Joni Mitchell performing a heart-rending version of her hit “Both Sides Now.” Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs dueting on her iconic “Fast Car.” Billy Joel becoming the piano man again for a performance of his first new song in almost two decades.
Those were just a few of the riveting highlights during the 3 ½ hour Grammy Awards telecast on CBS and Paramount+ Sunday night hosted by Trevor Noah from Crypto.com arena (formerly Staples Center) in a rainy Los Angeles.
And then there was the arrival on stage of Celine Dion, presenting the album of the year award only to be snubbed by Taylor Swift – who made history by being the first person to ever garner four AOTY awards, while totally ignoring Dion, who is battling a serious medical condition.
Swift was reamed for the oversight and later posed in huggy photos with Dion backstage. She also used the occasion to announce the release of her next album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on April 19.
It was a stark contrast to the way Miley Cyrus received her first-ever Grammy from presenter Mariah Carey, with Cyrus saying she was rain-delayed getting to the ceremony and concerned not because she might miss the award but because she’d miss seeing Carey.
Cyrus went on to win her second Grammy, for record of the year for her hit song “Flowers.” During her performance of it, she shouted out “I just won my first Grammy!”
She and Swift go down in the history books as part of an all-female slate winning every single top category of the awards, alongside Billie Eilish, SZA, Karol G, Lainie Wilson and Victoria Monet, who scored the trophy for best new artist.
Another much-remarked upon moment was Jay-Z accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. With his daughter Blue Ivy in tow on stage and wife Beyoncé in a cowboy hat looking on from the audience, Hov used the occasion to diss the Recording Academy for never giving Beyoncé album of the year – although she has 32 Grammys, the most of anyone to her name.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys, never won album of the year. That doesn’t work,” the hip hop icon said, without mentioning his wife’s name.
“You know, some of you gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in a category. No, when I get nervous I tell the truth,” he added, to audible gasps from the star-studded audience.
But it was Billy Joel who brought it all back home, first taking the piano to perform his new song, “Turn the Lights Back On,” accompanied by a string section and then closing out the show with “You May Be Right.”
Here are the nominees and winners of the major categories:
Best pop solo performance
- Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” — Winner
- Doja Cat, “Paint the Town Red”
- Billie Eilish,”What Was I Made For?”
- Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”
- Olivia Rodrigo, “Vampire”
Best música urbana album
- Karol G, “Mañana Será Bonito” — Winner
- Rauw Alejandro, “Saturno”
- Tainy, “Data”
Best country album
- Lainey Wilson, “Bell Bottom Country” — Winner
- Kelsea Ballerini, “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat”
- Brothers Osborne, “Brothers Osborne”
- Zach Bryan, “Zach Bryan”
- Tyler Childers, “Rustin’ in the Rain”
Best R&B song
- SZA, “Snooze” — Winner
- Victoria Monét, “On My Mama”
- Coco Jones, “ICU”
- Robert Glasper Featuring SiR & Alex Isley, “Back to Love”
- Halle, “Angel”
Best pop vocal album
- Taylor Swift, “Midnights” — Winner
- Kelly Clarkson, “chemistry”
- Miley Cyrus, “Endless Summer Vacation”
- Olivia Rodrigo, “GUTS”
- Ed Sheeran, “- (Subtract)”
Song of the year
- “What Was I Made For?” (from the motion picture “Barbie”)– Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish) — Winner
- “A&W”– Jack Antonoff, Lana Del Rey & Sam Dew, songwriters (Lana Del Rey)
- “Anti-Hero” – Jack Antonoff & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
- “Butterfly” – Jon Batiste & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Jon Batiste)
- “Dance the Night” (from “Barbie The Album”)– Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Dua Lipa)
- “Flowers”– Miley Cyrus, Gregory Aldae Hein & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Miley Cyrus)
- “Kill Bill”– Rob Bisel, Carter Lang & Solána Rowe, songwriters (SZA)
- “vampire” – Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Oliva Rodrigo)
Best new artist
- Victoria Monét — Winner
- Gracie Abrams
- Fred again..
- Ice Spice
- Jelly Roll
- Coco Jones
- Noah Kahan
- The War and Treaty
Record of the year
- “Flowers” – Miley Cyrus — Winner
- “Worship” – Jon Batiste
- “Not Strong Enough” – boygenius
- “What Was I Made For?” [from the motion picture “Barbie”] – Billie Eilish
- “On My Mama” – Victoria Monét
- “vampire” – Olivia Rodrigo
- “Anti-Hero” – Taylor Swift
- “Kill Bill” – SZA
Album of the year
- “Midnights,” Taylor Swift — Winner
- “World Music Radio,” Jon Batiste
- “the record,” boygenius
- “Endless Summer Vacation,” Miley Cyrus
- “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” Lana Del Rey
- “The Age of Pleasure,” Janelle Monáe
- “GUTS,” Olivia Rodrigo
- “SOS,” SZA
