The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards was a lot different from any other year we’ve seen it. Due to the pandemic, the ceremony, which is usually held in January, took place without a live audience in downtown Los Angeles. It was a sight to see, as the artists who attended wore masks and sat outside around small round tables, socially distanced from one another.
The night started with a performance by Harry Styles, singing his hit ‘Watermelon Sugar’, or which he won ‘Best Pop Solo Performance’. Trevor Noah was the host and he bought lots of jokes about the pandemic and how crazy of a year 2020 was.
The Grammy’s has got a bad rep for not being as diverse or inclusive, but this year women truly ran things, dominating most of the categories and winning so many of the big honors.
The first award of the night, ‘Best New Artist’, went to the Houston hottie herself, Meg thee Stallion! Upon accepting the award, you could clearly see how shocked and emotional she was to even hear her name being called. Now we all know the crazy year Meg had last year, so seeing her take the stage and win three awards (Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song for Savage remix featuring Beyonce) was really nice, for me. We also got a surprise appearance from the Carters! Queen Bey and hubby Jay-Z graced the Grammy’s this year as Beyonce took home four Grammy’s, making history as she has now surpassed Alison Krauss to become the most decorated female act in Grammy history. Beyonce is now tied with iconic producer and musician Quincy Jones, making her the female with the most wins ever. Meg and Beyonce both made Grammy history as the first females to win ‘Best Rap Performance’. And we can’t leave out Blu Ivy! Baby girl also made history, becoming the second youngest act to win a Grammy, for ‘Best Music Video’ for ‘Brown Skin Girl’.
Other winners included H.E.R.; she took home two awards, including ‘Song of the Year’ for her protest anthem ‘I Can’t Breathe’. Anderson Paak also took home an award for ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ for his song ‘Lockdown’. John Legend won ‘Best R&B Album’ for ‘Bigger Love’, and Nas won ‘Best Rap Album’. Bad Bunny had a huge year in 2020, and he took home an award for ‘Best Latin Pop Album’. Taylor Swift became the first woman to win album of the year three times and Billie Eilish won ‘Record of the Year’ but used her speech to call out Meg thee Stallion, dedicating the award to her and saying that she should have won and deserved it.
Silk Sonic, aka Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, performed their new slow and sexy hit ‘Leave the Door Open’. Anderson Paak also took home an award for ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ for his song ‘Lockdown’.
And can we just dive right in and talk about Meg and Cardi’s performance?! Can you say HOT?! Both ladies looked amazing and blew the roof off with their super sexy moves during the performance of their smash hit ‘W.A.P’.
Mexican superstar Selena was honored during the broadcast, winning the Lifetime Achievement Award. She won the Grammy for ‘Best Mexican/Mexican American Album’ for “Live!” at the 36th Grammy Awards back in 1994, making her the first time a female Tejano artist won in the category. Selena was shot and killed a year later at just 23 years old. She now joins Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and more in receiving this honor.
Other notable and memorable performances from the night came from Lil Baby, who performed his song about social injustice ‘Bigger Picture’ and brought it to life featuring Killer Mike and activist Tamika Mallory. Da Baby brought out Roddy Rich, Anthony Hamilton and a whole choir for his song ‘Rockstar’. Roddy Ricch also hit the stage for a solo performance, where he debuted his new song ‘Heartless’ and performed his chart-topping hit ‘The Box’. Roddy was nominated for six awards but went home with none. And we CANNOT forget Doja Cat! Now I know we canceled homegirl last year for her crazy comments, but we’ve got to give credit when it’s due. Doja Cat is by far one of my favorite performers; she always uses her platform to give you lots of costumes, big lights, and homegirl is going to put on one heck of a show! And she did just that, with a rather futuristic performance of her hit ‘Say So’.
All in all, I loved seeing Black men take the stage and use their platform to call out racial and social injustice! I loved seeing artists like H.E.R. and Anderson Paak win awards for songs made during lasts years protests, when the Black Lives Matter movement was in full swing. Being honest, I am in complete solidarity with the Queen Miss Issa Rae when she said, “I’m rooting for everyone Black”, so those were the performances I highly anticipated and critiqued, but let’s be clear, I stan for Billie Eilish and was so happy to see her take the stage and win! I’ve got to also admit that some performers like Harry Styles and Dua Lipa, who I hadn’t really listened to before the awards, are now on my radar! I loved seeing and hearing all the different genres, especially when the big named women in country music took the stage and performed! I’ll say again, it was really nice seeing women dominate, and shows that the Recording Academy is really looking to make good on their promise to promote diversity and inclusion.
As many know, the Academy was under fire last year as allegations of voting irregularities, systemic sexism, harassment, and more swirled, but this year they really worked hard at putting that behind them and honoring musicians, fallen artists and those who suffered during the pandemic. It was also nice to see the Recording Academy take a stand against racism, anti-Semitism, and more injustice in the statement they included near the end of the program. The awards are made to highlight music’s biggest and brightest stars and while I don’t think many of the nominees, or even some of the industry’s big names were given “their flowers”, I do see where the Recording Academy is trying to get it right and include more Black artist and artist of color, and truly make the experience more diverse and inclusive. In the future, I hope we can see more wins given to those who rightfully deserve it. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!
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