First-time winners and old-timers celebrated the 67th Grammy Award Ceremony, which took place on Feb. 2nd at the Crypto.com Arena. The event was hosted by Trevor Noah, who made history as the first comedian to host the Grammys for five consecutive years. This year’s award show was special as the event raised funds to support wildlife relief efforts and help music professionals impacted by the LA wildfires. By the end of the show, it was announced that the audience at home had contributed seven million dollars.
As always, the Grammys featured multiple performances. This year’s lineup included Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Raye, Teddy Swims, Lady Gaga, Shakira and more. A tribute honored those lost in the music industry, including the late great musical phenomenon, Quincy Jones, with performances by Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, John Legend, Cheryl Crow and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo.
Now, onto the awards. The four major awards typically presented are Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. This year, rapper Kendrick Lamar won Song of the Year and Record of the Year for his song “Not Like Us.” He secured three more wins: Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Music Video, bringing him to a grand total of 22 Grammys won over the course of his career.
“Not Like Us” is about Kendrick Lamar’s ongoing feud with fellow rapper Drake. On its release, the song quickly went viral, becoming popular on social media. It spent more weeks at number one on the charts than any other song in history, surpassing Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road.” It also became the fastest hip hop song to reach 300 million Spotify streams.
Social media and his publicized issues with Drake certainly helped Kendrick Lamar gain popularity with the Recording Academy Voting Members. Jacob Digiacomo, a senior majoring in Finance concurs this, “I would say that the beef with Drake and the diss track for sure increased his fanbase and therefore helped win his awards.”
The next of the big four, Album of the Year, went to none other than Beyonce for her country album, “Cowboy Carter.” She went on to win multiple awards that night, including the biggest award for country music: Best Country Album. Beyonce also received Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the song “II Most Wanted” featuring Miley Cyrus. The last award of the big four, Best New Artist, went to pop icon and newcomer Chappell Roan. Last year, the award went to Victoria Monet.
When asked about Beyonce winning a Grammy for a country album, James Cohen, Queens College Assistant Professor of Media Studies and the Head of Education at Digital Void, an internet literacies project, said: “I know people think she was snubbed on other albums which were allegedly better. What I know is that enjoyment and participation in country music as a genre and a lifestyle has increased. Culturally it’s tied to the larger vibe shift that contains conservative revivalism, but maybe she won because she’s Beyonce or maybe culture is different.”
As for the other awards, Sabrina Carpenter did very well for herself, winning Best Pop Solo Performance for “Espresso” and Best Pop Vocal Album for Short n’ Sweet. The Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance was awarded to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars for their song, “Die With A Smile.” Charli xcx not only had one of the biggest albums of the summer — “Brat,” which was awarded the grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album — but her song, “Von Dutch,” also won Best Dance Pop Recording.
As only the third woman to win Best Rap Album, Doechii took home a historic win for her album “Alligator Bites Never Heal.” She follows in the footsteps of rappers Cardi B and Lauryn Hill. Samara Joy, who won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2023, took home two awards: Best Jazz Performance, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” featuring Sullivan Fortner and Best Jazz Vocal Album, “A Joyful Holiday.”
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both made comebacks at the Grammys having won one award each. The Beatles won Best Rock Performance for “Now and Then” while The Rolling Stones won Best Rock Album for Hackney Diamonds. For the Country genre, there were other winners besides Beyonce; Chris Stapleton’s song “It Takes a Woman” won Best Country Solo Performance and Kacey Musgraves alongside collaborators, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne won Best Country Song for their song “The Architect.”
Eve Golding, a senior majoring in Media Studies, had some thoughts on the Grammys as a whole:
“I feel like it doesn’t really matter who won the awards. Like if other people were successful this year, then they get that reward of being successful. It doesn’t make them any less successful if they win the award or not.”
Nevertheless, congrats to all the winners!
