That's a wrap!
With a final number from Billy Joel, that’s a wrap on the 2024 Grammys – a long, at times moving, often entertaining and overall smooth awards ceremony dominated by female artists. Almost all of the televised awards were won by women, including best pop solo performance and record of the year by Miley Cyrus, song of the year by Billie Eilish, best R&B song by SZA, best música urbana album by Karol G, best new artist by Victoria Monét and best country album by Lainey Wilson.
The night’s biggest story, as it has so often been lately, was Taylor Swift, who won best pop vocal album and album of the year for Midnights – and announced a new original album, The Tortured Poets Department, to boot. (Beyoncé was there in support of Jay-Z’s global icon award but said and gave nothing, as is her right.) Jay-Z made a point to note that Beyoncé has somehow never won album of the year. Swift, meanwhile, is now the only artist to have won album of the year four times.
The night’s performance highlights included a first-ever Grammy performance by the 80-year-old Joni Mitchell, the first single in 17 years from Billy Joel and a moving duet of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs. And there was a surprise, much-needed appearance from the one and only Celine Dion, who has been missing from public life in recent years owing to her having stiff person syndrome.
That’s all from us! Thanks for tuning in and see you next year.
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My colleague Benjamin Lee has a nice summary of tonight’s female-dominated events:
It was a night light on general awards show fluff – not a lot of awards, light hosting duties by Trevor Noah – but there was a charming presenters’ bit between Mark Ronson and his mother-in-law, Meryl Streep:
Mark Ronson presents with his mother-in-law Meryl Streep at the 2024 #Grammys pic.twitter.com/mueXlmJarX
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 5, 2024
Aaaand a gallery of all the red carpet arrivals:
And here’s a list of winners, including all the telecast awards:
Here’s full video of Celine Dion’s appearance, her first in a couple years:
Celine Dion makes a surprise appearance to present Album of the Year at the 2024 #Grammys pic.twitter.com/oNT4zmBTyk
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 5, 2024
WINNER: Taylor Swift, Midnights – album of the year
Wow, so much here – first of all, the surprise announcer of the night was indeed Celine Dion, looking fabulous and vital in her first public appearance in several years owing to her fight with a rare neurological disorder.
“When I say that I’m happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart,” Dion says before presenting the night’s big award, album of the year, to Taylor Swift for Midnights. Swift is now the only person to win the category four times.
“I don’t know, man,” she says, looking surprised despite a year of massive, unprecedented success. She thanks “a once-in-a-generation producer” Jack Antonoff as well as collaborater Lana Del Rey, saying: “So many female artists would not be where they are and would not have the inspiration that they have if not for her work.”
“The award is the work, and all I want to do is to keep being able to do this,” she concludes. “Mind. Blown.”
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They’ve been talking about it all evening, and the piano man is, indeed, back – Billy Joel performs his first single in 17 years, Turn the Lights Back On, after a long self-imposed retirement from songwriting. The performance is accompanied by a video explaining how a 35-year-old songwriter named Freddy Wexler “hounded” (self-described) the 74-year-old singer to return to songwriting and performing new music again.
WINNER: Miley Cyrus, Flowers – record of the year
A big win for Miley Cyrus, her second Grammy of both tonight and her career, for her smash hit Flowers. “I really hope that [this award] doesn’t change anything, because my life was beautiful yesterday,” she says. “Not everyone in the world will get a Grammy, but everyone is spectacular.”
True to form, Miley preaches self-love with a side of suggestion: “I don’t think I forgot anyone, but I might have forgotten underwear. Bye!” she says as farewell while wearing a thigh-high slit gown, which I feel is the 31-year-old winning a Grammy version of her VMA moment.
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WINNER: Victoria Monét – best new artist
At 34 years old, Victoria Monét is an established songwriter for the likes of Ariana Grande, Fifth Harmony and more. Now she finally has Grammy recognition as a solo artist after 15 years in the industry and her breakout debut studio album, Jaguar II.
