Well, Beyoncé did it . . . she conquered L.A. traffic in time to accept a HISTORIC Grammy Award.
Coming into the Grammys last night, Beyoncé had won 28 Grammys in her career, good enough for SECOND on the all-time list. She had nine nominations this year . . . so she was poised to potentially take over the #1 spot.
Sir Georg Solti had the most with 31. He was a Hungarian-British conductor . . . and he passed away back in 1997, so his total is set. She needed four to pass him. And it happened.
Beyoncé won two awards early, which weren’t televised. Then, early in the broadcast, her song “Cuff It” won Best R&B Song to enter a TIE for first place.
But she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Host Trevor Noah announced that she WAS coming, but that she was currently “stuck in traffic.”
He said, “The upside of hosting the Grammys in L.A. . . . is that everyone can be here. The downside of hosting the Grammys in L.A. is the traffic.” (And this was a Sunday afternoon!)
Later in the show, Beyoncé won Best Dance/Electronic Album for “Renaissance”, beating Solti’s record. She WAS there then . . . and she was clearly thrilled when she went up to accept the award.
She said, quote, “I’m trying not to be too emotional. I’m trying to just receive this night.” She got a standing ovation from the audience, including her husband Jay-Z, who she also thanked in her speech.
She also thanked her fans for “protecting” her . . . as well as “the queer community” for their love, and for “inventing the [Dance/Electronic] genre.” (Here’s video.)
But Beyoncé could not nab the biggest award. Harry Styles won Album of the Year for “Harry’s House”. He gave a fairly subdued speech, where he said, “It’s important for us to remember that there is no such thing as ‘best’ in music.”
Here are a few other notable moments:
1. There was a (very) long “in memoriam” tribute . . . but it was pretty well done. It featured several mini-performances, including Quavo from Migos doing “Without You” to pay homage to Takeoff, who was shot and killed in November.
Also, Sheryl Crow teamed up with Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt to honor the late Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, who also died in November.
Fans always freak out over those who were left out of the tributes; this year, the biggest omission might have been Aaron Carter. Although, you could argue he wasn’t really in the Grammy ecosystem.
Still, “People” magazine claims Aaron WAS listed in the physical copy of the Grammys program.
Some viewers thought the Grammys omitted Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters, but he actually made the Grammy’s tribute LAST YEAR.
2. As promised the Grammys paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop . . . and it was actually great. It was part celebration, part mash-up, and part party.
In the end, LL Cool J shouted “multi-generational!,” after performances by DOZENS of artists, including Run-DMC, Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Queen Latifah, GloRilla, and Ice-T.
3. Some viewers were surprised when Bonnie Raitt won Song of the Year for “Just Like That” . . . even SHE was shocked. If anyone else AT the Grammys was surprised, they rolled with it . . . but that isn’t always the case.
The Sore Loser of the Year goes to Chris Brown. It didn’t happen during the broadcast, but he lost to Robert Glasper in the Best R&B Album category, and he responded by going on a social media rant, asking “Who the [eff] is Richard Glasper?”
(He deleted the rant, but you can find it, here.)
Chris also said, “Ima keep kicking y’all [butt] respectfully.” (???) Chris is far from the most self-aware celebrity you’ll meet.
4. There were a lot of good speeches . . . like Beyoncé, Lizzo, Adele, Samara Joy, even Sam Smith giving his moment to Kim Petras . . . but the WEIRDEST speech of the night was probably Madonna’s. It was a little all over the place . . . and she didn’t even LOOK like Madonna.
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