At this year’s presentation in Los Angeles, Beyoncé earned a record-breaking 32nd Grammy Award, while Harry Styles won album of the year.
Beyoncé made history when her ecstatic dance album, Renaissance, won the award for best dance/electronic album.
She surpassed Hungarian-British conductor George Solti, whose record of 31 Grammys had stood for nearly two decades.
As she accepted her award, the celebrity stated, “I’m trying not to get too emotional.”
“I’m attempting to simply receive this evening.”
She then thanked her family, particularly her late uncle Jonny, who assisted in the creation of her stage attire before she became renowned.
Beyoncé has previously stated that her interest in dance music and its historical ties to the LGBTQ community on Renaissance was driven by Jay-struggle Z with HIV.
Beyoncé won a total of four awards at the ceremony. But she missed several of the earlier presentations due to Los Angeles traffic.
“I’m amazed traffic could hold you up,” the host remarked. “I believed you could travel through space and time.”
Beyoncé was once again denied the coveted album of the year honor, despite her achievements.
She has now lost the award four times, most recently in 2017 when Adele’s 25 knocked out her introspective masterpiece Lemonade.
Adele stated in her winning speech that Beyoncé was the more deserving winner at the moment (although she held on to the trophy).
This year, Grammy voters awarded the award to Harry Styles for the radio-friendly music of his third album Harry’s House.
In his speech, the British athlete minimized the significance of the award.
“On evenings like tonight, it is crucial to realize that there is no such thing as the finest in music,” the singer stated.
I don’t believe any of us make judgments in the studio based on what will earn us one of these.
However, he was visibly moved by the honor, saying, “This is so, very great. This doesn’t happen to people like me very frequently.”
The artist also won best pop album earlier in the evening, receiving his prize with a kiss from Jennifer Lopez.
“This entire record has been the best experience of my life,” he declared. Creating the album with two of my closest friends to performing in front of an audience has been the greatest thrill I could have dreamed of.
British artists excel
The Grammys billed as “music’s biggest night,” are the most prestigious honors in the industry.
Adele, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Shania Twain, and Stevie Wonder attended the Sunday show. Which featured performances by Lizzo, Steve Lacy, and Brandi Carlile.
The evening was a success for British artists, with indie duo Wet Leg collecting two awards, including best alternative album. And Sam Smith earning best pop duo/group performance for his duet with Kim Petras, Unholy.
This was Smith’s first Grammy since 2015, when they won four awards, including best new act.
However, the singer let Petras take the mic to commemorate an additional historic achievement.
The German-born singer stated, “Sam graciously wanted me to take this award because I am the first transsexual woman to win this prize.”
Before dedicating the award to her mother, she thanked the late transgender pop musician Sophie for “kicking these doors open” and Madonna for “working for LGBTQ rights.”
“I grew raised in the middle of nowhere in Germany, and my mother believed me when I stated I was a girl,” she added with pride as Smith gazed on. Without her help and support, I wouldn’t be here.
Madonna then introduced the duo’s seductive, BDSM-inspired performance of their tribute to infidelity.
The celebrity stated, “If they label you surprising, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative, or dangerous, you’re on to something.”
remembrances and tributes
Adele also received the award for best pop vocal performance for Easy On Me, which she dedicated to her son Angelo.
The singer informed the audience that she had composed the first stanza “in the shower when I decided to change my son’s life” by divorcing her then-husband Simon Konecki.
She continued, “I adore it when a piano ballad wins an award because it’s so old school and courageous.
Bonnie Raitt’s sorrowful ballad Just Like That was the unexpected winner of the song of the year, besting favorites Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
Voters were unquestionably struck by Raitt’s poignant lyrics, in which a widow mourning the death of her kid is consoled by a man who received his heart through a transplant.
The 72-year-old woman stated, upon receiving her prize, “I’m really glad that you value this one.”
Bad Bunny launched the event by recreating a Puerto Rican festival in the hallways of the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles.
His rendition of El Apagón and Después De La Playa featured pyrotechnics, dozens of dancers, and cabezudos, the “bighead” puppets that parade through the streets of San Juan every January.
Later, he received the award for the best Msica Urbana album for Un Verano Sin Ti, which spent 13 weeks at number one in the United States last year.
The singer explained, “I made this record with love and passion because when you do things with love and passion, everything is simpler.”
Other performers included Americana sensation Brandi Carlile and Lizzo, who sang her current track Special with a gospel influence.
She later won record of the year with About Damn Time, and she dedicated her acceptance speech to Prince, who gave her her first break with Boy trouble.
“When we lost Prince, I resolved to devote my life to creating great music,” she said, further praising Beyoncé as “the artist of our lives.”
The memoriam part gave Olivia Newton-John, Irene Cara, David Crosby, and Jeff Beck an emotional send-off.
Kacey Musgraves performed an emotional rendition of Coal Miner’s Daughter as a tribute to “Queen of Country” Loretta Lynn. Fleetwood Mac singer Christine McVie was honored by Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, and Mick Fleetwood performing her hallmark hit, Songbird.
And Migos musician Quavo performed Without You, a song he penned following the November 2017 death of his nephew and bandmate Takeoff.
On a more joyous occasion, more than two dozen rap icons took the stage to commemorate 50 years of hip-hop.
Grandmaster Flash, a pioneer of the turntable, opened the act with Flash Was On The Beat, a nearly 12-minute compilation of the genre’s greatest hits.
Run-DMC sang Rock The Bells, Public Enemy performed a verse of Yo, Bum Rush The Show, Missy Elliot performed Lose Control, and Busta Rhymes wowed the crowd with his high-speed rap from Chris Brown’s Look At Me Now.
