The 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards went down in Los Angeles last night, and as always it certainly was music’s biggest night, even if it looked a bit different this year.
Last night’s big winner was Beyoncé, who took home her 28th GRAMMY, breaking the all time record for the most GRAMMY wins by a female artist ever (beating previous record holder Alison Krauss) and by any singer male or female. She is also tied with Quincy Jones for the second-most total wins in GRAMMY history (only Hungarian conductor George Solti has more, 31). Bey wound up winning four awards last night, including Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade,” two awards for Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” and Best Music Video.
But while Bey may have set record, the coveted Album of the Year award went to Taylor Swift for “Folklore,” making her the first female in GRAMMY history to win Album of the Year three times. She previously won for “Fearless” and “1989.” In accepting her award she gave a shout out to Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, as well as beau Joe Alwyn, sharing, “I wanna thank… Joe, the first person I play every single song that I write. I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine.”
- Other big winners include: H.E.R’s George Floyd-inspired song “I Can’t Breathe” picked up Song of the Year, while Record of the Year went to Billie Eilish for “Everything I Wanted,” although she spent her speech telling us why Megan Thee Stallion should have won the trophy. And speaking of Megan she took home Best New Artist, one of three awards she won last night. (Click here for a winner’s list)
Other tidbits about this year’s winners
- Just three years after former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow was criticized for saying women needed to “step up” if they wanted to win GRAMMYs, all four major categories – Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, went to female artists.
- Billie’s James Bond song “No Time To Die” won for Best Song written For Visual Media, making it the first tune to win for an unreleased movie (the 007 flick was delayed due to COVID-19).
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter won a GRAMMY for Bey’s vid for “Brown Girl,” making her the second-youngest artist to win a GRAMMY. The youngest is Leah Peasall, who at eight, won an award for Album of the Year for the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack in 2002.
- This year’s GRAMMYs were hosted by Trevor Noah, and kicked off outside in front of the Staples Center, with Trevor even joking that it wasn’t a Zoom background. He noted the night would celebrate the “fantastic music that has touched our lives and saved our souls over this unprecedented year.” He also joked about the Los Angeles air, the storming of the Capitol, outdoor weddings, COVID protocols and more.
- Of course, as we come to expect from the GRAMMYs, the night was filled with TONS of great performances, including:
- The show kicked off with three back-to-back performances, starting off with Harry Styles’ first-ever GRAMMY performance. He sang “Watermelon Sugar” decked out in a black leather suit with no shirt and green feather boa.
- Billie and brother Finneas were next to sing “Everything I Wanted,” which she sang standing on top of a car that appeared to be half submerged in water.
- Next up was Haim, who rocked out to their song “The Steps.”
- The Black Pumas brought the soul with their song “Colors,” as Harry Styles sang along on the side stage.
- DaBaby belted out his hit “Rockstar,” with a special appearance by Roddy Rich, with the performance featuring a group of Baby Boomers, which he was conducing behind him.
- Bad Bunny performed “Dakati,” with special guest Jhay Cortez.
- Dua Lipa, in a billowing pink dress, performed “Levitating,” with a guest appearance by DaBaby, which gave her time to change into a sparkling pink blazer so she could dance with her masked dancers. She then transitioned into a pink bikini for “Don’t Start Now.”
- Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak made their live debut as Silk Sonic, performing their smooth new track “Leave The Door Open,” dressed for the 70s vibe the song gives off.
- Taylor Swift, joined by her collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, performed in an enchanted forest setting, treating fans to a medley of “Folklore’s” “Cardigan,” and “August” and “Evermore’s” “Willow.”
- Acknowledging the immense loss of the year, the GRAMMYs paid tribute to several of the artists who passed and directed viewers to their website for the complete tribute. Getting a special performance tribute though was Little Richard, who was saluted by Bruno and Anderson, who performed a medley that included “Long Tall Sally,” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” In addition, Eddie Van Halen’s guitar was spotlighted on the empty stage as a performance played behind it.
- Also, Lionel Richie paid tribute to his good friend Kenny Rogers by performing the song he wrote for him, “Lady,” and John Prine, who died from COVID-19, was saluted with Brandi Carlile performing “I Remember Everything,” the last song he recorded before he died.
- The tribute ended with Brittany Howard performing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on piano, a tribute to Gerry and the Pace Makers’ Gerry Marsden, who passed away in January.
- Country women were saluted with three breathtaking performances. It kicked off with Mickey Guyton, just weeks after giving birth, showing of her pipes during her performance of “Black Like Me,” backed by a powerful choir of singers. She was followed by Miranda Lambert who was back with her band for her performance of “Bluebird.” And finally, Maren Morris wrapped the trio, performing her smash hit “The Bones,” with John Mayer on guitar and backing vocals.
- One of the more outrageous performances of the night came from Megan Thee Stallion, who kicked off things off dancing in front grand staircase to “Body,” and then followed that up with a booty shaking performance of “Savage.” Cardi B then took the stage for her new single “Up,” before she was joined by Megan for a somewhat raunchy performance of their NSFW song “WAP,” that featured a giant shoe, a giant bed and more.
- Post Malone performed “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” surrounded by some spooky looking background singers.
- Lil Baby’s powerful performance of “The Bigger Picture” highlighted the subject of police brutality and systematic racism with the performance opening with the shooting of an unarmed black man. It featured appearances by Tamika Mallory and Killer Mike.
- Doja Cat performed a futuristic performance of “Say So” in a full latex outfit.
- BTS once again treated audiences to their mega hit “Dynamite,” performing in South Korea, although they recreated the GRAMMY set to make it look like they were in Los Angeles.
- Roddy Ricch, backed by a horn section and harp, performed a medley of “Heartless,” and “The Box.”
Source: Dr. Dave’s Ultimate Prep