Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor

nuc5002@psu.edu

On Sunday, Feb. 5, the 6th annual Grammy awards were held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Hosted once again by former “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, the night was the largest Grammys in years. A night filled with history-making wins and epic performances, all eyes were on the four biggest awards handed out each year: album of the year, record of the year, song of the year, and best new artist. 

When it came to the big four, song of the year was given to Bonnie Raitt for “Just Like That” while Lizzo won record of the year for “About Damn Time.” American jazz singer Samara Joy took home best new artist while Harry Styles was awarded the coveted album of the year trophy for “Harry’s House.”

This was the first Grammys to be held in Los Angeles since the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past two years, the ceremonies were hosted in a smaller venue in Las Vegas. With restrictions lifted, The Recording Academy decided to finally bring their award back home for 2023. For this homecoming, the event was an absolute star-studded affair. 

Speaking of stars, musical icon Beyoncé became the artist with the most Grammys ever awarded  during the ceremony. The singer won four of the nine categories for which she was nominated. While none of these awards were the big four mentioned above and were instead more genre-centric, Beyoncé now sits on a total number of 32 Grammy wins.

The show opened with a performance by Reggaeton musician Bad Bunny. Playing a medley of songs from his ever-popular 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” Bad Bunny and a collection of musicians and dancers brought the crowds of Crypto.com Arena to their feet. Later in the show, Bad Bunny was televised receiving the award for best música urbana album. Quite controversially, this is the first time the award has ever been given out during the televised portion of the ceremony. Additionally, when Bad Bunny started speaking in Spanish, The Recording Academy did have English subtitles. 

When it came to acceptance speeches, all eyes were on Kim Petras and Sam Smith. Winning the award for best pop duo/group performance for their track “Unholy,” the two artists are respectively the first transgender woman [Petras] and non-binary person [Smith] to win in this category. Through a quivering voice, Petras thanked the trans artists who paved the way for her, specifically highlighting SOPHIE, the insanely influential hyperpop producer who passed two years prior. Speaking to SOPHIE, Petras stated, “I adore you and your inspiration will forever be in my music.”

Performance-wise, the best was led by American musician Questlove. To honor the 50th anniversary of hip-hop as a genre, Questlove was in charge of creating a display of some of the genre’s biggest talents on the Grammys stage. With the likes of Missy Elliott, Big Boi, Run-D.M.C., Queen Latifah, Method Man, Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Grandmasters Flash, Melle Mel, GloRilla, and Lil Uzi Vert, the collective of artists created a short, yet rough, outline of the history of hip-hop. Funny enough, genre icon Jay-Z did not participate in the celebration but performed later on with DJ Khaled.

Speaking of DJ Khaled, the “We the Best” musician did not win the best rap album. Instead, the award rightfully went to Kendrick Lamar for “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.” Since the nominations were announced, many pointed out how weirdly uneven the rap album category was for this year’s ceremony. While Pusha T and Future were worthy contenders to Kendrick, many people were confused by the presence of Jack Harlow and DJ Khaled. Both artists’ records were not critical darlings with Khaled’s receiving middling reception while Harlow’s was ravaged. Additionally, both were not the most fantastic commercial successes. 

Nonetheless, the 2023 Grammy awards have aired. As the firestorm of public discourse starts to wind down after the ceremony, people can begin to listen to the new great music already released this year.