Month: February 2023

Stars descended on L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena on Sunday (Feb. 5) for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, with everyone from Bad Bunny and Lizzo to Harry Styles and Mary J. Blige taking the stage to perform.

And now that this year’s biggest night in music has officially come and gone, Billboard wants to know which star-studded performance still had you talking come Monday morning.

The artist otherwise known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio opened the ceremony with a delightful mash-up of “El Apagón” and “Después de la Playa” off his bestselling album Un Verano Sin Ti, paying tribute to his native Puerto Rico with a colorful entourage of cabezudos and merengue dancers.

Ahead of her win for record of the year, Lizzo brought the house down with a joyful revisiting of “About Damn Time” and the title track off Special, just before Styles recreated the music video for “As It Was” by bringing the giant red turntable to the stage.

Of course, one of the most-talked-about moments of the night came when LL Cool J introduced the all-star tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, which brought pioneers and legends such as Salt-N-Pepa, Public Enemy, Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes together with the new guard of GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Baby for a 23-song medley that was nothing short of electrifying — gigantic Ruff Ryders flag flying high about the Grammys stage included.

This year’s In Memoriam segment was also particularly touching as Quavo memorialized the late Takeoff in between Kacey Musgraves‘ restrained performance of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” for Loretta Lynn and Mick Fleetwood teaming up with Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt to honor Christine McVie with “Songbird.”

Elsewhere in the telecast, Sam Smith and Kim Petras opened the gates of hell for “Unholy” after making history with their win for best pop duo/group performance, Blige belted out “Good Morning Gorgeous” looking nothing less than absolutely glam, and DJ Khaled rounded up a rogue’s gallery of Fridayy, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne John Legend and Jay-Z to close out the show with “God Did.”

Vote for your favorite musical number of the 2023 Grammys in Billboard‘s official poll below!

As he was during his acceptance speech at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday night (Jan. 5) after winning album of the year for his Harry’s House LP, after the broadcast Harry Styles was humble and gracious in talking about coming out on top over some serious competition. In a press room interview following the awards, Styles was asked by Billboard about the many headlines going into the night focused on the possibility that Beyoncé would finally score an album of the year prize for her dance-heavy Renaissance collection.

“I think… you never know with this stuff… I don’t think you can look at any of the nominees and not feel like they’re deserving,” said Styles while cradling his golden gramophone in his left hand. “When I look at this category it’s all people who’ve inspired me at different times. It’s not like.. you would understand anyone winning. I’m really grateful they chose us.”

Styles won out over albums from Bey, Adele (30), a rebooted ABBA (Voyage), Bad Bunny (Un Verano Sin Ti) Mary J. Blige (Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe), Brandi Carlile (In These Silent Days), Coldplay (Music of the Spheres), Kendrick Lamar (Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers) and Lizzo (Special). Styles also took home the best pop vocal album award for House. And though Queen Bey was thwarted a fourth time in her bid for an AOTY honor, she became the most-decorated artist in Grammy history when she scooped her 32nd trophy for best dance/electronic album on Sunday; her win vaulted the singer over late conductor Georg Solti for most Grammy wins of all-time.

At the same press appearance, Styles was asked if he and his co-producers (Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson) have begun work on the follow-up to Harry’s House. “We’ve always tried to not really stop writing because it feels like you have this big stop and then you come back to it and it can feel like you’re either trying to prove something or trying to follow something up, so we’re kind of just always writing.”

Check out Harry’s answer below.

Kim Petras may “never cause no drama,” but she’s certainly ready to put an end to it.

At Sunday night’s Grammys (Feb. 5), Petras and Sam Smith took home the award for best pop duo/group performance, making Petras the first transgender winner in the category. In a press conference following her win, the pop singer said that she couldn’t help but think about the people who told her she wouldn’t make it.

“All these years are going through my head of people saying I would be a ‘niche artist’ because I’m transgender and my music would only ever play in gay clubs,” she said, adding that gay clubs “raised” her. “Now, I got a Grammy for making gay club music with my friend, and that’s the best feeling in the world.”

When asked what she hoped people watching could take away from her historic victory, Petras offered up a plea for greater understanding. “Honestly, I just think people need to judge less,” she said. “I hope that there’s a future where gender and identity and all these labels don’t matter that much. I hope all the kids that saw this that are special or different or feel like they don’t belong … feel inspired that, ‘Yes, you can be yourself and get rewarded for your talent rather than your gender or your sexuality.’”

While many watching were excited by the prospect of Petras earning her first Grammy, others online were getting fired up over her performance with Smith. Conservatives online referred to the pair’s fire-and-brimstone performance as “satanic,” with Senator Ted Cruz even weighing in to call the live number “evil.”

