The Grammys are drunk in love with Beyoncé: The singer has surpassed Alison Krauss to become the most decorated female act in Grammy history.
Beyoncé earned her 28th Grammy on Sunday, picking up honors like best R&B performance for "Black Parade," best music video for "Brown Skin Girl" as well as best rap performance and best rap song for "Savage," with Megan Thee Stallion. "As an artist, I believe it's my job, and all of our jobs, to reflect time and it's been such a difficult time," Beyoncé said onstage as she won best R&B performance for "Black Parade," which was released on Juneteenth.
She went on to say she created the song to honor the "beautiful Black kings and queens" in the world. She added: "I have been working my whole life ... This is such a magical night." Beyoncé now ties producer and multi-instrumentalist Quincy Jones as the acts with second most Grammy wins. The late conductor Georg Solti is the most decorated Grammy winner with 31 wins. The royal family of music all won honors Sunday: Jay-Z shared the best rap song win since he co-wrote "Savage" and nine-year-old Blue Ivy Carter – who won best music video alongside her mother – became the second-youngest act to win a Grammy in the show’s 63-year history.
Leah Peasall was 8 when The Peasall Sisters won album of the year at the 2002 show for their appearance on the T Bone Burnett-produced "O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. Megan Thee Stallion, who won three honors, also made history and became the first female rapper to win best rap song. She's also the fifth rap-based act to win best new artist. Beyoncé was the night’s top contender with nine nominations, and she’s still up for record of the year, where she’s a double nominee thanks to "Black Parade” and "Savage.” Taylor Swift could also make history Sunday as the first woman to win album of the year three times.
Swift won album of the year with her albums "Fearless” and "1989.” Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon are some of the male performers who have won album of the year three times. Several producers or engineers have also won the award three times, and the only person to win the prize four times is mastering engineer Tom Coyne, who died in 2017. She sang "cardigan” and "august” from her nominated-album "folklore,” as well as "willow” from "evermore,” and was joined by the collaborators who helped her make the albums, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who both are also nominated alongside Swift for the top prize. Silk Sonic, aka Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, also performed, bringing a throwback R&B vibe to the show with their smooth new single, "Leave the Door Open.”
Dua Lipa, who won best pop vocal album, proved her pop star status with a performance of her hits "Don’t Start Now” and "Levitating,” where she was joined by the DaBaby, who was an all-star during his own performance of his guitar-tinged rap hit "Rockstar,” flipping the song for an exceptional live rendition featuring R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, a skilled violinist and background singers. And country singer Mickey Guyton - the first Black female nominated for best country solo performance – gave an impressive performance of her song "Black Like Me.”
Other performers included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Harry Styles, who won best pop solo performance for the hit "Watermelon Sugar.” "To everyone who made this record with me, thank you so much,” said Styles, the first member of One Direction to win a Grammy. Host Trevor Noah kicked off the show telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020. He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables.
R&B singer H.E.R. won two honors, including song of the year for her protest anthem "I Can’t Breathe,” becoming one of the rare R&B songs to win the top prize. Another track about the Black experience - Anderson Paak’s "Lockdown,” released on Juneteenth - also won a Grammy, picking up best melodic rap performance. Other double winners include Fiona Apple, Kaytranada and late performers John Prine and Chick Corea.
