That's all for now...
Well, what a show – in many ways the ideal awards show, mostly drama-free and well-run (save for a few sound issues) with amiable hosting by Trevor Noah. The night featured more awards than usual, fitting for a historic evening as Beyoncé tied, then beat the record for most all-time Grammy awards with 32. Yet that tally still does not include the night’s biggest award, album of the year, which surprisingly (or maybe, not that surprisingly) went to Harry Styles for Harry’s House. (Beyoncé, usually confined to the genre categories, picked up best dance/electronic music album.)
Other highlights from the evening included Lizzo’s bubbly speech for record of the year, a sweet acceptance by Samara Joy for best new artist, a devastating tribute performance by Quavo for his late fellow Migos member Takeoff, and the star-studded medley honoring 50 years of hip-hop.
The Emmys and Oscars could learn a thing or two from the Grammys, which was, awkward celebrity dancing aside, mostly chaos-free and actually fun. Here’s to hoping the other shows can keep up.
That’s it for us tonight. Thanks for tuning in!
The most awarded artist in Grammys history did not win the biggest award of the evening and people are not best pleased:
Beyonce has yet again been robbed AOTY. I cant rn #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/Y52rlKsGuI
— coreyn 💗 (@coreynmarie) February 6, 2023
Y’all begged Beyoncé to come and played in her face!!!!! What Beyoncé did on Renaissance Harry could NEVER!!!!! She gave black LGBTQ+ people a voice and gave us one of the greatest albums of 2022!!!!! bitch I’m mad
— 💫 (@heyjaeee) February 6, 2023
They play games with Beyonce' every damn year.
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) February 6, 2023
If you missed all of that then here’s a tidy summary of who won, lost, sang and was late because of LA traffic:
In case you missed it, here’s Beyoncé’s speech for her record-breaking 32nd Grammy award – best dance/electronic music album for Renaissance – making her the most-awarded artist of all time.
Beyoncé gives acceptance speech at the #Grammys for Renaissance: "I'd like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre." pic.twitter.com/t6t4Jk5r7x
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 6, 2023
Here’s a look back at some of the wildest outfits and performances of the night:
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
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.
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
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.”
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.
WINNER: Lizzo — About Damn Time, record of the year
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.
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
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.”
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.
QUAVO HOLDING TAKEOFF CHAIN IM CRYING 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 #Grammys2023 #GRAMMYs #quavo #TakeOff pic.twitter.com/rN0dj1jfY3
— Bria K. (@brialegit) February 6, 2023
Quavo’s tribute to Takeoff at the Grammy’s is worth 2 minutes of your time #RIPTakeoff pic.twitter.com/rxVvp98vIy
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) February 6, 2023
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
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
“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.
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.
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.”
A good question:
who felt that corden needed to be the person to hand beyonce her history making grammy. and why.
— Craig Bro Dude (@CraigSJ) February 6, 2023
Here’s Kim Petras’s full speech from earlier, as she became the first transgender woman to win the award for best pop group/duo performance, and only the second transgender woman to win a Grammy.
WINNER: Beyoncé — Renaissance, best dance/electronic music album
And that’s a new record! Beyoncé is now the most decorated Grammy artist of all time, winning her 32nd award for best dance/electronic music album. She’s here to accept this time, clearly emotional and “just trying to just receive this night.”
The new Grammys GOAT, as Noah put it following her speech, thanked God; her late Uncle Johnny, a gay man who inspired her dancehall album Renaissance; her parents “for loving me and pushing me” and her “beautiful” husband Jay Z and three children.
In line with her shout-out to Uncle Johnny, she ended with thanks for the queer community “for your love and for inventing the genre.”
Following a meandering introduction from Madonna shouting out troublemakers and rebels (and brandishing a whip), Sam Smith and Kim Petras take the stage for a performance of Unholy. It’s not one to please CBS viewers – Smith wore a top hat with devil horns, Petras performed in a cage, both were clad in entirely red leather and flicking their tongues – that comes on the heels of backlash to Smith’s sexualized body positivity in their new music video I’m Not Here To Make Friends.
We return briefly to the fan roundtable – as a reminder, it’s the new segment in which real people make the case for their album of the year – to meet three more superfans. There’s Christina, who admires Lizzo’s body confidence; Colyn, who cried when he saw Adele in Vegas and once successfully spun a DM with her into a visit to her music video premiere; and Adriana, who first fell in love with Brandi Carlile when she was leaving the Mormon church and praises the queer folk/rock/Americana singer’s encouragement to be yourself.
Time for the in memoriam segment – Kacey Musgraves honored country legend Loretta Lynn, who died in October at age 90, with a crystalline rendition of her song Coal Miner’s Daughter.
