Beyoncé and Taylor Swift won big as history was made at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards for music, underlining the fact that right now it’s the distaff side pushing the form and breaking new ground.
Did records tumble?
They did indeed. Beyoncé became the most decorated female artist in Grammy history by winning her 28th award, putting her equal with Quincy Jones and three behind none other than Sir Georg Solti, who holds the Grammy record with 31 wins. She did it in some style too by picking up the award for Best R&B Performance for Black Parade, the powerful song she stealth-released as a charity single on June 19 to mark Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the United States. Referencing black activist Malcolm X, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Lives Matter activist Tamika Mallory – and making strident mention of the need for reparation and for an end to police brutality – it was also nominated for Single Of The Year and Record Of The Year and blew pretty much everything else out of the water last year.
Everything else except …
Taylor Swift, who also etched her name in the record books. Thanks to another stealth release – her downbeat, introspective lockdown album Folklore, recorded with Aaron Dessner of downbeat, introspective US band The National – she deservedly picked up the Album Of The Year award, making her the only woman to have won the top accolade three times and one of only four artists ever. The others, for the record, are Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon, so she’s in good company.
What news of Billie Eilish?
She did feature. Everyone’s favourite green-haired gloom-pop teen genius won the Record Of The Year award for her single Everything I Wanted and Best Song For Visual Media for No Time To Die, from the still-unreleased James Bond film of that title. After taking home five Grammys last year, that brings her career haul to date to seven. Not bad for a 19-year-old.
Any new acts to watch out for?
The curiously-named rapper Megan Thee Stallion, like Beyoncé a native of Houston, won the Grammy for Best New Artist following the success of her 2020 debut album Good News, and was also nominated for Record Of The Year thanks to Savage, her collaboration with Beyoncé. Also nominated in the best newcomer category were country singer Ingrid Andress and indie-pop darling Phoebe Bridgers. Her album Punisher was high on many critics’ Best Of 2020 lists and its apocalyptic (and maddeningly catchy) single I Know The End has become the year’s unofficial lockdown anthem. Song Of The Year, however, went to H.E.R, aka Gabriella Wilson, for her single I Can’t Breathe. No prizes for guessing what that’s about.
Something for The Weeknd?
Nope, nothing at all for the Canadian uber-producer of that name. He received no nominations despite having the year’s biggest single and a double-platinum album. He's now saying he plans to boycott the awards in future. Men weren't completely absent from the list, however. Perennial Grammy-botherers Coldplay were nominated as were rapper Post Malone and pop singers Harry Styles and Justin Bieber.
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