“To everybody who has a dream, I want you to look at this as an example,” she says near tears. She talks about the 15-year journey to this point since moving to LA in 2009, comparing herself to a plant in questionably dirty LA soil. “My roots have been growing underneath ground unseen for so long. And I feel like today I’m sprouting finally above ground,” she says before a list of thanks that gets her played off the stage.
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On to Afrobeats! Nigerian sensation Burna Boy takes the stage for an upbeat medley with Brandy (!) and 21 Savage, accompanied by several African dancers, that gets most of the audience (Gayle King included) on their feet.
The full performance of Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell accompanied by Brandi Carlile, if you’re ready to get in the feels:
Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile.#GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/5OMBC7haZx
— Craig R. Brittain (@RealBrittain) February 5, 2024
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr provides another confusing tonal moment, at once shouting out the global reach of music and mourning the loss of music fans killed at concerts, including the Israelis killed at the Nova dance and music festival on 7 October.
“We mourn the loss of all innocent lives,” he says. “Music must remain the common ground on which we all stand.” As evidence, I guess, he points to a string quartet on stage who are of Palestinian and Israeli descent, playing together.
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Somewhere out there, I assume, there are people who understood what Travis Scott is trying to do or trying to say with his performance of My Eyes. The Houston-bred rapper appears to be singing from … a gladiatorial tar pit? … that’s on fire. Wearing shoulder and knee pads and dropping several bleeped-out bars, Scott ends the typically chaotic performance by smashing several plastic chairs around the stage. I feel this would make more sense on drugs.
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A candidate for the night’s final mystery “global icon” presenter, perhaps? Jokes aside, it would be genuinely heartwarming to see Celine Dion, who has struggled in recent years with stiff person syndrome, take the stage again.
Celine Dion is in the building for the #Grammys with stylist Law Roach pic.twitter.com/uKl7fL9Fbm
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 5, 2024
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Re: Taylor Swift’s new album title, I’m just going to leave this here …
Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal have a WhatsApp group with Andrew Scott called "The Tortured Man Club."
— Variety (@Variety) December 15, 2022
"It hasn't had much use recently," Alwyn says.
"I feel like we're less tortured now," Mescal quips. https://t.co/CSai4ScQpz pic.twitter.com/veCp1ZdFsD
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The tributes to living legends continue with Brandi Carlile introducing the first-ever Grammy performance by the groundbreaking singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Calling the 80-year-old the “matriarch of imagination”, Carlile joined Mitchell, who won the Grammy for best folk album tonight 56 years into her storied career, for a very slow, emotional, nostalgic rendition of Both Sides Now that drew tears from Meryl Streep and Kelly Clarkson and a standing ovation from a seemingly emotional Beyoncé.
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For the Swifties dying for info, here are more details – or at least, what we know so far – on the newly announced Taylor Swift album The Tortured Poets Department:
WINNER: Billie Eilish, What Was I Made For? – song of the year
Billie Eilish looks genuinely surprised to win in such a stacked category. “Damn, that’s stupid, guys,” she says, breathless. “Whoa, literally I was looking at each other’s faces and I leaned over and was like, not a chance!”
“I feel crazy right now. Damn, dude … I’m shocked out of my balls,” she adds, with typical candor. Her brother and producer, Finneas, proves a little more composed: “We just continue to be deeply, deeply privileged, lucky people. It’s hard to feel deserving ever, and we certainly don’t right now.”
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And continuing the tributes to music icons – Trevor Noah presents the Dr Dre global impact award to Jay-Z, who accepts along with daughter Blue Ivy and a kiss from his wife. (Beyoncé is here! With platinum blond hair and a cowboy hat! Is part II of Renaissance a country project?!)
The rapper, entrepreneur, business mogul and philanthropist uses his time to recall hip-hop’s long road to Academy respectability and the Grammys’ extremely spotty, to put it lightly, track record of celebrating Black artists. “How far we’ve come,” he says, remembering Will Smith winning the first hip-hop Grammy in 1989 and boycotting the Grammys because the award wasn’t televised. Jay-Z himself did the same in 1998 to protest the Academy ignoring DMX.