In an especially sad moment, Quavo, backed by Maverick City Music, sang Without You in memory of fellow Migos member Takeoff, who was shot and killed at age 28 in November. Quavo, who was Takeoff’s uncle, ends by holding up his chains, in what was for me the most touching moment of the evening so far.
And Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood, and Bonnie Raitt honored Fleetwood Mac member Christie McVie with a mournful version of Songbird.
WINNER: Kendrick Lamar – Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, best rap album
The rapper, the second-most nominated artist tonight with eight nods, deems the ceremony’s tables and wine satisfactory before thanking his family for giving him “the courage and the vulnerability to share my stories, to share my truth with this album” and the fans for “trusting me with these words.”
The 35-year-old also tipped “the culture, for allowing me to evolve and allow me to make a song like Mother I Sober, that’s special to me.”
Harry’s House producer and songwriter Kid Harpoon is the next performer-selected presenter, introducing “my friend Gary, or as you guys know him, Harry Styles.” Clad in a shimmery silver jumpsuit (his third outfit of the evening), Styles performed As It Was with choreography that mimicked the spinning wheel of the music video. The camera cuts to Taylor Swift, again (she’s standing and clapping).
Updated
Beyoncé is here! A fact that Trevor Noah appears eager to announce – he presents her 31st Grammy to her, casually sitting in the front row with Jay Z, no big deal.
WINNER: Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti, best música urbano album
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, says of his smash album Un Verano Sin Ti, “it’s easy because I just made this album with love and passion…and when you do things with love and passion, everything is easier. Life is easier.”
I unfortunately do not speak Spanish so I will be getting a translation for the rest of the speech, including his dedication to the people of Puerto Rico.
Not everyone was (visibly) enjoying the performance from Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Chris Stapleton – Twitter has pointed out that Ben Affleck looked like he would rather be…anywhere else.
Ben Affleck would rather be anywhere else than front row at the #Grammys2023 watching Stevie Wonder crush Higher Ground pic.twitter.com/82GwqZneNW
— Matt Wilstein (@mattwilstein) February 6, 2023
Ben Affleck looks like he’d rather be at Dunkin #Grammys pic.twitter.com/tpRxT3x4ZJ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 6, 2023
Every time the camera pans to Ben Affleck #Grammys pic.twitter.com/3jeiQS3woq
— wine mom yor forger🍷 (@autumnvelvets) February 6, 2023
WINNER: Sam Smith and Kim Petras — Unholy, best pop duo/group performance
Sam Smith cedes the floor to collaborator Kim Petras, who becomes the first transgender woman to win the award.
The German pop singer thanked “all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be her tonight.” She especially thanked her friend Sophie, the late trans hyperpop artist who died in an accidental fall in January 2021, and whose “inspiration will always be in my music.”
Petras also thanked Madonna – “I don’t think I could be here without Madonna” – and her mother, for supporting her as a trans youth.
A Barry Gordy and Smokey Robinson tribute performance by Robinson, Stevie Wonder and country star Chris Stapleton shredding on guitar has highlighted the awkwardness of the table set-up – many celebrities (Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Flavor Flav and others) are dancing to their own rhythm in the large space between tables.
Twitter is having fun with the idea that Beyoncé is late because she’s “stuck in traffic.”
taylor swift on her way to pick up beyoncé from the traffic pic.twitter.com/okuszZ4FCg
— nicky (@getawayonce) February 6, 2023
beyonce as cuff it was announced pic.twitter.com/xgDh4Gt6j8
— tia (@cursedhive) February 6, 2023
Beyoncé getting congratulations text while stuck in traffic pic.twitter.com/hRbI8GC3ia
— Nicolas is in distress (@niggaolas) February 6, 2023
beyoncé on her way to the grammys pic.twitter.com/5C3G658FMx
— wiLL (@willfulchaos) February 6, 2023
LA traffic after realizing they are making Beyoncé late pic.twitter.com/CVKJzci5XG
— yools (@PERSONABEY) February 6, 2023
Updated
In case you missed it, here’s video of Trevor Noah introducing Adele to The Rock, the one celebrity she’s wanted to meet but hasn’t, during the opening monologue.
.@Adele meets @TheRock for the very first time at the #Grammys pic.twitter.com/kM2ODZyKoc
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 6, 2023
WINNER: Willie Nelson — A Beautiful Time, best country album
Shania Twain, in a bright red wig, presents and accepts the award for best country album to 89-year-old Willie Nelson, who is not in attendance.
