History was made — and not made — in a number of key ways at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles, where Beyoncé's latest victories made her the biggest winner in Grammy history.
The vocal superstar and pop-culture icon arrived with a field leading nine nominations — and 28 previous Grammy victories. She left with four more for her 2022 album “Renaissance,” but not, significantly, for album of the year or record of the year, two categories she has yet to win.
Those upset wins went to, respectively, Harry Styles for “Harry's House” and Lizzo for “About Damn Time.” The song of the year Grammy, a category which Beyoncé was also nominated in, went to a visibly stunned Bonnie Raitt for her understated ballad, “Just Like That.”
Accepting her award, Lizzo cited Prince as an inspiration. She then paid tribute to Beyoncé, saying: “You changed my life ... you clearly are the artist of our lives.”
But not, clearly, of a majority the 11,000-plus voters of the Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammys are presented. That made Beyoncé's historic night both a triumph and a disappointment, especially given that only three Black women artists have ever won the album of the year Grammy.
After winning two awards during the livestreamed-only, pre-telecast portion of the show — and a third before she had even arrived at the telecast — Beyoncé won her 32nd career when “Renaissance” earned her best dance/electronic album honors.
Her latest Grammy victories saw the former Destiny’s Child singer surpass orchestra conductor Georg Solti, who died in 1997 and held the record of 31 Grammy win until Sunday.
“I’m trying not to be too emotional and I’m trying to just receive this night,” Beyonce told the cheering audience at Crypto.com Arena.
“I want to thank God for protecting me ... I’d like to thank my uncle Johnny, who is not here but he’s here in spirit. I’d like to thank my parents — my father, my mother — for loving me and pushing me. I’d like to thank my beautiful husband and my beautiful three children. I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the (dance) genre.”
Her other wins came for three songs from “Renaissance”: Best R&B song for “Cuff It,” best traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa” and best dance/electronic recording for “Break My Soul.”
She did not sing, although her husband, rap giant Jay Z, was featured during the closing performance at the show, which ran nearly 20 minutes over its scheduled three-and-a-half-hour time.
Typically, the number of performances during a Grammys telecast outweigh the number of awards presentations, and that was again the case Sunday.
The performers ranged from the show-opening Bad Bunny and Lizzo to multiple-winners Styles and Brandi Carlile. One of the highlight was a tribute to Motown Records that teamed Motown legends Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson with country star Chris Stapleton.
There were also several “In Memoriam” performances honoring artists who died last year, with Kacey Musgraves saluting Loretta Lynn; Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Mick Fleetwood paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie; and rapper Quavo of the group Migos paying musical homage to his former bandmate, Takeoff, with help from Maverick City Music.
And there was a 50th anniversary of hip-hop salute that featured nearly 30 solo artists and groups, including the Roots, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Lil Baby, Missy Elliott, Grandmaster Flash, Future and Swizz Beatz.
While well-intentioned, the 13-minute hip-hop salute felt rushed and like a belated attempt to make up for the Recording Academy’s history of overlooking the genre in the major Grammy categories.
Singer Samara Joy was a surprise winner for best new artist. The 23-year-old Bronx native became the first jazz artist since Esperanza Spalding to win best new artist honors.
Actress Viola Davis become the 18th person to achieve EGOT status. The Emmy-, Oscar- and Tony-award winner won her first Grammy. Her win came in the best audio book, narration and storytelling recording category for “Finding Me.”
Jazz pianist Geoffey Keezer was nominated for the fourth time this year and went away with his first win. The errant Willie Nelson, at 89, was the oldest winner of the night, taking best country album honors.
———
