With all its glamour and drama, the 2023 Grammys awards event marked the 65th anniversary of the ceremony, with many familiar and new faces who made their mark the past year in the music industry. Here is all you need to know about who, what and why of this year’s event.
The ceremony was hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, who hosted the Grammys for the past two years. While she still has yet to win a Grammy for ‘Best Album of the Year’, Beyoncé had won in four other categories- best dance recording for her song “Break My Soul”, best traditional R&B vocal performance for “Plastic Off The Sofa”, best dance/ electronic album for “Renaissance” and best R&B song for “Cuff It”. Beyoncé has now won the most Grammys ever, passing former holder of the title George Solti with her 32 wins. In her speech Beyoncé thanked her family, but also the queer community for all their “love and for inventing the genre”.
The artist who took home the prestigious award for best album of the year was Harry Styles for his album “Harry’s House”. “I’ve been so inspired by every artist in this category with me” Styles said in his acceptance speech. His album also won the best pop vocal album.
Another historical moment was made when Sam Smith and Kim Petras got the award for best pop duo/ group performance- the first time for a non-binary person to win an award at the Grammys.
Adele received the best solo pop performance award for “Easy on Me”, while Taylor Swift took home the best music video for her short film of “All Too Well”.
In her speech for accepting the award of best record of the year for her song “About Damn Time”, Lizzo chose to commemorate the late Prince saying that when he passed, she decided to “dedicate [her] life to making positive music”.
She also highlighted and praised the emergence of music that promotes self-love and body positivity, and addressed Beyoncé saying that her music had changed her life, and that she is “clearly… the artist of our lives”.
Kendrick Lamar also won big and took home three Grammys-best rap performance and best rap song for “The Heart Part 5”, and best rap album for “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”.
Jazz vocalist Samara Joy took both best new jazz vocal album for “Linger Awhile” and best new artist, and for best song of the year/new song of the year Bonnie Raitt took the prize for her song “Just Like That.” For best rock performance, Brandi Charlie came first with her song “Broken Horses”, and the band Wet Leg won best alternative music performance for “Chaise Lounge” and best alternative album for their debut album “Wet Leg”. Another memorable moment happened when thirty-three Hip Hop artists came together to perform a tribute to the genre, in honour of celebrating its 50 year anniversary. This tribute was curated by Questlove, and amongst the artists were Missy Elliot, Run DMC, Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes and more. Rapper LL Cool J, who also took part in the 14 minutes performance, said that it was a chance to “really give the audience an authentic taste of Hip Hop”.