Music’s biggest night finally took to the stage on April 3 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Recording Academy postponed the event in January due to an increase of Covid-19 cases. The 64th Annual Grammy Awards aired on CBS at 8pm and welcomed back last year’s host, Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show.”
“From what I remember of last year’s Grammys, they were affected by Covid, so it wasn’t as much of a spectacle as this years,” said junior Matthew Sullivan.
There were 15 performances throughout the night, including Silk Sonic’s “777,” J Balvin and Maria Becerra’s “Qué Más Pues?” and Justin Bieber’s “Peaches,” featuring Giveon and Daniel Caesar.
“I especially liked Lil Nas X’s and Jon Batiste’s,” said Sullivan.
BTS, the South Korean boyband performed their hit “Butter,” which Billboard ranked as top performance of the night.
“The Grammy-nominated septet took their ‘criminal undercover’ lyrics to a whole new level with their 007-inspired performance of their Billboard Hot 100-topping track,” reported Billboard. “Proving that their creativity is equally as impressive as their musical talent.”
Among the winners were Jon Baptiste’s “We Are” for Album of The Year, Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” for Record of The Year, and Doja Cat featuring SZA’s “Kiss Me More” for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
There was some controversy surrounding the show, including questioning behind Best Rap Album being taken out of the main event.
“Tyler the Creator wasn’t able to accept his award on the television broadcast because the Grammy’s decided that his award didn’t matter enough to make the main broadcast,” said Sullivan.
While the focus was on music, artists were not afraid to flaunt their looks on the red carpet.
The New York Times described Billie Eilish as a “Gothic conceptualist in a black Rick Owens coat with a neckline that seemed to have migrated to her torso, thus suggesting everyone’s perspective had flipped sort of sideways.”
Sophomore Kate Bahojr said “Doja’s look was my favorite. I thought both outfits she wore fit her vibe beautifully and made her glow.”
Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion recreated Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s iconic 1998 MTV Video Music Awards moment while presenting Best New Artist to Olivia Rodrigo, by showing up in the same Versace dress.
“That was a great tribute to Mariah and Whitney’s moment in the 90’s,” said Bahojr. “It was so memorable how Donatella Versace came onto the stage to fix Meg and Dua Lipa’s looks, promoting Versace’s dynamic fashion.”
Adjunct Communications Professor Gary Russo has experience directing award shows and thought this year’s tribute to Stephen Sondheim with Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rachel Zegler was memorable.
“I thought this year’s tribute was beautifully done. A nice combination of un-rushed shots of the vocalists as they were added, finally settling and lingering on Sondheim as the vocalists reached the finale,” Russo said.
Prof. Russo noted that there are many moving parts to a live award show and that broadcasting a perfect stage is difficult.
“It was a goosebump moment for me,” Russo said.
However, the show took a serious turn when a video played of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, asking for more international support of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
This was followed by a performance from John Legend and Ukrainian artists Mika Newton, Lyuba Yakimchuk and Siuzanna Igidan.
As President Zelensky said in his speech, “Fill the silence with music.”