As Petras tells it, that was very much the point of their presentation. “It’s a take on not being able to choose religion, and not being able to live the way that people might want you to live,” she said matter-of-factly. “I think a lot of people have labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as ‘religiously not cool.’ I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it, but then slowly realizing it doesn’t want me to be a part of it.”

Petras saved her kindest words backstage for Smith, referring to the singer as “a very special friend” and thanking them for their support since the outset of her career. “It’s really special to share this with someone who’s given me such important advice in my life, who has helped me in dealing with the opinions of people,” she said. “So, yeah, Sam will never get rid of me and we will always sing this song for eternity.”

Check out Petras’ full backstage press conference at the 2023 Grammys above.

It’s a little funny — though maybe not to her or her fans — to think about how Beyoncé, now literally the most-awarded artist in Grammy history after her four wins on Sunday (Feb. 5), is also now the figure most associated with long-suffering frustration on Music’s Biggest Night.

Despite her 32 career victories — mostly across the R&B and pop categories (and even a Big Four win, song of the year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” in 2010) — the discourse surrounding the Grammys has increasingly titled towards album of the year being considered, particularly for veteran stars, as the only award of true Recording Academy validation. It’s almost become like the NBA, where discussion of a player’s regular-season accomplishments is constantly held in the shadow of how many championships they’ve won, if any. And Beyoncé, despite her three prior album of the year nominations and general reputation as one of this century’s greatest album artists, had still yet to win the big one going into this year’s ceremonies.

It was a fact not lost on the producers, host or other nominees of this year’s Grammys — where, of course, Beyoncé was once again up for the top prize, this time for her unanimously acclaimed Renaissance set. Queen Bey’s regal presence was hyped up for at least an hour before she actually arrived at the awards — Trevor Noah joking about the L.A. traffic and promising “she’s on the way!” when she was nowhere to be found upon her “Cuff It” winning best R&B song early in the proceedings. Her record-breaking fourth win on the evening was much teased throughout the evening, and once it arrived (with Renaissance taking best dance/electronic album), much celebrated, including by an emotional Bey herself. Upon “About Damn Time” beating Renaissance single “Break My Soul” for record of the year, Lizzo paid special tribute to the artist she said she’d skipped her 5th grade literature class to see live decades earlier, calling her “the artist of our lives.” The spotlight on the album of the year award just got brighter and brighter throughout the proceedings, and whoever would ultimately rise up to accept it: Beyoncé or Not Beyoncé.

And when host Noah handed the microphone to 78-year-old Harry Styles superfan Reina to read the name of the winner, it was pretty clear Not Beyoncé would triumph for another year. The surprise win for Styles’ Harry’s House — as much as it can be considered a surprise when a monstrously successful and largely acclaimed album by one of the world’s biggest stars achieves basically anything — and fourth straight loss for Beyoncé may lead to a lot of tough questions for the Grammys in the days ahead.

Of course, it must be said that as much as the Grammys are often discussed as if the producers themselves are the ones autonomously deciding to reward artists of their choosing, the Recording Academy in fact has thousands of voting members — from all across various backgrounds and genres within the industry — who vote on the awards, with a variety of voting interests beyond what winners would be best for the Academy. And Beyoncé is far from the only all-time great to never take home album of the year; from Pink Floyd and Elton John to Prince and Madonna to Jay-Z and fellow 2023 nominee Kendrick Lamar, legends from nearly every genre and era can rightfully claim to have been unfairly snubbed in the category.

But Beyoncé’s continued shutout within the category, after being at least a co-favorite in each of her last three nominations, will certainly raise concerns about whether the right voting system (or voting body) is currently in place — either to recognize Beyoncé specifically or contemporary hip-hop and R&B artists in general. And at a time when superstars like Drake and The Weeknd are increasingly outspoken about their distrust of the Grammys, it’s also worth wondering how the Recording Academy will ever be able to prove credibility with fans or artists if the century’s most universally beloved and venerated pop artist keeps getting passed over for the Grammys’ biggest prize.

Grammy post-game discussions about why one album didn’t win invariably end up being unfair to the one that actually did. While the Recording Academy has long been accused of being out of touch with pop’s mainstream, that’s certainly not a credible criticism with regards to Harry’s House — one of the best-performing and best-liked pop albums released in 2022. It’s not an album many would argue necessarily pushed top 40 forward, and it was certainly less musically expansive than Renaissance (or other sets nominated from Bad Bunny and Lamar) but it was also undeniably vital to the year’s culture, and one with millions of passionate supporters no doubt elated today to see it awarded the music industry’s highest annual honor. As far as AOTY winners go, it’s nowhere near a catastrophic or indefensible choice. But it’s still Not Beyoncé — and in 2023, when the Queen has also has a rapturously received album up for the honors, that’s enough to make its selection controversial.

