The 66th annual Grammy awards happened this past Sunday, February 4, and has been the talk of social media since. This year’s Grammys were full of so many memorable and historic breaking moments. The first was when Tracy Chapman made a rare public appearance to perform her song, Fast Car, with Luke Combs, ending with a standing ovation. Another memorable performance was 80 year old Joni Mitchell’s Grammy debut where she performed her classic song “Both Sides Now” and won a Grammy for Best Folk Album for “Joni Mitchell at Newport” which was a live album recorded in 2022.
Jay-Z was also honored with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. He then proceeded to use his time on stage to call out the Grammys, drawing attention to the fact that his wife, Beyonce, is the most awarded artist, yet still has not won the biggest award, Album of the Year. Many viewers have expressed their discontent with the Grammy’s not awarding this coveted award to women of color, the last one being in 1999.
Along with that, Miley Cyrus officially won her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance with her song “Flowers”. Later that night, she also won Record of the Year. She also had an iconic performance which ended with a mic-drop. Many are saying that this award has been a long time coming and as someone who grew up watching Hannah Montana, I’d have to agree.
Viewers also got a surprising and heartwarming appearance from Celine Dion, who announced the winner of Album of the Year. The singer was diagnosed with Stiff-Person Syndrome back in 2022 and many did not believe they would see her on the stage again. The audience gave her a warm welcome with a standing ovation and singing along to her song, “The Power of Love”.
Probably the most talked about artist to come out of this year’s show was Taylor Swift. Going into the show, many fans were speculating that she would announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version). Many signs pointed to the fact that something was going to happen that night, including her changing all her profile pictures to black and white and her website giving suspicious error messages. However, after winning her 13th Grammy with Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights, Swift announced her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, coming out April 19th. Many fans, including myself, were freaking out at that moment.
Along with an album announcement, Swift also made history as the first person to win four Album of the Year awards, surpassing Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon. She’d previously won for her albums Fearless in 2010, 1989 in 2015, and Folklore in 2021.
In the end, Phoebe Bridgers was the most awarded of the night, going home with four Grammys. Victoria Monet won three, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Album, though many people thought and expressed on social media that Noah Kahan should have won Best New Artist. Another singer that people thought was snubbed is Zach Bryan who was nominated for Best Country Album but lost to Lainey Wilson. However, Zach Bryan did win for Best Country duo for “I Remember Everything ft. Kacey Musgraves.” Billie Eilish won Song of the Year with “What Was I Made For” from Barbie and this is the first song written for a film to win this award since Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” in 1999. The most nominated artist of the year, SZA, won three out of nine of her nominations, Best R&B Song, Best Progressive R&B Album, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Phoebe Bridgers.
The 2024 Grammys will definitely not be forgotten any time soon and comedian Trevor Noah was an amazing host who actually made jokes about the music industry and Taylor Swift that were actually funny and not disrespectful (shocking I know). So many performers were rightfully awarded and while there will always be the few on social media who like to complain about snubs and other things they didn’t like, ultimately the 2024 Grammys was a long but spectacular night full of performances and many cannot wait to see what new music these artists create next year.
