As usual, the 66th annual Grammys awards by the Recording Academy didn’t fail to provide audience members and artists with a flurry of emotions this year.
Phoebe Bridgers won the most awards, picking up three of the coveted prizes with her band boygenius, and an additional for a feature on a SZA song. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum was SZA, who came into the ceremony with the most nominations (nine), but was shut out for the biggest distinctions—for Album of the Year (which went to Taylor Swift: “Midnights”), Record of the Year (Miley Cyrus:“Flowers”) and Song of the Year (Billie Eilish: “What Was I Made For?”)—but still left the ceremony with three trophies. Victoria Monét won Best New Artist while Swift’s album, “Midnights,” broke a Grammy record for most-ever Album of the Year wins by an individual artist.
Two of the evening’s strongest performances came from women who used piano to accompany their atmospheric tone and reach of their vocal registers. Billie Eilish silenced the crowd with her deep reading of “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie movie. Olivia Rodrigo stunned audiences with her vertigo-inducing high notes through her smash hit “Vampire.”
80-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell performed at her first-ever Grammy performance and proved to the world how underestimated and slighted she had been by the music industry throughout much of her career. She performed a rendition of her classis ballad “Both Sides Now” that was elegiac and nimble, backed by a loose jazz arrangement.
SZA accepted the best R&B song award for “Snooze” from her album SOS, but she almost missed her special moment. Not initially present when Lizzo first read her name, she frantically emerged from backstage, starting a personal and off-the-cuff acceptance speech that felt much more relatable than her over-staged performance. And in true fashion, she cut her speech short with the best one-liner of the night as she rushed off the stage: “I’m not an attractive crier—have a good evening!”
The night was also a night for women. A year of Swift, “Barbie,” SZA, boygenius and Cyrus’s “Flowers,” women were bound to make a strong showing at the Grammys. They didn’t just show up, however. Instead, they carried the evening, winning every competitive award and the most tallies were all for women. Yet speaking of women, the night’s best unannounced presenter graced the Grammy’s presence: Celine Dion. After announcing her diagnosis with “stiff-person’s syndrome”, a rare and debilitating neurological disease, she canceled all her concert dates. The iconic Canadian vocalist most notable for making the Titanic soundtrack has remained largely out of the public’s eye. However, she made a triumphant return as presenter for album of the year, recalling winning her own prize for “Falling Into You” back in 1997. A perfect way to finish off the evening, viewers both in-person and online felt an appropriate monarchical aura.