“We want y’all to get it right. Or at least close to right,” he says, then addressing the elephant in the room: how Beyoncé has won more Grammys than anyone but never got album of the year (Harry’s House beat out Renaissance last year, if you can remember and stomach it). “Even by your own metrics that doesn’t work,” he notes. “When I get nervous I tell the truth.”
Jay Z calling out the the recording academy for never giving Beyoncé the Album of the Year award #Grammys pic.twitter.com/okk4p6XDw5
— RENAISSANCE Updates🪩 (@B7Album) February 5, 2024
Nerves aside, he ends on a more inspiring note, holding Blue’s hand: “Just in life, you’ve got to keep showing up … until they give you all those accolades you deserve.”
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It’s an especially long and moving In Memoriam segment, owing in part to the sheer number of music industry stalwarts lost in the past year: Jimmy Buffett, Harry Belafonte, Robbie Robertson, Chita Rivera and Burt Bacharach, among many, many others.
Stevie Wonder kicks off the over-16-minute segment in honor of his friend Tony Bennett via duet with an old video performance of the late crooner. Annie Lennox, with Wendy & Lisa, pays tribute to Sinéad O’Connor with a cover of Nothing Compares 2 U and a call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Lenny Kravitz honors Clarence Avant, the “godfather of Black music”, by introducing a performance of Avant’s protege Bill Withers’s Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean on Me by Jon Batiste.
And the one and only Oprah, a longtime fan and friend of Tina Turner, remembers the queen of rock’n’roll – “Tina’s voice continues to speak to all of us,” she says, introducing a rousing rendition of Proud Mary by Fantasia Barrino.
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Hmmm? An interesting tease …
#GRAMMYs executive producer teases the final mystery presenter of the night will be a major moment:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 5, 2024
“They are an absolute global icon. I think jaws will drop to the floor. People will be on their feet. The only condition they gave is that it was a surprise” pic.twitter.com/diDLUmwRWN
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We have an update on the weird situation with Killer Mike: according to The Hollywood Reporter, the rapper was detained for a minor misdemeanor charge – specific charge as yet unknown – and will likely be released this evening. The charge reportedly has nothing to do with the Grammy awards.
The 48-year-old rapper, a three-time winner in the pre-telecast awards, was seen leaving the ballroom with LAPD in handcuffs less than an hour before showtime. More details forthcoming, but here’s what we know so far:
WINNER: Taylor Swift, Midnights – best pop vocal album
Well, well, well, it’s Taylor’s first award of the night and her 13th-ever Grammy – which, as she notes, is her lucky number, so she takes the opportunity to thank her fans and launch a thousand news articles with “a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the past two years”: a new original album called The Tortured Poets Department, out April 19th.
All’s fair in love and poetry... New album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Out April 19 🤍https://t.co/WdrCmvLHyA
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 5, 2024
📷: Beth Garrabrant pic.twitter.com/CCPhmSZ2UD
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In another one of the night’s most hyped moments, several drones provide us footage of U2’s show at the Sphere in Las Vegas – a place we’ve only seen via social media clips and shaky videos from our mom’s iPhones. This live (?) performance is even shakier than that – a vertiginous look at the concert venue but more often a distracting, strobe-lit tour around Bono and the Edge’s faces.
Olivia Rodrigo fans rejoice: the phenom crushed a performance of Vampire soaked in red – scarlet floor-length silk gown, lipstick and plenty of fake blood. And for you conspiracy theorists who believe a good portion of Guts is about Taylor Swift – she was standing and singing along to this one, too.
WINNER: SZA, Snooze – best R&B song
The first telecast win (and third award) for SZA, the night’s top nominee, who runs onto stage with a glowing iPhone in hand. “I’m out of breath because I was changing and then I took a shot,” she says before shouting out presenter Lizzo, whom she has known since a 2013 Redbull tour performing for “rooms of like 100 people”.