True to form, Taylor Swift has already provided numerous dance moments – she got on her feet for Bad Bunny’s performance, which Twitter has noted.
she was feeling bad bunny pic.twitter.com/qD7yZ1Jr7k
— NOSTALGIA (@notgwendalupe) February 6, 2023
No one:
— i love taylor swift (@tswiftogclub) February 6, 2023
Taylor Swift: 💃🏼💃🏼🪩 pic.twitter.com/Ss3YPRAtGK
WINNER: Beyoncé — Cuff It, best R&B song
“Beyoncé is on her way,” Noah reassures when she does not take the stage to accept her 31st Grammy award, tying the record for all-time wins. The host blames her absence on traffic (?) and Niles Rodgers, who plays on the Renaissance track, accepts on her behalf.
Updated
Another new bit for this year: a fan focus group for the album of the year award. The first clip from the roundtable introduces us to three of the superfans: a woman who feels Beyoncé’s Church Girl was written for her, another who adores “Benito” aka Bad Bunny, and a great-grandmother from Ontario who is Harry Styles’s #1 fan.
WINNER: Harry Styles — Harry's House, best pop vocal album
The night’s first award goes to Harry Styles for best pop vocal album. Styles described making Harry’s House with two of his best friends as “the greatest experience of my life” and playing it for people “the greatest joy I could’ve asked for.” More interesting: the camera cut to Taylor Swift for a reaction shot, which feels rude.
Updated
Trevor Noah is now on the floor of the Crypto.com arena, amid small round tables of A-list talent. The ex-Daily Show host – “I was so inspired by the lyrics of Break My Soul that I quit my job,” Noah joked – shouted out several of the superstars in attendance.
Among them: Harry Styles (“sex symbol of the globe, especially now that they’ve killed off the green M&M”); Kendrick Lamar, whose album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers was “a therapy session that earned him multiple Grammy nominations”; Lizzo, Taylor Swift and Adele, whom Noah surprise introduced to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Noah also explained the night’s conceit: performance introductions from people beloved to the performers themselves. First up, Brandi Carlile’s wife Catherine Shepherd and their two young children, introducing her performance of Broken Horses.
Bad Bunny has kicked off the show with a rousing Spanish-language performance that has brought dozens of dancers to the stage, cast in red and orange lighting. He’s already got the audience on their feet – Taylor Swift is dancing, Jack Harlow is in the aisle, we’ve caught at least one glimpse of Adele in the audience – the party is on.
It begins!
And the 2023 Grammys are underway! Host Trevor Noah appeared on the roof of a building outside the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles – “the best city in the world if you ignore other cities” – to introduce the night’s first performer, Bad Bunny.
The Guardian’s music writers, Shaad D’Souza and Laura Snapes, took a stab at who will win (and who should win) this year’s awards.
Here are more looks from the red carpet:
Cardi B has hit the tail end of the red carpet with a cobalt blue, structured dress that partly functions as a very glamorous visor.
A controversial pre-telecast award: Dave Chappelle wins best comedy album for his special The Closer, which drew criticism for being transphobic. In the Netflix special, released in October 2021, Chappelle defended the rapper DaBaby after his homophobic on-stage rant, and declared himself “team TERF.” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos issued two staff memos defending the special; in response, a number of Netflix employees participated in a virtual walkout timed with an in-person protest at the company’s LA offices.
Chappelle’s Grammy, his fourth, comes a year after Louis CK won the same award for Sincerely Louis CK, his first special since several women went public with stories of sexual misconduct by the comedian.
Our man on the ground Rob LeDonne spoke to ceremony producer Ben Winston to find out what we might be able to expect from tonight’s big show.
“The show is going to be really packed and strong,” he says. “When you have albums like we’ve had, it’s a gift in a massive way. And also quite nerve-racking.”
You can read more here:
Viola Davis has become part of the highly exclusive EGOT club tonight after winning a Grammy for the audiobook of her memoir Finding Me. David previously won an Emmy for How to Get Away with Murder, an Oscar for Fences and two Tony awards, for King Hedley II and Fences. “It has just been such a journey,” she said in accepting the award. “I just EGOT!”
There are so many performances during the Grammys that many awards are announced before the telecast. Here are some of the major winners from before the show even starts:
Best dance/electronic performance – Beyoncé, Break My Soul
Best traditional R&B performance – Beyoncé, Plastic Off the Sofa
Best rap song – Kendrick Lamar, The Heart Part 5
Best rap performance – Kendrick Lamar, The Heart Part 5
Best melodic rap performance – Future Featuring Drake & Tems - Wait for U
Best Latin rock or alternative album – Rosalía, Motomami
Best rock performance – Brandi Carlile, Broken Horses
Best rock song – Brandi Carlile, Broken Horses
Best rock album – Ozzy Osbourne, Patient Number 9
Best R&B album – Robert Glasper, Black Radio III
Best country song – Cody Johnson, ‘Til You Can’t
Best compilation soundtrack for visual media – Encanto
Harry Styles is here in what appears to be a glittery version of his Love On Tour overalls.
