The 2012 Grammy Awards are finally here! Tonight on the televised awards ceremony, the stage was overflowing with explosive performances from a variety of artists in the pop, R&B, hip-hop and rock genres.

Adele was one of the most anticipated performers this evening at the 2012 Grammy Awards, being out of the game for approximately five months due to a vocal chord affliction that ultimately led to her having surgery. Rihanna took the Grammy stage with Coldplay to perform ‘Princess of China,’ while Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj plus many other performers entertained audiences nationwide with electrifying live shows at the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Check out PopCrush’s recap of all of the performances at the 2012 Grammy Awards and leave us a comment below letting us know which performance was your favorite.

Bruno Mars: The crooner took the stage with his gang of Hooligans, performing ‘Runaway’ while incorporating some amazing, James Brown-inspired dance moves. Mars even landed did a split and told the “rich b—-es” in the audience to get up and dance! [Watch Here]

Alicia Keys/Bonnie Raitt: The women paid tribute to the late, great Etta James with a soulful performance that found Keys on the piano and Raitt behind a guitar. The duo performed ‘Sunday Kind of Love’ in honor of Miss Peaches, and it was a truly touching moment. [Watch Here]

Chris Brown: Breezy made his Grammy comeback in a big way tonight, performing a mashup of his new dance hit ‘Turn Up the Music’ and his electro ‘F.A.M.E.’ track ‘Beautiful People.’ He danced atop a huge crazy stair case, jumping all over the place and busting out impressive dance moves. Breezy received a huge round of applause, and you could tell he was touched despite leaving the stage very quickly. [Watch Here]

Kelly Clarkson/Jason Aldean: The ‘Stronger’ songstress took the stage with her country pal Jason Aldean to perform a live rendition of their duet ‘Don’t You Wanna Stay.’ As always, Kelly Clarkson killed it on the vocals, and she and Aldean have a great energy and stage presence as a pair. [Watch Here]

Rihanna/Coldplay: RiRi kicked off her time on the Grammy stage with a slowed-down performance of ‘We Found Love,’ which gave way to the uptempo original later on, with the beautiful songstress dancing it out in a big choreographed routine. She then headed over to sing ‘Princess of China’ with Coldplay, who also performed an amazing and epic rendition of ‘Paradise.’ [Watch Here]

Maroon 5/Foster the People/Beach Boys: Maroon 5 were the first to pay tribute to the Beach Boys, with Adam Levine taking the lead singing ‘Surfer Girl.’ Foster the People then took over, performing ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ with Mark Foster’s falsetto accompanying the song nicely. The Beach Boys themselves closed out the performance, playing ‘Good Vibrations’ alongside their younger pop-rock counterparts. [Watch Here]

Taylor Swift: The country cutie pie performed her hit song ‘Mean,’ changing the lyrics to further taunt her bullies by singing, “Some day, I’ll be singing at the Grammys / And all you’re ever gonnna be is mean,” with a mischievous smirk across her face. You tell ‘em, Taylor! [Watch Here]

Katy Perry: Perry, who was sporting a futuristic pleather outfit and blue crimped hair, sang ‘E.T.’ before belting our her new kiss-off song ‘Part of Me,’ which was obviously written about Russell Brand. It seemed that the performance was cathartic and emotional for Perry, who is in the midst of a divorce from the actor. [Watch Here]

David Guetta/Chris Brown/Lil Wayne/Foo Fighters/deadmau5: The unlikely group of musicians took the stage to perform a tribute to dance music, with Guetta, Brown and Weezy collaborating on ‘I Can Only Imagine’ and Foo Fighters performing ‘Rope’ with DJ deadmau5. [Watch Here]

Adele: For her almighty comeback, Adele performed her Grammy-winning song ‘Rolling in the Deep,’ starting off a cappella with a full band backing her throughout the majority of the song. Adele sounded great, and the starlet received a standing ovation after her performance. [Watch Here]

Jennifer Hudson: The most tear-jerking performance of the evening came from Hudson, who paid tribute to recently deceased vocal icon Whitney Houston. Fighting back tears, Hudson sang ‘I Will Always Love You,’ closing the song by singing “Whitney, we will always love you.” It was a moving tribute, but also an incredibly sad moment for everyone gathered at the 2012 Grammys and viewers everywhere. Rest in peace, Whitney. [Watch Here]

Nicki Minaj: Performing her new track ‘Roman Holiday,’ Minaj put on a very theatrical performance in which she played the part of her alter ego Roman Zolanski, who underwent a much needed exorcism. The best part came when she began floating horizontally while rapping, but Minaj’s performance was completely over the top, and her growls and shrieks were much more grating than entertaining. [Watch Here]

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