Overwhelmed with emotion, SZA chokes out: “I came really, really far and I can’t believe this is happening, it feels really fake – hi, Taylor!” (to Swift, naturally) before signing off with: “I’m not an attractive cryer. Have a good evening!”
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WINNER: Lainey Wilson, Bell Bottom Country – best country album
“This is absolutely wild, y’all,” says Lainey Wilson upon her first-ever Grammy win, for best country album.
Noting that she’s a fifth-generation farmer’s daughter from a town of 200 or so in north-east Louisiana, the 31-year-old country singer compares her career to “story farming” – “it’s about getting up every single day and planting those seeds and watering them and watching them grow. And sometimes when you find the right farmers’ community, you can have the harvest of a lifetime.”
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In a pre-taped interview, Miley says she’s only performing her smash hit Flowers live for the first time (she’s done two private concert renditions) because she wants to wake up on 5 February and watch a video of herself singing it, and the subsequent performance is appropriately enthusiastic, feeling herself.
“Why are you guys pretending you don’t know this song?” she says at one point, which at least gets Taylor Swift, Oprah and Kylie Minogue on their feet. Miley also shouts out her first-ever Grammy win (!) and, proving that she is one of the best live performers of her generation, launches into a refrain of “I can love me better” that clearly honors the late, great Tina Turner (the big hair makes more sense now!).
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Here’s a clip from that lovely Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs duet of Fast Car, which led to several misty eyes in the audience:
Tracy Chapman, who has not performed in public in years, performs "Fast Car" with Luke Combs at the #Grammys: pic.twitter.com/VJg3knUYuV
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 5, 2024
The lights turn pink and Billie Eilish transports us back to Barbie world with a performance of What Was I Made For? She’s accompanied by her brother and producer Finneas on the piano, a bevy of string instruments and a Chanel-esque getup that looks like a disguise in a comedy movie.
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SZA is here! The night’s top nominee skipped the red carpet but took the stage for a rendition of her tracks Snooze and Kill Bill, looking like a detective from a noir crime drama and complete with a mock duel on stage. The highlight has to be a saber-wielding assassin/dancer flexing her skills on a table occupied by a clearly delighted Phoebe Bridgers and Victoria Monét.
WINNER: Karol G, Mañana Será Bonito – best música urbana album
“I’m Karol G, and I’m from Colombia,” says the first-time winner (and first-time attendee!) for her global hit album Mañana Será Bonito. Sporting a visible bikini-top tan (love), the singer thanks her fans – “I promise you to give you my best, always.”
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In one of the night’s most hyped performances, Tracy Chapman takes the stage for a rendition of Fast Car with country star Luke Combs, whose cover of the 1988 track topped the charts this summer, making Chapman the first Black woman to score a sole songwriting credit on a No 1 country hit. In a pre-taped interview, Combs sweetly noted that the beloved track was his “favorite song before I knew what a favorite song was”.
It’s Chapman’s first public performance in years – she sounds amazing and the goodwill is clear, drawing a standing ovation from Taylor Swift (singing along, of course), Oprah and a misty-eyed Brandi Carlile.
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WINNER: Miley Cyrus, Flowers – best pop solo performance
Miley Cyrus claims the first award of the evening – best pop solo performance – for Flowers, arguably the biggest hit of her career to date and one of the most pervasive tracks of 2023. She notes the rain-soaked traffic – apparently she feared she would miss the show – and goes into a belabored story about a butterfly landing on a boy’s nose that is the meaning of the song to her, or something.
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Trevor Noah is back and on hosting duty, playing music industry hype man for the fourth year in a row and shouting out a who’s who of attendees: Meryl Streep (running late to her seat next to Mark Ronson), 21 Savage, SZA (not here yet?), Billie Eilish, Doja Cat (now wearing a trucker hat) and Olivia Rodrigo. “I can’t wait to see what you rhyme ‘bloodsucker’ with on national TV,” Noah muses about her upcoming performance of Vampire.