Styles additionally did himself (and the Academy) no favors with a bit of wording in his acceptance speech he’d perhaps like to have back, where he claimed that this kind of win “doesn’t happen to people like me very often.” He likely intended “people like me” to mean former boy band or teen-pop stars, in which case, he certainly wasn’t wrong; Big Four Grammy success has rarely come to anyone outside of Michael Jackson from those worlds. But as artists from so many marginalized groups are fighting so hard to be properly recognized and represented in the industry’s mainstream, for a good-looking cis white man — who’s spent nearly his entire career at the top — to claim any kind of underdog or outsider status doesn’t quite track, especially when a Black woman like Beyoncé — who’s been around for decades longer than Styles, at a consistently sky-high commercial and artistic level — still can’t get through that door.

It’s all also probably a little unfair to the Recording Academy, given the diverse spate of winners across their major categories this year. Black women did take two of the Big Four, with pop star Lizzo an ecstatic winner of record of the year and jazz singer Samara Joy emerging from the most wide-open best new artist race of recent years. While blues-rock veteran Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” might not have been the most culturally urgent song of the year winner — it was the only of the 10 nominees to not reach the Billboard Hot 100 — it was a nice moment of recognition for an artist whose musical excellence has long outlasted her top 40 relevance (particularly in a songwriters category, where she hasn’t always been recognized). And it’s worth noting that while Styles’ gender and background may always give him a leg up in industry races like this, there’s hardly been a parade of white men taking home album of the year at the Grammys recently; Beck was the last one to win, for Morning Light in 2015. (Guess who else was nominated that year, natch.)

The Grammys did paint themselves in a little bit of a corner with this year’s ceremony, though — both via the incredible emphasis placed on Beyoncé Watch throughout the evening’s proceedings, and with the massive hyping of this album of the year race. The award was given even greater focus this year than usual, thanks to a series of pre-filmed videos interspersed throughout the show, in which superfans of each of the 10 nominated artists pleaded their case for their fav to take home the honor, with the 10 fans (including victorious Reina) also appearing at the awards themselves. The combination made it feel like the entire rest of the evening — awards, performances and all — was just a prelude to the album of the year showdown, and that it wasn’t so much a 10-way competition for the top prize as it was Beyoncé vs. The Field.

And it also didn’t help that this year’s Grammys…. well, they really coulda used a Beyoncé win to give the show a little bit of an enduring identity. Despite running for over three and a half hours, the show often felt like it was a little thin on must-see material — with a lot of the biggest stars (Adele, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé herself) deciding they were better off spending the night as attendees rather than performers, and recurring bits like the album of the year segments (and performers getting extended introductions from real-life friends) starting to feel like more like padding as the evening progressed. There were still jaw-dropping moments, like Bad Bunny’s incendiary show-opening mega-mambo, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ unprecedented win for non-binary and trans visibility, and a truly historic collection of rap legends passing the mic down the timeline for the show’s hip-hop 50th anniversary celebration, but they were far apart and felt disconnected. A closing Beyoncé win really would’ve tied the show together.

It wasn’t to be for 2023, though, and it’s hard to imagine what year it will be for at this point. If Beyoncé wasn’t willing to commit to a performance (or even necessarily an appearance) ahead of time this year — even in a year she was highly likely to make Grammy history regardless of whether or not she took home AOTY — perhaps next time she’s nominated, she won’t even be in the building, making it an unmitigated disaster for the Grammys whether she wins or not. It’s not right that the state of the Grammys should be tied this directly to the success of one artist in one category, but when that artist and that category are both given such an outsized degree of focus, it’s not exactly surprising, either. And if they’re going to continue down this path, they’re going to continue to find themselves in boiling-hot water when the “artist of our lives” isn’t the final artist called to their winners’ circle.

Beyoncé won four awards at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 5), upping her career total to 32, which is more than anyone else in Grammy history. Bey surpasses the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti, who amassed 31 Grammys between 1963 and 1998. Solti died in 1997.

But Beyoncé lost album of the year for Renaissance. It’s her fourth loss in the category, following losses to Taylor Swift, Beck and Adele. Kendrick Lamar also lost album of the year for the fourth time (as a lead artist) with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Like Beyoncé, he did well overall, with three wins. But the losses in the top category are likely to rankle their fans.

Beyoncé was vying to become the first Black female artist to win album of the year as a lead artist since Lauryn Hill took the prize in 1999 for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Lamar was vying to become the first solo male rapper ever to win in the category. Only two rap or hip-hop albums have ever won the award – Hill’s acclaimed set and OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Only one other artist in Grammy history (besides Beyoncé and Lamar) has gone 0-4 in album of the year: Sting was nominated once with The Police and three times on his own and lost all four times.

