Beyoncé makes history, Harry Styles takes home the big prize at 65th Grammy Awards
LOS ANGELES (TND) — Even before the final prizes of the night were given out at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, the 65th Grammy awards was one for the history books.
Beyoncé Knowles Carter – known around the world eponymously as Beyoncé – won four awards between the primetime awards show and the afternoon “premiere ceremony” in connection with her seventh studio album, the House and dance-music indebted "Renaissance." In winning “Best Dance/Electronic Music Album” for “Renaissance,” “Best Dance/Electronic Recording” for “BREAK MY SOUL,” “Best Traditional R&B Performance” for “PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA,” and “Best R&B Song” for “CUFF IT,” Beyoncé set a new record as the most awarded individual in Grammy’s history with 32 wins. She surpasses the previous record set by the lauded 20th century Hungarian conductor Sir Georg Solti, who won his last Grammy in 1998. Carter also ties her husband Jay-Z for the most Grammy nominations, with 88.
“I’m just trying to receive this night,” Beyoncé said during her acceptance speech for “Best Dance/Electronic Music Album,” the award that set her over the line for her record (and one that historically does not make it to the primetime ceremony). After thanking God and her parents, she said, “I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre” (House music was invented in clubs catering to primarily gay, Black men in Chicago in the late-70s and early-80s).
Despite the appearance that this would be Beyoncé’s year in the general categories – the four awards that are given out without specific attention to genre – Harry Styles would take home the much-coveted award for “Album of the Year” for his pop album “Harry’s House.” Styles, a former member of the boy band One Direction whose music in his solo career has taken a direction towards artsy pop rock via Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and Rod Stewart, was an upset in the category.
The critical mass was behind Beyoncé – who lost her last album of the year bid to Adele in 2017 – and Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar for his heavy, complex double album “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” – Lamar has also lost bid for top album, four times at this point. He did win three Grammys in the Rap category, including “Best Rap Album” for “Mr. Morale” and “Best Rap Performance” and “Best Rap Song” for “The Heart Part 5.” Another upset in the top prizes came when Blues singer and guitarist Bonnie Raitt – a perennial Grammy favorite – won “Song of the Year” for her original composition “Just Like That.”
Minneapolis singer, rapper and flautist Lizzo – famous for her body positive message and retro soul sound – won “Record of the Year"for her song "About D*** Time." Accepting the speech, Lizzo dedicated her win to fellow Black, Minneapolis pop and soul icon Prince, saying that following the Purple One’s tragic death in 2016, she decided to dedicate her life to making “positive music.”
Jazz vocal classicist Samara Joy won “Best New Artist.”
Clocking it at a lumbering four hours – despite multiple attempts to revise the show’s format in the face of declining viewership – the awards featured some mesmerizing performances by some of the top artists in popular music. In a tribute to Motown-founder Barry Gordy and the Miracles’ Smokey Robinson, pop wizard Stevie Wonder brought the crowd to its feet in a bluesy duet of his song “Higher Ground” with country icon Chris Stapleton. In the centerpiece of the night, The Roots’ Questlove curated an epic tribute performance for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, featuring creators like Grandmaster Flash and DJ Kool Herc to top emcees like Busta Rhymes and Queen Latifah to young guns like Lil Uzi Vert and Lil’ Baby.
The night gave also comedian Trevor Noah, who recently departed his job anchoring The Daily Show, a chance to flex his current events-jokes muscle for a national television audience again.
While snaking his way through the tables of A-listers and top nominees, Noah observed that he was like a “Chinese balloon,” drifting his way through the crowd and surveilling them for the viewers’ sake. Earlier, he made a crack about how former President Donald Trump would be inspired “to learn Spanish” following a colorful, energetic and truly charismatic opening number by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny. Noah did also enlist the help of pop icon Taylor Swift and her millions of fans – known as “Switfies” – asking her if she can direct them to find some way to lower the price of eggs (some already began congregating on Twitter to fulfill this directive from on high).
Some other firsts that were inaugurated throughout the course of the Grammys: awards were presented for the first time for video game soundtracks and spoken word poetry album; Kim Petras became the first transgender woman to win “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” for her song “Unholy” with British pop singer Sam Smith; the Grammys introduced the annual “Dr. Dre Global Impact Award” by giving it to Dr. Dre; and first lady Dr. Jill Biden presented the first ever “Best Song for Social Change.” This new award, dedicated to songwriting that tackles social issues or resonates in the fight for justice, honored Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour for his song “Baraye” – which translates to “They Spent The Night” – which quickly became the soundtrack for the Mahsa Amini protests across that country this past fall.
It was a brief presentation, but a strong reminder about the power of music.
You can read the full list of nominees and winners here.