Trevor Noah, who hosted the Grammy Awards for the third consecutive year, kicked off the 65th show this past Sunday. The evening indulged us music lovers with incredible performances, iconic fashion choices on the red carpet and, of course, nominees and winners of each music category that we have been eagerly awaiting.
Noah opened the show with a monologue about all the artists attending and their success, even including humorous moments like singer and songwriter Adele and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson meeting each other and sharing a hug for the first time, a dream come true for the singer.
Beloved Puerto Rican artist, Bad Bunny, who took home the Grammys for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Música Urbana Album, and was nominated for Album of the Year, started the show with a powerful opening performance. He led his dancers — some wearing papier-mâché heads and playful skirts — while performing from his album “Un Verano Sin Ti” with the tracks “El Apagón” and “Después de la Playa.” The act was a tribute to Puerto Rican culture and the lively performance started the Grammys off strong, leaving the crowd dancing along.
Along with Bad Bunny’s high-powered performance were other performances from artists such as Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Steve Lacy, Lizzo, Kim Petras and Sam Smith, Brandi Carlile, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Chris Stapleton, DJ Khaled and Luke Combs.
Although she did not perform, Beyoncé stole the show with a legendary pop-culture moment. Beyoncé expectedly broke the record for the most Grammy Awards with 32 wins. This breaks the famous orchestral and operatic conductor, Georg Solti, record with 31 Grammy wins.
Beyoncé won the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Dance/Electronic Recording, R&B Performance and R&B Song for “Renaissance” – an outstanding achievement for Queen Bey. However, she lost the top award, Album of the Year.
The nominees for this year’s Album of the Year left fans on the edge of their seats due to notable artists and albums. Styles’ album “Harry’s House” deservingly took home this year’s award – which ultimately started a debate about whether Styles or another artist deserved it more.
“This is really really kind… this doesn’t happen to people like me very often, and this is so nice, thank you very much,” Styles said in his acceptance speech.
“Harry’s House” spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while his hit single “As It Was” spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Overall, he deserved his Album of the Year award. Styles was nominated for six other awards, and he took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
The Recording Academy also celebrated hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with a performance of several iconic hip-hop artists in the industry. Big Boi, De La Soul, Missy Elliott, Ice-T, Lil Wayne, The Lox, Method Man, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and many more took the stage in honor of the anniversary.
Additionally, the Grammy Awards ceremony honored musicians who passed away this year. Kacey Musgraves, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Quavo gave a touching performance in honor of Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie and Takeoff, in addition to the many other musical legends who recently passed.
This year’s ceremony showcased and honored so many remarkable artists, with awards given for 91 different categories. The Grammys added five new categories for their 65th anniversary, such as Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Americana Performance, Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, Best Spoken Word Poetry Album and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical.
Full of groundbreaking performances and highly deserved wins all throughout the Grammys, the biggest night of the year for music was definitely one for the books – and it sure was a notable event in history.
alisanin@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Kevin9625Ja, Wikipedia
