The 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5th was a night full of historic wins and legendary performances. It was hosted by comedian and talk show host Trevor Noah from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. This was Noah’s third time in a row hosting the prestigious event. Everyone who follows music closely knows the arguable four biggest awards in the industry are given out on this night: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Record of the Year.
The winners of the four awards are as follows: Song of the Year went to Bonnie Raitt for Just Like That. Lizzo won Record of the Year for About Damn Time. Harry Styles was awarded maybe the most prestigious Grammy for Album of the Year for, “Harry’s House.” Jazz singer Samara Joy, who sang at Queens College’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., took home the award for Best New Artist beating out other popular newcomers such as Anitta, Omar Apollo, Wet Leg, and Måneskin.
Beyoncé made history that night by becoming the artist with the most Grammys ever, winning four of the nine categories for which she was selected; bringing her Grammy total to 32 awards. She surpassed the previous record holder, the late conductor Georg Solti, who had held the record since 1997 with 31 wins.
Fan favorites Kendrick Lamar, Brandi Carlile, and Raitt each won three Grammys. Lamar was nominated for eight awards, and ending up winning Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song, while Carlile won awards for Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and Best Americana Album. Raitt won Song of the Year, Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song.
Another highlight of the night is when Viola Davis, gaining EGOT status (winning an award from the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tonys) after being awarded a Grammy for Best Audiobook, Narration, & Storytelling and made history by becoming the third African American woman to earn the most coveted status in the entertainment industry: EGOT.
This night celebrated 50 years of Hip-Hop, so the Recording Academy assembled a variety of the most well-known names in the brand’s history such as LL Cool J, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Nelly, Ice-T, Lil Uzi Vert, and many more. Each artist had their time to perform and play a piece of their most noteworthy songs. Singers like Queen Latifah who performed her epochal 1993 song, U.N.I.T.Y, Nelly, with Hot in Herre and Missy Elliot, who performed Get Ur Freak On.
Now, what’s an award show without any backlash from social media? People were hoping that Beyonce would take home the award for Album of the Year for “Renaissance,” which was a great album that many considered the favorite, so many, even a visibly surprised Harry Styles, was shocked that he won Album of Year.
Senior Andreana Panaiotou, who is studying Psychology, was one of those people:
“His [Harry Styles] songs were constantly on the radio, all over Tik Tok, Instagram,” Panaiotou stated. She thought that Beyoncé’s songs, “…[weren’t] as popular and I didn’t hear her songs/album as often as Harry Styles. Also, Harry’s song As It Was, from his album was number one for 15 weeks and Beyonce’s wasn’t, so again his songs were more widely recognized and played.”
Regardless of what your opinion was on who won what, it was a fun night filled with surprises and fun.
