Grammys 2023: Beyoncé ties record for all-time awards as Kendrick ...

6 Feb 2023

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Benjamin Lee

Benjamin Lee

Here’s a look back at some of the wildest outfits and performances of the night:

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th GRAMMY Awards - ShowLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: In this image released on February 5, John Legend, Fridayy, and DJ Khaled performs onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

We’re closing out a show with a much-hyped DJ Khaled performance of God Did outside the stadium featuring Jay Z rapping for several minutes while seated at an absolutely packed banquet table. Also in attendance: Fridayy, John Legend, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne.

Noah appears behind Jay Z after the 8-minute performance to sign off for the evening, and that’s that!

WINNER: Harry Styles — Harry's House, album of the year

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

US-ENTERTAINMENT-MUSIC-GRAMMY-AWARD-SHOWEnglish singer-songwriter Harry Styles accepts the award for Album Of The Year for "Harrys House" during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Photograph: Valérie Macon/AFP/Getty Images

Harry’s superfan Reina announces his major, surprising win for album of the year (she got a massive hug, too). Harry appears stunned and at a loss for words – he opens with three bleeped ones. “I think on nights like tonight, it’s important for us to remember there is no such thing as best in music,” he said, seemingly aware of the optics of beating Beyoncé, who has still never won album of the year.

“This is really really kind, I’m so so grateful,” he added, before passing the mic to collaborators Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson.

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

Before we hear the night’s big award, album of the year, I forgot to mention that last segment of superfans: Jenn a “day-one kendrick fan” who attended his very first concert in Dallas and who was gifted a wheelchair-accessible vehicle by the rapper; Cole, who is “1,000% obsessed with ABBA” for helping his depression after his house burned down; Joey, a Coldplay fan because it’s “the first thing that felt like my own” in a big family; and DaJanae, who believes Mary J Blige has her back.

WINNER: Samara Joy, best new artist

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock (13752124nj) Best New Artist, Samara Joy 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023
Photograph: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

Last year’s best new artist Olivia Rodrigo passes the baton to 23-year-old jazz singer Samara Joy, who seems palpably thrilled. “I’ve been watching y’all on TV for so long” she said in a touching speech. She shouted out her family from the Bronx and the room full of musicians – “all of you have inspired me by who you are,” she said, and to “be here, by just being myself, just who I was born as, I’m so thankful.”

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

Some more information about Shervin Hajipour, the Iranian singer-songwriter who won the inaugural award for song for social change for his protest anthem Baraye.

Iran protest song that's become the soundtrack to civil uprising – video
WINNER: Lizzo — About Damn Time, record of the year

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th Annual Grammy Awards in Los AngelesLizzo accepts the Record Of The Year award for "About Damn Time" during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 5, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

A very enthusiastic (and surprised) Lizzo dedicated record of the year to fellow former Minneapolis resident Prince, whose death inspired her to “dedicate my life to making positive music.” She makes a dubious claim about making positive music at a time when “feel-good music wasn’t mainstream” (this was after Pharrell’s Happy) but her point of once feeling misunderstood hits.

To those feeling like they’re on the outside looking in, she advised to “just stay true to yourself” because you will find your people – a point that drew approving nods from Beyoncé, to whom Lizzo tearfully expressed her appreciation. “You changed my life,” she said, remembering how she skipped school to see her in concert, calling her “the artist of our lives” to lots of mutual affection and literal jumping for joy.

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock (13752124lj) First Lady Jill Biden 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023
Photograph: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

Before presenting to Bonnie Raitt, first lady Jill Biden took the stage to introduce a new award. “Best song for social change” recognizes a song that, as she said, “responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact.”

Of the 130,000 submissions, the Academy chose to honor Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour, whose song Baraye became an anthem for protests for freedom and women’s rights in Iran.

WINNER: Bonnie Raitt — Just Like That, song of the year

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock (13752124lb) Song of the Year, Bonnie Raitt - Just Like That 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023
Photograph: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

Bonnie Raitt looks genuinely shocked to have beat out Harry Styles, Lizzo and Taylor Swift, among others, for song of the year with her spare, emotional ballad Just Like That.

“I’m so surprised, I don’t know what to say,” she said, calling her win an “unreal moment” for a song inspired by organ donors, as well as the late singer-songwriter John Prine.

She also took a moment to shout out songwriters, the “soul-digging, hard-working people who put these ideas to music.”

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

It seems I wasn’t the only one moved by Quavo’s tribute to Takeoff, just a few months after his senseless shooting death at 28.

And Charlie Puth, whose song See You Again (a Fast and Furious tribute song for Paul Walker) was worked into Quavo’s Without You, posted this:

Wow… I just got chills hearing how they incorporated See You Again into Quavo’s performance for Takeoff. What an honor, thank you for using it.

— Charlie Puth (@charlieputh) February 6, 2023

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th GRAMMY Awards - ShowLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: Luke Combs performs onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

We’ve taken a long break from the sweet performer-selected introductions bit, but we’re back now with country singer Luke Combs’s former manager at the bar where he was a bouncer as a college student. “I’m so proud the entire world gets to witness what we got to witness night after night for a crowd of 75 people at my tavern,” he says before Combs take the stage for a twangy performance of Going, Going, Gone.

WINNER: Adele — Easy on Me, best pop solo performance

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th GRAMMY Awards - ShowLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: Adele accepts the Best Pop Solo Performance award for “Easy On Me” onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

“Get up here, best friend,” said presenter The Rock to his new bff Adele, with her first win of the evening. Dressed in a (fittingly) wine-colored gown, she tearfully thanked her son Angelo, to whom she dedicated the first single off 30.

“I wrote this first verse in the shower when I was choosing to change my son’s life,” she said, noting he’d been “nothing but loving and supportive” to her since.

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th GRAMMY Awards - ShowLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Busta Rhymes, Flavor Flav, and LL Cool J perform onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

And in the longest and most energizing segment of the night, the Grammys celebrated 50 years of hip-hop, as curated by Questlove of The Roots.

LL Cool J served as MC, recalling the night in 1973 when DK Kool Herc, then known by his given name Clive Campbell, cut and mixed tracks at his sister’s back-to-school party at an apartment in the Bronx. From there, 33 hip-hop artists from across generations took the stage, including: Run DMC, LL Cool J, Salt n Pepa, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, Missy Elliott, Nelly and Lil Baby for a no-holds-barred tribute.

Adrian Horton

Adrian Horton

65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock (13752124hx) Dr. Dre Global Impact Award 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 05 Feb 2023
Photograph: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock

LL Cool J has arrived to present the inaugural Dr Dre Global Impact Award to none other than Dr Dre himself. The hip-hop legend, accepting during what is considered the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, was “extremely moved by this award” and reflected on a 40-year career “doing something I really love.”

The award, established by the Recording Academy and the Black Music Collective, “uses my name to inspire the next generation of producers, artists and entrepreneurs to reach for their greatness and demand that from everyone around you,” said Dre. “Never compromise your vision at all. Pursue quality over quantity and remember that everything is important.”

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