The 66th annual Grammy awards happened on February 4th marking another awards season with new female achievements. Airing live on CBS, the show’s host, comedian and media star Trevor Noah, got the call for a fourth year in a row. Being held at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena for the second time in a row, viewers were able to stream on Paramount+ from around the world.
Superstar Taylor Swift won one of the biggest awards of the night: Album of the Year for “Midnights.” Swift made history by being the first person to win Album of the Year four times. Aside from “Midnights,” the other three albums are “1989,” “Fearless,” and “folklore.”
In addition to that, she was awarded the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, making her a 14-time Grammy winner. However, the biggest news for Swifties of the night came during her acceptance speech, where she announced that her new 11th studio album “The Tortured Poets Department” would be releasing on April 19th. Famous singer Celine Dion, made a rare appearance since being diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome in December 2022 and had the honor of giving Swift the award.
Swift was nominated for four more awards that night: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Song of the Year went to Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell (stage name FINNEAS), for their song “What Was I Made For?” which was featured on the “Barbie” soundtrack, while Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance went to two-time winner Miley Cyrus, for her song “Flowers.”
Eve Golding, a junior majoring in Media Studies, says that she didn’t watch the Grammys but saw on Instagram that Miley won two awards and was so happy for her. When asked how she feels about Taylor making history by winning her fourth Album of the Year, she said, “It’s super cool for her, it seems like she is very hard-working, and she did a really crazy tour, so it’s no surprise that she won.”
R&B singer SZA came into the night with nine nominations and won three including Best R&B Song for ‘‘Snooze.” During the preshow, she won Best Progressive R&B Album for “SOS” and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers on ‘‘Ghost in the Machine.”
There were also many performances during the show. One that had viewers talking was when four-time Grammy winner and 13-time nominee Tracy Chapman and country star Luke Combs sang a duet to her song “Fast Car.” It was originally performed by Chapman at the 1989 Grammys in which she was named the winner for Best Female Pop Vocalist.
Harsimar Dhilon, a junior majoring in Communication Science and Disorders believes that SZA deserves her nine nominations and her Grammys. When asked what it was about SZA that makes her deserving, she said, “She works really hard and her audience is primarily female, so when we listen to her music, we are able to relate to the lyrics that are in the songs.”
Karol G won her first ever Grammy for Best Musica Urbana Album, “MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO.” Country artist Lainey Wilson won her first ever Grammy for Best Country Album, “Bell Bottom Country.” She was also nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Save Me” with Jelly Roll.
That award went to Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves for their song, “I Remember Everything.” Country singer Chris Stapleton’s song “White Horse” won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. Best New Artist went to Victoria Monét, beating out other artists such as Noah Kahan, Jelly Roll, Ice Spice, and Gracie Abrams. Monet also won Best R&B Album for “Jaguar II.”
Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) was given to Jack Antonoff which is his third year in row winning the award. Songwriter of the Year (Non-Classical) went to Theron Thomas who has worked with many popular artists such as Rihanna and Beyoncé. Kylie Minogue won Best Pop Dance Recording for her song “Padam Padam,” while the award for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album went to “Actual Life 3” by Producer Fred Again.
Best Rock Performance went to boygenius for their song, “Not Strong Enough.” Metallica’s studio album “72 Seasons” won Best Metal Performance while Paramore won Best Rock Album titled “This Is Why.”
