Grammys: Beyonce, Taylor Swift Make History
It was a historic night for women at the 63rd Grammy Awards on Sunday night, as Beyoncé set a new mark for Grammy wins by a woman and Taylor Swift became the first woman to win the prestigious album of the year category three times.
Megan Thee Stallion won best new artist, the first female rapper to claim that honor since 1990, and also nabbed best rap song and best rap performance for “Savage,” sharing the award with Beyoncé.
Female artists won honors in all four of the top categories. Swift won album of the year for Folklore and became the only female solo artist
to win that honor three times.
Billie Eilish won record of the year for “Everything I Wanted,” H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” was named song of the year and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia won best pop vocal album.
During the telecast, Beyoncé broke all-time record of most Grammy wins ever by a female artist, winning three honors on Sunday for a total of 28 wins during her career (Alison Krauss had held the previous record with 27). Heading into this year’s Grammys, Beyoncé led all nominees with a total of nine noms, extending her record as the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 nominations.
Earlier, at the pre-show, Beyoncé picked up a win for best music video for “Brown Skin Girl,” sharing the win with daughter Blue Ivy Carter. Nas’ King’s Disease claimed best rap album and also marked the rap legend’s first win. The Strokes’ The New Abnormal won in the rock album category and Fiona Apple nabbed a win in the alternative album category for Fetch the Bolt Cutters and for rock performance for “Shameika.”
Meanwhile, Tiffany Haddish’s Black Mitzvah won in the comedy album category. Beck’s Hyperspace won for best engineered album, non-classical, while Andrew Watt won in the producer of the year category, non-classical. And Kanye West’s Jesus Is King claimed an honor in the contemporary Christian music album category.
In the film categories, Joker won best score soundtrack for visual media, JoJo Rabbit won best compilation soundtrack for visual media and Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” won for the forthcoming James Bond movie of the same name. CNN’s documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice nabbed the best music film win.
Among the performances during the televised portion, BTS performed “Dynamite,” Megan Thee Stallion performed “Savage” and then “WAP” with Cardi B. Dua Lipa and Da Baby performed “Levitating” together, Black Pumas played “Colors,” Billie Eilish performed “Everything I Wanted,” Harry Styles played “Watermelon Sugar” and Taylor Swift performed a medley from her albums Folklore and Evermore. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak debuted their Silk Sonic song “Leave the Door Open.”
Trevor Noah emceed the televised show from outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center. “Tonight is going to be the biggest outdoor event this year besides the storming of the Capitol,” joked the Daily Show host in his opening. Noah went on to pointedly take aim at the streaming music economy, joking that a song that gets 1 billion plays would only net an artist just a few dollars.
Overall, winners in a total of 83 categories were handed out at Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremonies. The complete list of winners is below:
