Harry Styles Wins Album of the Year as Beyoncé Breaks Grammys Record
Beyoncé made history at the award ceremony but the night’s most prestigious prizes went to Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bonnie Raitt and Samara Joy
Beyoncé broke the record for the most Grammy wins in history after winning best dance/electronic music album for her record “Renaissance.” But the superstar was overlooked for the ceremony’s most prestigious prizes.
Pop-rock phenom Harry Styles scored album of the year, the most coveted Grammy, for “Harry’s House”—an outcome that represents an upset, yet one that some Grammy watchers had expected. His blockbuster album also won other awards, including best pop vocal album.
The biggest awards of the 65th annual Grammys in Los Angeles on Sunday delivered surprises. Blues-rock elder stateswoman Bonnie Raitt, who for decades has been respected as a deft interpreter of others’ songs, won song of the year—a songwriter’s award and one of the four biggest trophies—for her composition “Just Like That.”
“I’m just totally humbled,” she said. Ms. Raitt beat out songs by artists including Adele, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Mr. Styles and Kendrick Lamar. Another unexpected turn came, though it was in line with the classic tastes of many Grammy voters: Traditional jazz singer Samara Joy, from the Bronx, won best new artist. She also won best jazz vocal album for “Linger Awhile.”
Lizzo won record of the year, which goes to performing artists, producers and engineers, for “About Damn Time.” In her speech, she called Beyoncé “the artist of our lives.”
Whether or not Beyoncé would break the record was one of the biggest questions on Sunday night.
“I’m trying not to be too emotional,” Beyoncé said in accepting the award that made her the most-decorated artist in Grammy history. She thanked her parents, uncle and husband, Jay-Z. “I’d like to thank the queer community for your love—and for inventing the genre.”
With 32 awards amassed over the course of her career, she surpassed the late classical conductor Georg Solti.
Beyoncé went into the ceremony with nine nominations, the most of any artist. She won two awards in a pre-televised ceremony, where roughly 80 of the 91 awards were given out. Those awards included best dance/electronic recording, for “Break My Soul,” the chart-topping lead single from “Renaissance,” and best traditional R&B performance, for one of the album’s tracks, “Plastic Off the Sofa.” During the televised show, she also won best R&B song for “Cuff It.”
The pop-R&B star broke the record without winning any of the major, all-genre awards. Beyoncé had been nominated for album of the year, as well as song and record of the year for “Break My Soul.” Despite her 32 career wins and numerous nominations, Beyoncé hasn’t won one of the three biggest awards (album, song and record of the year) since 2010 when she won song of the year for “Single Ladies.”
Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny kicked off the festivities with a big dance party. Comedian Trevor Noah, who hosted the awards for the third year in a row, made the rounds during his opening monologue, humorously praising music’s biggest stars in their seats. He jokingly hailed Lizzo as “the most famous flute player in the world since…I’m sure there were others.” He referred to Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” as “better than anything from the actual Renaissance.”
Later in the show, playing off the fervor of Taylor Swift’s fans, many of whom have recently criticized Ticketmaster, Mr. Noah asked Ms. Swift: “Can you get them to handle the price of eggs?” Ms. Swift replied: “They’ll get on it. Just let them know what you need.”
One of the show’s brightest moments was a star-studded segment celebrating hip-hop, led by LL Cool J, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the genre, which crystallized in the Bronx in the late summer of 1973. The Grammys also paid homage to the storied career of Dr. Dre, giving him a new global impact award that will be named for him. “Hip-hop became a lifeline for me,” Dr. Dre said.
Bad Bunny won best música urbana album for “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which was the most popular album in the U.S. last year, according to data tracker Luminate. The album was the first record entirely in Spanish to be nominated for album of the year. Kendrick Lamar won best rap album for “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” among other awards.
Pop singers Sam Smith and Kim Petras took best pop duo/group performance for their No. 1 hit “Unholy.” Ms. Petras, the first transgender winner of the award, thanked the contributions of Madonna and the late art-pop producer and artist Sophie during her speech. Later, Madonna introduced the two artists, who performed the song bathed in red and amid flames.