This past Sunday, celebrities gathered at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles for the 65th annual Grammy Award show. Some of the music industry’s biggest names like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Adele, and Lizzo were all going head to head for the night’s biggest awards. And the night came with its fair share of public outcry.
Leading up to the ceremony, all eyes were on Beyoncé and if she’d certify herself as the most-awarded artist in Grammy history. On Sunday, she had nine nominations and was able to make history after winning four awards for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Dance/Electronic Recording, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song. This allowed her to surpass the late Georg Solti with 32 Grammy awards. Despite now being the most-awarded artist, the Recording Academy was put on blast for denying Beyoncé Album of the Year for the fourth time. The most recent being for Renaissance, but also for Lemonade (2017), Beyoncé (2015), and I am… Sasha Fierce (2010).
“Looking at the two albums unbiased, both albums reach low notes of F2, but Harry’s House only goes up to an A5 while Renaissance goes up to an E6. Beyoncé has become the most awarded artist in Grammy history- but losing out on album of the year is a reminder that the glass ceiling for black women still exists,” senior Brett Anderson said.
Harry Styles walked away victoriously that night having won Album of the Year for his most recent album, Harry’s House. When it was announced, Harry seemed just as shocked to win as everyone else watching. People expected this award to be another showdown between Beyoncé and Adele- for her newest album 30. This win didn’t help that viewers took to Twitter to talk about how they felt his performance of “As It Was” was “dull” and “pitchy.”
“I’m sorry, but claiming that Beyoncé isn’t as well known as Harry Styles, thus justifying his Grammy win for album of the year, has to be the highest level of delusion I’ve seen on this bird app this year,” someone took to Twitter to post.
Many popular artists including Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Adele, Harry Styles, and Lizzo were nominated for another huge award, Song of the Year. People felt that songs more popular should’ve been chosen over 73-year-old Bonnie Raitt’s. This came with another shock of Best New Artist being won by Samara Joy, but some thought it was going to go to the Italian band Måneskin. However, these shocks were not surpassed by the history made by Kim Petras, who became the first transgender person to win a Grammy with Sam Smith for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.