Every January since 1959 singers, songwriters, producers, and even audiobook recorders come together to participate in the Grammy Awards which is Hosted by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Every year there are emotional speeches, beautiful performances, and angry fans due to possible snubs of their favorite artists. This year the Grammy awards were yet again hosted by Trevor Noah, who has hosted the show 4 times now.
The biggest categories of the night include song of the year, record of the year, and album of the year. Record of the year recognizes the artists, producers and sound engineers that contributed to the recording of a song, whereas song of the year, recognizes the composition and the songwriting of a song. This year, record of the year was awarded to Flowers by Miley Cyrus, which was her second Grammy won of the night and also her second Grammy ever won, along with best Pop Solo Performance. Song of the year Grammy was awarded to What was I made for? By Billie Eilish, which many people may recognize from The Barbie Movie. Lastly, album of the year was awarded to Midnights by Taylor Swift. Swift made history winning this Grammy by being the first artist to win in this category 4 separate times.
Along with winning album of the year, Taylor Swift also won the Grammy for best pop vocal album. During Swift’s acceptance speech for this award she announced her new album, which is being released in April titled The Tortured Poets Department. There were many people very excited about this announcement, but others argued that announcing a new album on a night that is meant to recognize artists throughout the music world was selfish of Swift. As many know, Swift has a huge influence, so did announcing her album take away the spotlight from other artists? I don’t think so. although Swift announcing her new album was very attention-grabbing, I don’t think it took much away from the other artists. Swift’s announcement wasn’t mentioned throughout the show by the host or other artists, and other winners and performances received lots of attention online.
Because there are so many categories that can be won during the Grammys, some artists are bound to take home multiple awards. The most nominated artist of the night was SZA with 9 nominations, winning 3 of the Grammys she was nominated for: best R&B song for Snooze, best pop duo/group performance for Ghost in the Machine with Phoebe Bridgers, and best urban contemporary album for SOS. The artist that took home the most Grammys of the night was Phoebe Bridgers, winning 4 Grammys: Best pop/duo Performance for Ghost in the Machine with SZA, best rock performance with Boygenius, best rock song for Not Strong Enough with Boygenius, and best alternative music album for The Record with Boygenius.
As always, the Grammy awards bring memorable moments. This year Jay-Z called out the recording academy for Beyonce’s grammy snubs in the past while accepting the Dr. Dre global impact award, “She has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year, that doesn’t work.”
Jay-Z may have been speaking for many as lots of people believe there are always snubs during the Grammys. This year, many people were upset about the winner for best new artist. This was a very competitive category this year including Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahn, Ice Spice, and Victoria Monet. Victoria Monet took home the Grammy in this category, but many people believe that other artists in this category had a more successful year than Monet.
I look forward to watching the Grammy awards every year, and this year was no different. It is always so interesting to see every genre of music come together to put on a variety of performances, and win a variety of awards in their respective categories.