Noah also notes the female-dominated Grammys this year, saying: “Can we acknowledge for a second how women have dominated music this year?” Seven of the eight album-of-the-year nominees are women.
And he acknowledges the perpetual elephant in the room: Taylor Swift, who takes her seat as Noah says her name. “As Taylor moves through the room, the local economy around those tables improves,” he jokes, adding that to get back at the NFL for banking on Swift’s appearances at games, he would only cut to former football players when her name is mentioned (sorry to Terry Crews).
“My job is to keep the good vibes going tonight,” he concludes. We’ll see!
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We've begun!
And we’re off! Host Trevor Noah acknowledges the rain in LA and then goes straight to concert mode. He summarily passes the baton to a leather-strap-clad Dua Lipa, who kicks off the night with a sturdy medley of Training Season, Dance the Night and Houdini in a hall of mirrors and on some intense scaffolding.
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Never one to play it safe, Doja Cat – a performer and three-time nominee tonight – rocks what I presume to be (some) fake tattoos, glasses and a … very revealing bustier.
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A strange and developing situation – rapper Killer Mike, a three-time winner in the pre-telecast awards, appears to have been handcuffed and escorted out of show by police.
Breaking: Rapper Killer Mike has been taken away in handcuffs in https://t.co/aF2yiyTHol arena after winning 3 #Grammys during telecast (Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” Best Rap Album for Michael) “Free Mike” someone shouts as he walks past. pic.twitter.com/4epfmzqMt8
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) February 5, 2024
Variety has reached out to the LAPD and Killer Mike’s team, who have yet to comment. Killer Mike already won tonight for best rap song and best rap performance for Scientists & Engineers and best rap album for Michael.
The Grammys are usually more of a star-studded concert than an awards show, and as such, the bulk of the night’s awards have already been handed out. The pre-telecast winners include Joni Mitchell for best folk album, Dave Chappelle for best comedy album, boygenius for best alternative album and Billie Eilish for best song written for visual media (for Barbie, of course).
Interestingly, the Grammys introduced three new categories this year – pop dance recording, African music performance and alternative jazz album – yet kept all of them off the telecast. The inaugural winners were Kylie Minogue (Padam Padam), Tyla (Water) and Meshell Ndegeocello (The Omnichord Real Book), respectively.
Here’s our partial list of winners, with the full list over at the Grammys website:
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In what will certainly be one of the more divisive outfits of the evening, Miley Cyrus is channeling … something with this chain-metal look (including metal underpants) from Maison Margiela. Cleopatra? The 70s? The 80s? It’s, um, up for interpretation.
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Former Grammys best new artist Olivia Rodrigo looks sleek and sophisticated in a vintage Versace gown from 1995 – which means the dress is older than she is, as the E! fashion team made sure to point out. The 20-year-old (!) is up for six awards for her sophomore album Guts and hit single Vampire.
Despite speculation, both the Globes and Emmys red carpets lacked any form of visible political statement. So far tonight, boygenius have arrived wearing pins asking for a ceasefire but it remains to be seen if other artists will follow. Stay tuned:
boygenius wearing “artists for ceasefire” pins at the #GRAMMYS pic.twitter.com/67idehFKIm
— boygenius source (@boygeniussource) February 4, 2024
Intense, strong and dance-y
Dua Lipa describes her #GRAMMYs performance in three words:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 4, 2024
“Intense. Strong. Dance-y.” pic.twitter.com/W6pgScvuJt
It’s a big night for Victoria Monét, one of the most-nominated artists of the evening with seven noms – including for best new artist – wearing a custom brown Versace corset gown.
Earlier this week, Variety spoke to Ben Winston, the executive producer of tonight’s show, to find out what we might expect. Here are some key takeaways:
The in-memoriam segment is going to be “outstanding” with “16 minutes of music” and a performer who signed on last-minute.
There have been “Zooms with Bono” to arrange the specifics of the U2 performance, which will be the first time anyone has filmed inside the Sphere with the help of drones.
