Probably the most awards on the 67th annual Grammys went to Kendrick Lamar, who swept the largest track prizes together with his Drake diss “Not Like Us” on his approach to 5 trophies. However the story of the night time was Beyoncé, who after dropping album of the yr 4 earlier occasions, received for her style research “Cowboy Carter,” turning into the primary Black girl since 1999 — and fourth within the present’s historical past — to take house the highest honor. Chappell Roan triumphed in greatest new artist and advocated for artists’ rights in her acceptance speech. And the present labored to steadiness celebration with a unique crucial: elevating cash for these impacted by the wildfires that not too long ago devastated elements of Los Angeles. Listed below are the present’s highlights and lowlights as we noticed them.
Finest Onstage Quasi-Rave: Charli XCX and Associates
The ultimate efficiency on the Grammys, proper earlier than the announcement of album of the yr, is a thankless slot — the present is invariably operating lengthy, and there’s an itchiness to maneuver rapidly. However Charli XCX, who received three Grammys in style classes Sunday night time, used it to convey some after-hours sweat and raunch to a present that had largely been reverent and dignified. She strode in flanked by the tastemaker supermodels Alex Consani and Gabbriette, then merged with an onstage dance occasion that regardless of its contrivance however felt frisky and reckless, populated with a who’s who of the New York and Los Angeles inventive elite: Julia Fox, the Dare, Richie Shazam, Niki Takesh, Quen Blackwell and extra. It was a brat ending (and presumably, the ending of “Brat”). JON CARAMANICA
Finest Business Welcome: New Artist Nominees
Finest new artist nominees haven’t at all times gotten the very best publicity on the Grammys. Too usually, they’ve been sidelined or squeezed into medleys and snippets. However with contenders who’ve racked up lots of of hundreds of thousands of streams, this yr the present trusted their star energy and lavished them with manufacturing values and stage time. Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan every acquired huge song-and-dance numbers, and the opposite rivals held forth in an extended, elaborate section that — for as soon as — didn’t cram their songs collectively.
Though Khruangbin’s leisurely psychedelic vamps didn’t have a lot impression, Benson Boone confirmed off gymnastic flips and a powder-blue jumpsuit together with the melodramatic buildups of his billion-streaming track “Stunning Issues.” Doechii had been tearful and unguarded when she accepted the Grammy for greatest rap album. However she was pure bodily precision when she was dancing — choreographed with a phalanx of robotic dancers — and rapping by means of “Catfish” and “Denial Is a River.” No athletics had been required from Teddy Swims, who emoted by means of the crescendos and melismas of “Lose Management,” and Shaboozey was surrounded by dancing cowgirls and cowboys to mute the bitter undertone of “A Bar Track (Tipsy).” Raye, the English songwriter who carries the tartness of Amy Winehouse into retro territory, had a mini-orchestra in formal put on behind her as she belted the mocking kiss-off “Oscar Successful Tears.” For as soon as, the brand new prospects acquired first-class remedy. JON PARELES
Finest Throwback Slapstick: Sabrina Carpenter
For all the run of her breakthrough album, “Brief n’ Candy,” Sabrina Carpenter has performed with classic pinup woman aesthetics, delivering her slyly trendy pop in a basic bundle. For her first-ever Grammys efficiency, she leaned into that playful tackle the previous, rearranging her hits “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” to suit a Ginger Rogers revue, full with a glittery tuxedo gown, costume change and tap-dance break. Selecting up the place her Netflix Christmas particular left off, Carpenter offered it with selection present humor, together with a yelp of pure pleasure as a backup dancer spun her round. Afterward, even the night time’s emcee, Trevor Noah, needed to admit she was consuming his lunch comedically. Possibly she will be able to host subsequent yr? JOE COSCARELLI
Most Charismatic Presenter: Cardi B
Even on her approach to the mic, in full bombshell get-up, she was hamming it up. Then: “How y’all doiiiiiiinnnggg?” Cardi B, who has not launched an album since her Grammy-winning 2018 debut, didn’t want music to make her presence felt, as she carried extra appeal in a single acrylic than most of the stars on show all night time. (Honorable point out: Miley Cyrus, who introduced the identical presence to her transient look.) After noting that rap modified her life, Cardi introduced the award for greatest rap album to Doechii, solely the third girl to win it after Lauryn Hill and Cardi herself, and one who gamely grabbed the winsome baton in her speech. Possibly they can host subsequent yr! COSCARELLI
Most Earnest Memorial: A Tribute to Quincy Jones
There was no method any Grammy section might embody Quincy Jones’s seven-decade profession as musician, arranger, producer, expertise scout and mogul. But Jones might need appreciated the way in which his tribute on Sunday night time performed up jazz-rooted, hands-on virtuosity. Herbie Hancock, on the piano, improvised on his personal (“Killer Joe”), behind Cynthia Erivo in a leisurely, acrobatic model of “Fly Me to the Moon” that segued into big-band swing, and in a duet with Stevie Surprise on harmonica (“Bluesette”). Jacob Collier, an English multi-instrumentalist Jones promoted, backed the nation singer Lainey Wilson in “Let the Good Occasions Roll” (a track Jones tailored on his all-star 1995 album, “Q’s Jook Joint”). And there have been pop megahits that Jones produced: Surprise singing “We Are the World,” and Janelle Monáe in full homage to Michael Jackson, moon-walking in “Don’t Cease ’Til You Get Sufficient.” It wasn’t precisely encyclopedic, and Will Smith’s narrative interludes had been overdone. However demonstrating continuity throughout generations, backed by rigorous musicianship, was true to Jones’s spirit. PARELES
Least Shocking Win, Apparently: Beyoncé’s Nation Award
“I actually was not anticipating this,” Beyoncé stated, after doing her greatest Taylor Swift shock face, upon turning into the primary Black artist to win greatest nation album. The identical couldn’t be stated for a conspiracy-minded or eagle-eyed viewer: Had been the Grammys actually going to let Swift, who introduced the class she received 15 years in the past, hand the trophy to Chris Stapleton? (See additionally: Jennifer Lopez presenting her Tremendous Bowl halftime associate Shakira with greatest Latin pop album.) And what about Jay-Z, who has bashed the Grammys repeatedly for its remedy of him and his spouse, scurrying to his seat proper earlier than the announcement, after he and Beyoncé seemingly missed the pink carpet and first hour of the ceremony? Name it circumstantial proof by a jaded Grammys watcher — absolutely the present’s producers don’t know what’s in these particular envelopes, proper? — however the cautious tv choreography robbed a traditionally vital and unlikely second of its magic. COSCARELLI
Worst Collective Displaying: Males!
