pair have been a huge focus of this years Grammys as fans waited to see if they would arrive at the ceremony together and how much "togethernes" they would exhibit.
On Saturday Brown totaled his Porshe after his representative said he was "ruthlessly pursued by paparazzi" on his way to a Symphonic Love Foundation event in Los Angeles.