Beyoncé and Maverick City Music were the night’s top winners with four awards each. Brandi Carlile, Kirk Franklin and Kendrick Lamar and Bonnie Raitt were close behind, with three each.

Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” won record of the year. It’s her first win in a Big Four category, but she’s a proven Grammy favorite. Her breakthrough smash “Truth Hurts” won best pop solo performance three years ago – resulting in Billie Eilish’s only loss on her big night, where she became the first artist in 39 years to sweep the Big Four categories. 

Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” was the upset winner of song of the year. It’s the first song of the year winner written by a solitary songwriter since Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” 15 years ago. This is Raitt’s second win in a Big Four category. At the 1990 telecast, Raitt’s Nick of Time was also an upset winner for album of the year. Grammy voters plainly love Raitt. “Just Like That” also won best American roots song. “Made Up Mind” won best Americana performance.

Samara Joy was an upset winner for best new artist. She’s the second jazz artist to win in the category, following Esperanza Spalding 12 years ago. Several of this year’s other nominees were thought to have a better chance of winning, especially Latto, Maneskin, Anitta, Wet Leg and Muni Long.

Adele won best pop solo performance for a record-extending fourth time for her smash ballad “Easy on Me.” She had previously won in the category with “Rolling in the Deep,” “Set Fire to the Rain” and “Hello.” Adele wound up going 1-6 on the night, but that shouldn’t be a source of concern for the singer or her fans. If she had swept the Big Three awards for a third time, that would likely have caused her more career woes in the form of backlash. Now people can relax and not blame Adele for blocking other artists’ path to Grammy glory.

Taylor Swift also had mixed results on the night. She lost song of the year for the sixth time, but “All Too Well: The Short Film” won for best music video. It’s the first video solely directed by the artist to win in this category. Four prior winners had been co-directed by the artist – Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control,” OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again,” Kendrick Lamar’s Humble.” and Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” (a collab with Wizkid and Blue Ivy). Smith may well be nominated for song of the year – for what would be a record seventh time – next year for “Anti-Hero.”

Jack Antonoff won producer of the year, non-classical for the second year in a row. The only other producers to win consecutive awards in this category (which dates to 1974) are Babyface (1995-97) and Greg Kurstin (2016-17).

Ashley McBride & Ashley Pearce’s “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” won best country duo/group performance. It’s the first time an all-female group or collab has won in this category, which was introduced 11 years ago.

New artists did well in the voting. Four best new artist candidates won awards in their home categories. Wet Leg won two awards – best alternative music album for Wet Leg and best alternative music performance for “Chaise Longue.” Muni Long won best R&B performance for “Hrs & Hrs”; Samara Joy won best jazz vocal album for Linger Awhile, Molly Tuttle won best bluegrass album for Crooked Tree (a collab with Golden Highway).

Robert Glasper’s Black Radio III won best R&B album, 10 years after Robert Glasper Experiment’s Black Radio took the prize. This marks the first time an album and a sequel to that album have both won in this category. The only other repeat winners in the category are Alicia Keys and John Legend, with three awards each, and TLC and D’Angelo, also with two.

Dr. Dre was the first recipient of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Dre has won seven Grammys in competition. In 2001, he became the first hip-hop producer to win producer of the year, non-classical.

Several artists achieved breakthroughs in their categories. Kim Petras won best pop duo/group performance for “Unholy,” a collab with Sam Smith, becoming the first transgender artist to win in the category. Germaine Franco won best score soundtrack for visual media for Encanto, becoming the first woman of color to win in that category. Michael Repper, conductor of the New York Youth Symphony, won best orchestral performance. In accepting the award, he said it was the first time a youth orchestra has ever won in the category.

Into the Woods (2022 Broadway cast recording) won best musical theater album, 35 years after the original production of the Stephen Sondheim show won in the category. Into the Woods is the fourth show to spawn two winning albums in this category. The first three were Gypsy, Les Misérables and West Side Story.

Judith Sherman won producer of the year, classical for the seventh time, which puts her in a tie with David Frost, Steven Epstein and David Frost for the most wins in the category (which dates to 1979). The producer of the year, non-classical award was launched five years earlier, but no one has won it more than four times. (Babyface is the only four-time winner.) And no woman has ever won it.

Viola Davis became an EGOT, thanks to her Grammy win for the audio book of Finding Me. Davis is the third Black woman to complete the EGOT, following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson. Davis is the 18th person to EGOT. Davis previously won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a dramatic series for How to Get Away With Murder (2015), an Oscar for best supporting actress for Fences (2016) and two Tonys — featured actress in a play for King Hedley II (2001) and lead actress in a play for Fences (2010).