Benson Boone — good flip! Aside from that … yikes.
The Grammys have been attempting to crawl out of the doghouse ever for the reason that Recording Academy’s former president advised reporters in 2018 that ladies wanted to “step up” to extend their illustration within the trade and on the awards. And whereas some latest nominations and ceremonies have tended towards pandering, this yr’s feminine domination felt pure, whole and full.
Not solely did nearly all of the televised awards go to ladies — with Kendrick Lamar’s wins for file and track of the yr essentially the most notable exceptions — however males barely made a memorable peep all through, struggling to face aside amid bursts of originality and dynamism from pop’s present trailblazers. Higher luck subsequent yr, dudes. COSCARELLI
Finest New Artists’ Rights Advocate: Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan is undoubtedly the brightest star to emerge within the pop cosmos for the reason that final Grammy telecast, and though she received solely one among her six nominated classes, she was nonetheless one of many night time’s primary characters due to an electrical efficiency and a courageously direct acceptance speech that spoke fact to the music trade’s energy gamers.
Roan appeared to relish each second onstage as she carried out an impassioned rendition of “Pink Pony Membership,” the bombastic electro-pop anthem she first launched in April 2020, a number of months earlier than she was dropped by Atlantic Information. Flanked by rodeo clowns and perched atop — what else? — an enormous pink pony, Roan delivered strong vocals and kinetic charisma, main a roomful of A-listers in an audible singalong.
If there’s something the Recording Academy loves greater than a comeback, it’s an opportunity to crown new expertise — and Roan’s efficiency of this sleeper-hit-that-almost-wasn’t gave them a uncommon two-for-one.
However as Roan ascended the stage to simply accept her greatest new artist trophy, she refused to carry out the anticipated gratitude to an trade that very practically thwarted her goals. As a substitute, she used her platform to demand that “labels, and the trade profiting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} off artists, would provide a livable wage and well being care, particularly to growing artists.” Her personal expertise had been “dehumanizing,” she stated, and she or he needed to light up a decidedly much less glamorous facet of being a brand new artist. A star definitely was born Sunday night time — one with guts and conviction. LINDSAY ZOLADZ
Finest Showcase of Hometown Pleasure: Odes to Los Angeles
The Los Angeles wildfires had been the inescapable backdrop of this yr’s Grammys, which strove to search out an moral steadiness between the self-congratulation of typical awards reveals and severe concern for destruction in a serious music-business hometown. Turning the present right into a quasi-telethon, Trevor Noah solicited viewer — and trade — donations by way of a QR code onscreen. Shifting charity nearer to the underside line, some advert segments had been handed over to native companies decimated by the fires; in the event that they changed CBS present promos, all the higher. Kendrick Lamar, accepting an award for “Not Like Us,” reeled off the names of Los Angeles neighborhoods and rappers.
Then there have been track performances from the celebrities. The opening musical quantity was led by Taylor Goldsmith, the singer of the band Dawes, performing Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”: a track so completely ironic, enthusiastically naming nondescript boulevards, that it grew to become a metropolis anthem. Massive names joined in: Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard, Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent. Largely, they shouted the refrain — which, like so many Randy Newman songs, is extra ambivalent than the uplifting melody may appear.
Billie Eilish, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, carried out “Birds of a Feather” along with her band earlier than a video backdrop of Los Angeles hills, generally interleaved with child footage. A extremely promoted duet by Woman Gaga and Bruno Mars, who received the pop duo/group award for “Die With a Smile,” turned out to be a strenuous, honest, overwrought model of the 1965 hit from the Mamas & the Papas, “California Dreamin’.”
On the preshow Grammy Premiere webcast, the revered mastering engineer Bob Clearmountain was one of many presenters; his house was gone. However he had one other place and was gracious about those that didn’t. The impact of the fires on artwork in Los Angeles — not solely musical however visible — can’t but be measured. All an awards present can provide is hope, funds and sounds. PARELES
Finest Efficiency That Was Additionally a Credit score Card Advert: Woman Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra’
Woman Gaga has referred to as her March album, “Mayhem,” a return to the electro-pop that first drew followers in 16 years in the past. On Sunday night time, she offered supporting proof — not on the Grammys stage, however a soundstage, the place she dressed within the architectural creations and danced the type of herky-jerky choreography that had been her early hallmarks to showcase a brand new track referred to as “Abracadabra.” The actual trick would have been pulling all of it off stay, with out the advantage of edits and digicam methods. However over-the-top dance-pop Gaga continues to be the best Gaga, even when it was all in service of … a Mastercard business. Hey, don’t overlook, the “Phone” video premiered on E! and featured a bevy of product placement. Traditional Woman Gaga: It’s nice to have you ever again! CARYN GANZ