Grammy awards fulfill expectations with some surprises

Katherine Kang, Staff Writer

The Grammy is an award presented by the Recording Academy and is considered one of the music industry’s highest honors. The 64th Grammy Awards show was held on Apr. 3, at which presenters announced the winners of 86 music categories and several popular musicians gave performances.

This year’s most decorated artist was Jon Batiste, who was nominated in 11 categories and won in five. Among his awards were We Are for Album Of The Year, “Freedom” for Best Music Video and “Cry” for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song. His composition for the soundtrack of Disney’s Soul was also tied for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media.

Silk Sonic, a new music duo composed of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, received similar success at the awards ceremony. Their debut single, “Leave The Door Open,” was the winner of four categories, sweeping Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Silk Sonic also opened the Grammys with their performance of “777,” setting the tone for that night with an explosive start.

Another big winner of this year’s Grammys was Olivia Rodrigo. Nominated in seven categories, Rodrigo earned awards in Best Pop Vocal Album for Sour, Best Pop Solo Performance for “drivers license” and Best New Artist. While balancing the three trophies in her arms for pictures, one dropped and snapped in two, leaving the internet to connect this incident to Taylor Swift in the 2012 Grammys.

Billie Eilish was an artist that many expected to win, especially after being the second person to sweep the “Big Four” awards (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist) at the 2020 Grammys. However, despite being nominated in seven categories, she ended up walking home empty-handed this year.

While fans of Lil Nas X and Justin Bieber were sad to see their artists similarly shut out from winning any awards, no other fanbase seemed more disappointed than the BTS ARMY. The K-Pop boy band’s hit song “Butter” was nominated and anticipated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. BTS has only been nominated one other time in 2021, but like last year, they again were unable to take home a Grammy.

The award for that category was instead given to Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More.” This was both artists’ first win at the Grammys, and they also gave a very memorable acceptance speech at the awards ceremony. SZA walked onto the stage on crutches with what she thought were sprained ankles, but she later revealed they were actually broken. Doja Cat then rushed next to her, almost missing her award because of a bathroom break: “I have never taken such a fast piss.”

Big news for rock was Foo Fighters winning all three of their nominations in Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album. Sadly, these awards were announced only a week after Taylor Hawkins, the band’s drummer, passed away. Foo Fighters scheduled performance at the Grammys was thus canceled, and a tribute was instead made to honor Hawkins.

The winner for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella turned out to be a surprising W for video game lovers. The award was given to The 8-Bit Big Band for their cover of “Meta Knight’s Revenge” from Kirby Superstar. This also makes Kirby the only Nintendo character to win a Grammy award!

Finally, an unexpected win in Best Musical Theater Album was given to Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow for “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.” This marks the first Grammy-winning album to originate on TikTok, as this project first went viral thanks to the platform. As the opportunities presented from internet success continue to grow, it will not be surprising to see more “TikTok music” win in future Grammys.