NEW YORK (AP) – Beyoncé and Taylor Swift had a historic Grammy night, where the first four awards were won by female artists.
Swift became the first female artist to win the album of the year three times and Beyoncé, with her 28th victory, became the most decorated woman in Grammy history. She also tied Quincy Jones for second place among all Grammy winners.
HER won the song of the year and Billie Eilish took the record for the year, telling the audience that the winner of best new artist, Megan Thee Stallion, deserved the honor.
Although women have won the top four awards in the past – including Eilish’s conquest last year – marked the first time that four women separated and alone had won the first four honors.
“We just want to thank the fans,” said Swift, who won the main prize for “folklore” and won the album of the year previously with his albums “Fearless” and “1989.”
Beyoncé entered the show with 24 wins and received four honors, including best R&B performance for “Black Parade”, best music video for “Brown Skin Girl”, as well as best rap performance and best rap song for “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion.
“As an artist, I believe it is my job, and all of our work, to reflect time and it has been such a difficult time,” said Beyoncé on stage as she won the best R&B performance for “Black Parade”, which was released in Juneteenth .
She said she created the song to honor the “beautiful black kings and queens” of the world.
She added: “I have been working all my life … This is a magical night.”
Beyoncé is second only to the late conductor Georg Solti, who is the most decorated Grammy winner with 31 victories.
But Beyoncé didn’t just make history, her entire family did. The royal music family won tributes on Sunday: Jay-Z won his 23rd Grammy, sharing the best rap song with his wife since he co-wrote “Savage”. And 9-year-old Blue Ivy Carter – who won the best music video alongside his mother – became the second youngest artist to win a Grammy in 63 years of the program’s history. Leah Peasall was 8 years old when The Peasall Sisters won the album of the year on the 2002 show for her participation in the film T Bone Burnett produced “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack.
Megan Thee Stallion, who won three honors, also made history and became the first female rapper to win a better rap song. She is also the fifth rap band to win the title of best new artist.
Beyoncé was the main candidate of the night, with nine nominations. She didn’t introduce herself, but Swift did.
She sang “cardigan” and “August” from “folklore”, as well as “willow” from “evermore”, and joined the collaborators who helped make the albums, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who won album of the year with Swift .
Silk Sonic, also known as Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, also performed, bringing an R&B vibe back to the show with their new single, “Leave the Door Open”. Dua Lipa, who won the award for best pop vocal album, proved her pop star status with a performance from her hits “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating”, where she joined DaBaby, who was a star during his own performance of his hit rap with guitarist “Rockstar”, launching the song for an exceptional live performance with R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, a skilled violinist and background singers.
Country singer Mickey Guyton – the first black woman nominated for best country solo performance – gave an impressive performance to her song “Black Like Me”, which she released last year as police brutality continued to devastate black families and the coronavirus violated the Black America disproportionately. Lil Baby, accompanied by Killer Mike and activist Tamika Mallory, had an impressive political performance.
“Black Parade” joined a list of songs that honored the black experience he won on Sunday, including HER’s protest anthem “I Can’t Breathe” and Anderson Paak’s “Lockdown”, which was released on the 11th June as “Black Parade”.
Other artists on Sunday included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Harry Styles, who won the best solo pop performance with the hit “Watermelon Sugar”.
“To everyone who made this album with me, thank you very much,” said Styles, the first member of One Direction to win a Grammy.
Host Trevor Noah kicked outside the program telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020. He was live in downtown Los Angeles, with participants wearing masks and sitting, socially distant, at small round tables.
The two winners included HER, Fiona Apple, Kaytranada and backward artists John Prine and Chick Corea.
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