We can expect some “really beautiful story-of-the-year packages” before some of the big performances.
OK, so not about tonight, but he did say that JLo and Bad Bunny were, ahem, not super punctual for last year’s ceremony despite both being part of the show.
Tonight’s host Trevor Noah is on double duty, also cropping up as a nominee for best comedy album. His I Wish You Would was up against Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes (Chappelle ended up winning, announced in the pre-show ceremony). Earlier this week, he spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about how it feels to be nominated alongside his “heroes”:
I don’t ever take those moments for granted. I think to myself how crazy it is to even be in the same category as these people. When I was thinking of [doing] comedy, Dave Chappelle was already an accomplished comedian. When I was thinking of starting to maybe tell somebody a joke, Chris Rock was already one of the biggest comedians in the world, and the same goes for Wanda Sykes. So I have never been somebody who is in a rush to win or to be thought of as the best at anything. I’m really, really, really not even saying this just to be humble or anything. I’m really happy and grateful to just be in that company.”
Dua Lipa is giving disco crossed with Joan of Arc in this custom silver Courrèges dress, a break from Barbie pink (she’s up for two awards for the ubiquitous Dance the Night track from the film).
The one and only Kylie Minogue already won the inaugural category of best pop dance recording earlier this evening for Padam Padam – only her second Grammy win ever, and her first since 2004. The 55-year-old found out while getting dressed for the telecast, and released a sweet celebratory video in response:
With a female-dominated set of nominees, just who will come out on top? Will SZA become the first Black woman in 25 years to win album of the year? Will Taylor Swift cap off a record-breaking year with even more success? Or can Barbie, and the many stars who sing on the soundtrack, turn the stage pink?
The Barbie hype train continues into the Grammys with Billie Eilish, already a pre-telecast winner for her movie soundtrack song What Was I Made For? and repping the movie with a black-and-pink varsity jacket.
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In case you live under a rock or have managed to stay offline all week, the biggest cultural story of the moment has been the Super Bowl-bound fame supernova couple that is Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. In case you’re holding your breath, Kelce will definitely not be in attendance tonight, owing to his football commitments.
“Unfortunately, I gotta get ready for this big ol’ Super Bowl we got in a week,” he told the Pat McAfee Show this week. “I wish I could go support Taylor at the Grammys and watch her win every single award that she’s nominated for, but I think I got practice on Sunday.” Alas!
Some soul-breaking news for Beyoncé fans. Despite rumours that the Grammy winner would be performing tonight as part of a Tina Turner tribute, a rep has said that the news is in fact false.
The Grammys tend to lean heavily on performers to fill the 210-minute show (most of the awards are handed out first) so all eyes are on who will be appearing in what’s become more concert than awards show.
Alongside the usual suspects – SZA, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo – there are some less expected, and therefore more intriguing, names set to hit the stage.
Firstly, it’s been confirmed that Joni Mitchell will be performing at the Grammys for the very first time, at the age of 80. She’s nominated for best folk album. Secondly, while the inclusion of U2 in itself might not seem groundbreaking, they will be performing from the Las Vegas Sphere, which should at the very least be visually distinctive. Finally, Tracy Chapman will be duetting with Luke Combs, whose cover of Fast Car became a monster hit last year. Chapman’s last tour was in 2009.
Here we go ...
The red carpet is open and musicians new and veteran are here – it’s time for the 2024 Grammy awards! The arrivals are well underway at Los Angeles’s Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center, lol) for the 66th annual awards.
As in years past, the Grammys have billed several big-name performances (with the exception of Beyoncé who, contrary to online rumors, will not perform a tribute to Tina Turner). Expect to see Billie Eilish, Billy Joel, Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman, Dua Lipa, Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell, U2 performing from the Sphere in Las Vegas and more. Will the cultural force that is Taylor Swift sweep the awards? Or will the Recording Academy favor SZA, the night’s most-nominated artist? Will anyone deliver on the perpetually hyper Grammys “moments”? Stick with us for all the major developments.
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