66th Grammys Award Show Winners and Performances
Pictured is the logo for the Grammys. Photo courtesy of TV Insider.
Kerry Kadel | Arts and Entertainment Editor
The 66th Grammys Awards took place this month on Sunday, February 4th, and it was perhaps the most unforgettable night for many fans and artists alike.
Comedian and The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah hosted the Grammys this year, and unlike the host for the Golden Globes, many viewers favored his demeanor and jokes towards artists and celebrities more.
Starting the show off winning Best Pop Solo Performance was Miley Cyrus for her song, “Flowers.” This was her first ever Grammy, and many were excited considering the star’s long music career spanning all the way from her teenage years, starting from when she starred on the Disney Channel. Later, Cyrus performed “Flowers” live, and during the bridge of the song, she sang, “Started to cry but I remember, I just won my first Grammy!” This wasn’t the only win for Cyrus, as she won her two first Grammys in one night, also taking home the award for Record of the Year.
Returning for a duet on her famous song “Fast Car,” Tracy Chapman sang with Luke Combs while playing the guitar. Combs had covered the song for his 2023 album “Gettin’ Old,” and was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance. For many, this duet had many fans of both Chapman and Combs ecstatic and emotional. This was the first time in three years that Chapman made a public appearance, and years since she sang live.
For Best Musica Urbana Album, Karol G took the Grammy home for her song “Mañana Será Bonito.” Not only was this her first Grammy win, recently, she was awarded with Billboard’s 2024 “Woman of the Year.” She broke records with her song on the English and Spanish charts, to which Billboard’s editorial director, Hannah Karp stated that, “The release of her groundbreaking album ‘Mañana Será Bonito’ has proven her a force to be reckoned with…We are so excited to honor her as Woman of the Year.”
Artists SZA and Billie Eilish had back to back performances with their nominated songs. SZA opened up with a mashup of her songs “Snooze” and “Kill Bill” which had amazing theatrics such as an actor executing sword-fighting upon a table where nominated artists sat. SZA’s song “Snooze” later won the Grammy for Best R&B Song. This was a comedic part of the night, as many cameras and heads turned to find SZA, who then ran onto the stage from the right after having changed into a dress after her performance attire. She was breathless during her speech, yet emotional as she thanked everyone, and even gave a shout out to Taylor Swift.
Billie Eilish was seated next to her brother, Finneas playing the piano for her as she sang “What Was I Made For?” that became a gigantic hit from Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Fans on X noticed that Eilish was dressed up as the 1965 limited-edition “Poodle Parade Barbie.” The siblings wrote the song together, and when it won Best Written Song for Visual Media and Song of the Year, both went up on stage to give a speech with their parents sitting at their table, watching proudly.
Many country fans suspected Zach Bryan of winning the Grammy for Best Country Album, however, it was awarded to Lainey Wilson, her first Grammy, for her album “Bell Bottom Country.” There was also suspicion that the reaction of artist Kelsea Ballerini was jealous and upset about her losing to Wilson, but on her Instagram story, she posted, “You can be bummed for your loss and happy for somebody else’s win at the same time. Two things can be true and both hold valid and valuable space[…]The face reading and reaction analysis is unnecessary and hurtful to everyone[…]A women’s win is a team win. Write about that instead?”
Olivia Rodrigo performed her hit single “Vampire” from her sophomore album “GUTS” released September of last year. She was nominated for six awards at this year’s Grammys, but unfortunately did not win in any of the categories.
Taylor Swift shocked her fans when the “Swifties” expected a re-release of her sixth studio album “reputation” if she won that night. Swift indeed win Best Pop Vocal Album for her 2022 album “Midnights”, however, during her speech she threw a curveball at her fans. Swift is dropping her eleventh studio album this April 19th titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” The setlist has already dropped on social media and fans are picking at every secret and guessing at what the songs will be like.
There was a beautifully long homage to many of the great music artists that were lost this year, such as Stevie Wonder honoring Tony Bennet and Annie Lennox paying tribute to Sinhead O’Connor. Even more emotions erupted when Joni Mitchell made her first Grammy appearance while also winning the Grammy award for Best Folk Album. She performed her song “Both Sides Now” from her album “JONI MITCHELL–LIVE STUDIO BROADCASTS” while seated in an armchair, holding her cane that she uses since suffering from an aneurysm in 2015 that kept her from being able to talk.
Victoria Monét won best new artist and was nominated for Record of the Year and Best R&B Song.
Towards the end of the night, another exciting moment came, when Billy Joel played his brand new song “Turn the Lights Back On.” It was the first song he’d written in over thirty years. Before the performance it was said that Joel gained inspiration from songwriter Freddy Wexler, who has written songs from Justin Bieber to Kanye West. Wexler had loved Joel growing up, and it seemed that meeting his icon was at a loss the older he got and moved into the music industry, but not all was hopeless when he was able to sit down and talk with Joel for two hours. There, Wexler helped Joel find the inspiration to write again, and two years later, Joel performed his brand new song on February 4th, 2023. The song was somber, accompanied by an orchestra; the lyrics were very moving, sensual, yet striking in its musical tones. Joel played with the orchestra that accompanied him as the Grammys concluded the very special night.