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Los Angeles, US | THE INDEPENDENT & XINHUA | Nigerian singer Burna Boy win his first ever Grammy under the “Best global Music Album” category for the “Twice As Tall” 2020 project, at last night’s 63rd Grammy Awards main event.
Meanwhile, women dominated the 63rd Grammy Awards Sunday as Taylor Swift won her third career Album of the Year prize, Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson won Song of the Year, and Billie Eilish won Record of the Year.
Females take the Big Four
The three awards plus Best New Artist are called as the “Big Four” categories in the music industry’s biggest night in the United States. All of them were shared by female artists at the big event this year.
Overall, Grammys 2021 were handed out in 83 categories spanning 30 fields of music released between Sept. 1, 2019 and Aug. 31, 2020. The awards ceremony, originally scheduled for Jan. 31, was postponed six weeks over concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunday’s show in Los Angeles Convention Center was opened by Megan Thee Stallion, a U.S. female rapper, singer and songwriter, who took Best New Artist first, then picked up Rap Song of the Year with Beyonce for “Savage.”
Beyonce makes history
Beyonce made history with 28 career wins, the most for any singers or female artists in history, by grabbing Best Music Video for “Brown Skin Girl,” Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for “Savage,” and Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade.”
Beyonce came into the prime time show with a total of nine nominations across eight categories, the most of any artist this year. The nine new nominations already made Beyonce the most-nominated female artist of all time since her debut with Destiny’s Child more than two decades ago.
“As an artist, I believe it’s my job and all of our jobs to reflect the times. And it’s been such a difficult time. So, I wanted to uplift, encourage, celebrate all of the beautiful Black queens and kings that continue to inspire me and inspire the whole world,” Beyonce said at her historic night.
Taylor Swift, 31, who earned six nominations this year, second only to Beyonce’s nine nominations, won the Album of the Year, making history to be the first female artist to snag the award for Album of the Year three times.
Swift, previously won the award for “Fearless” in 2010, and for “1989” in 2016, was known not only for her talent but also for her brave critics against “toxic male privilege” in the music industry.
Everything Eilish wanted
Billie Eilish, 19, won another prominent award, Record of the Year, for “Everything I Wanted.” She had four nominations this year.
“I Can’t Breathe” by U.S. singer-songwriter Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, known professionally as H.E.R., won Song of the Year.
The 23-year-old girl beat out a group of nominees that included Beyonce, Roddy Ricch, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish to win the prize.
In her acceptance speech, H.E.R. noted that she wrote the song after being inspired by George Floyd’s last words as the African American struggled to breathe while a white police officer kneeled on his neck. H.E.R. said that her dad, who was the first person she played the song for, cried when he first heard it.
“Remember, we are the change we wish to see,” she said. “And that fight that we had in us the summer of 2020? Keep that same energy.”
📌 Full list of winners of Grammy Awards 2021 ( Winners are in bold)
✳ Best Global Music Album
FU CHRONICLES
Antibalas
TWICE AS TALL by Burna Boy – WINNER
✳ Record of the Year
Black Parade by Beyoncé
Colors by Black Pumas
Rockstar by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
Say So by Doja Cat
Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish — winner
Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa
Circles by Post Malone
Savage by Megan Thee Stallion
✳ Album of the Year
Chilombo by Jhené Aiko
Black Pumas by Black Pumas
Everyday Life by Coldplay
Djesse Vol. 3 by Jacob Collier
Women in Music Pt. III by Haim
Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa
Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone
Folklore by Taylor Swift — winner
✳ Best R&B Performance
Lightning & Thunder, Jhené Aiko featuring John Legend
Black Parade, Beyoncé — winner
All I Need, Jacob Collier featuring Mahalia and Ty Dolla Sign
Goat Head, Brittany Howard
See Me, Emily King
✳ Best Pop Vocal Album
Changes, Justin Bieber
Chromatica, Lady Gaga
Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa — winner
Fine Line, Harry Styles
Folklore, Taylor Swift
✳ Best Rap Song
The Bigger Picture, Lil Baby
The Box, Roddy Ricch
Laugh Now, Cry Later, Drake featuring Lil Durk
Rockstar, DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
Savage, Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé — winner
✳ Song of the Year
Black Parade by Beyoncé
The Box by Roddy Ricch
Cardigan by Taylor Swift
Circles by Post Malone
Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa
Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish
I Can’t Breathe by H.E.R. — winner
If the World Was Ending by JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels
✳ Best Latin Pop or Urban Album
YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny — winner
Por Primera Vez, Camilo
Mesa Para Dos, Kany García
Pausa, Ricky Martin
3:33, Debi Nova
✳ Best Melodic Rap Performance
Rockstar, DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
Laugh Now, Cry Later, Drake featuring Lil Durk
Lockdown, Anderson .Paak — winner
The Box, Roddy Ricch
Highest in the Room, Travis Scott
✳ Best Pop Solo Performance
Yummy by Justin Bieber
Say So by Doja Cat
Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish
Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa
Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles — winner
Cardigan by Taylor Swift
✳ Best Country Album
Lady Like, Ingrid Andress
Your Life Is a Record, Brandy Clark
Wildcard, Miranda Lambert — winner
Nightfall, Little Big Town
Never Will, Ashley McBryde
✳ Best New Artist
Ingrid Andress
Phoebe Bridgers
Chika
Noah Cyrus
D Smoke
Doja Cat
Kaytranada
Megan Thee Stallion — winner
✳ Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Un Dia (One Day) by J Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny and Tainy
Intentions by Justin Bieber featuring Quavo
Dynamite by BTS
Rain on Me by Lady Gaga featuring Ariana Grande — winner
Exile by Taylor Swift featuring Bon Iver
✳ Best Rock Performance
Shameika, Fiona Apple — winner
Not, Big Thief
Kyoto, Phoebe Bridgers
The Steps, Haim
Stay High, Brittany Howard
Daylight, Grace Potter
✳ Best Rock Album
A Hero’s Death, Fontaines D.C.
Kiwanuka, Michael Kiwanuka
Daylight, Grace Potter
Sound & Fury, Sturgill Simpson
The New Abnormal, The Strokes — winner
✳ Best Alternative Music Album
Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple — winner
Hyperspace, Beck
Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers
Jamie, Brittany Howard
The Slow Rush, Tame Impala
✳ Best R&B Song
Better Than I Imagine, Robert Glasper featuring H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello — winner
Black Parade, Beyoncé
Collide, Tiana Major9 and Earthgang
Do It, Chloe x Halle
Slow Down, Skip Marley and H.E.R.
✳ Best Progressive R&B Album
Chilombo, Jhené Aiko
Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle
Free Nationals, Free Nationals
Fuck Yo Feelings, Robert Glasper
It Is What It Is, Thundercat — winner
✳ Best Rap Performance
Deep Reverence, Big Sean featuring Nipsey Hussle
Bop, DaBaby
What’s Poppin, Jack Harlow
The Bigger Picture, Lil Baby
Savage, Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé — winner
Dior, Pop Smoke
✳ Best Rap Album
Black Habits, D Smoke
Alfredo, Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist
A Written Testimony, Jay Electronica
King’s Disease, Nas — winner
The Allegory, Royce Da 5’9″
✳ Best Country Solo Performance
Stick That in Your Country Song, Eric Church
Who You Thought I Was, Brandy Clark
When My Amy Prays, Vince Gill — winner
Black Like Me, Mickey Guyton
Bluebird, Miranda Lambert
✳ Best Country Song
Bluebird, Miranda Lambert
The Bones, Maren Morris
Crowded Table, The Highwomen — winner
More Hearts Than Mine, Ingrid Andress
Some People Do, Old Dominion
✳ Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Jack Antonoff
Dan Auerbach
Dave Cobb
Flying Lotus
Andrew Watt — winner
✳ Best Music Film
Beastie Boys Story, Beastie Boys
Black Is King, Beyoncé — winner
We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, Freestyle Love Supreme
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Linda Ronstadt
That Little Ol’ Band From Texas, ZZ Top
✳ Best Global Music Album
Fu Chronicles, Antibalas
Twice as Tall, Burna Boy — winner
Agora, Bebel Gilberto
Love Letters, Anoushka Shankar
Amadjar, Tinariwen
✳ Best American Roots Performance
Colors, Black Pumas
Deep in Love, Bonny Light Horseman
Short and Sweet, Brittany Howard
I’ll Be Gone, Norah Jones and Mavis Staples
I Remember Everything, John Prine — winner