Beyoncé has yet to arrive, but she’s already on her way to the all-time Grammys record, with two awards announced before the ceremony. Her wins for traditional R&B performance (for the sensual Renaissance track Plastic Off the Sofa) and dance/electronic recording (for Break My Soul) brings her to 30 total Grammys and breaks her tie with Quincy Jones for the second most Grammy awards of all time. She needs only two more to beat Hungarian-British orchestral composer Georg Solti, who has 31.
Sam Smith is operating in a unit tonight, with an all-red squad including Kim Petras, Violet Chachki and Gottmik
This is Trevor Noah’s third consecutive year hosting the Grammys (and also the third year for producer Ben Winston, creator of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke, who took over from longtime showrunner Ken Ehrlich in 2021). Noah, fresh off his retirement from The Daily Show in December, has promised a bigger and better show this time around.
“Obviously, the first time was a show designed specifically for a pandemic, and then, the second year was everyone recovering from a pandemic,” he told Essence this week. “So it feels like this year’s going to be a huge celebration.”
In the same interview, Winston said the show would differ from years past by including introductions by “people who really matter to the performer” and by “focusing heavily on the Album of the Year.” The competition for the night’s biggest award is stiff: Beyoncé, Adele, Bad Bunny, Abba, Brandi Carlile, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, Coldplay, Lizzo and Mary J Blige.
As mentioned, Beyoncé leads the 2023 Grammys with nine nominations, including the night’s top award, album of the year, for her dancehall celebration Renaissance. She’s followed by Kendrick Lamar, who scored eight nominations, including in the album, record and song of the year categories.
Adele, who beat Beyoncé for album of the year in 2017 (25, over Lemonade), garnered seven nominations, as did Brandi Carlile.
Harry Styles, DJ Khaled, Future, The-Dream, Randy Merrill and Mary J Blige received six nominations each. It’s the first time in 16 years that Blige has received nominations for record and album.
See the full list of nominees below:
Taylor Swift has arrived in a very Midnights themed outfit – not lavender or maroon but navy blue with twinkling sequins.
Swift’s record-smashing album Midnights was released three weeks too late for Grammy consideration, but she’s still up for four awards: song of the year for All Too Well (10 Minute Version), best country song for I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault), best song written for visual media for her song from Where the Crawdads Sing, and best music video for her All Too Well short film.
Lizzo is here for the “hard launch” of her boyfriend Myke Wright in a full-coverage floral cape that looks … sweltering.
It does appear to unzip, though:
Updated
Shania Twain is here! Wearing … this. Somehow she’s more recognizable in a red wig and giant polka dots than when she went platinum blonde earlier this week.
Updated
The largest question hanging over the 2023 Grammys is a familiar one: will Beyoncé show up? She leads the pack with nine nominations for her genre- and era-spanning album Renaissance, tying her for most all-time nominations with her husband, Jay Z, at 88 apiece.
Points for a performance: she announced the Renaissance tour this week, which will surely break LiveNation; she is fresh to performing after her first concert in four years, a controversial return to the stage in Dubai; she has yet to perform any material from Renaissance publicly. Points against: she has never won album of the year, an injustice that could make her disinclined to participate.
Beyoncé did attend in 2021, when she became the most decorated singer (male or female) and most decorated female artist of all time, with 28 career Grammy wins. She is currently tied for second place, all time, with producer Quincy Jones, and could potentially top conductor Georg Solti’s record of 31 wins.
Here we go...
The Grammys never technically took a break for Covid – if you remember, the 2020 show was held on the night of Kobe Bryant’s death that January, and the delayed 2021 and 2022 ceremonies took place with Covid precautions – but this is the first year the Grammys are back. As in: a week of parties, a return to the single room in LA’s Crypto.com arena, and no looming shadow from either the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, which headlined last year’s show via video message from Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The Grammys have been slow to reveal their hand this year, with only a few of the performers confirmed in the week preceding the show. So far, we know that at least Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Mary J Blige, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy, and Lizzo and Sam Smith (with Kim Petras) will take the stage. Will Beyoncé show up, let alone perform? Will Adele and Taylor Swift attend? Will there be, as in years past, prominent Grammys detractors (a la Drake) in notable absentia? All questions that remain TBD.
