Grammy Awards celebrate music’s biggest stars

LOS ANGELES — Beyoncé made Grammy history Sunday night, setting a record for the most career awards won by any artist, picking up a string of trophies for “Renaissance,” her hit album that mined decades of dance music.

Accepting her 32nd award — and her fourth of the night — Beyoncé thanked God and her family, and honored her “Uncle Jonny,” a gay relative whom she has described in the past as her “godmother” and as the person who exposed her to LGBTQ culture.

“I’d like thank the queer community for your love, and for inventing the genre,” she said to roars of applause from the crowd at the Crypto.com Arena as she won best dance/electronic music album for “Renaissance,” which was widely seen as a love letter to gay culture. (Still, Beyoncé faced a backlash recently when she performed a private concert in Dubai, in United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is illegal.)

With her latest wins, Beyoncé surpassed Georg Solti, the Hungarian-born classical conductor who died in 1997 and had long held the title of the most career wins by any artist.

Gender freedom was one theme running through the night. Not long before Beyoncé’s win, Sam Smith, a nonbinary singer, and Kim Petras, a trans woman, won the award for pop/duo group performance for “Unholy,” and Petras drew cheers when she said she was “the first transgender woman to win this award.”

“I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me,” Petras said, “who kicked these doors open so I could be here tonight.”

After two years of shows that were disrupted and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Grammy ceremony returned in full swing to its home court in Los Angeles (Crypto.com is the renamed Staples Center), bringing the music world together for glitz, competition and plenty of business schmoozing.

“We made it!” exclaimed its host, Trevor Noah. “We’re back!”

The power of stardom was another major theme of the night. The show opened with a blast of brass and the hip-swaying rhythms of Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican superstar who represents the music industry’s hopes — a young celebrity with global appeal and massive numbers, both on streaming services and on the road.

Entering the Crypto.com Arena flanked by dancers in festive dress, he played two songs from his blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” bringing both social commentary and party vibes, and getting stars like Taylor Swift dancing amid the bistro-style seating in front of the stage.

Accepting the award for best música urbana album for “Un Verano,” Bad Bunny gave his speech partly in English.

“I just made this album with love and passion,” he said. “When you do things with love and passion, everything is easier.”

The night’s most intense contests came down to a faceoff between some of the industry’s biggest divas: Beyoncé, Adele and Taylor Swift, who were each up in the major categories, though none of them performed on the show.

In classic Grammy fashion, the ceremony also included some nods to the past. Stevie Wonder led a Motown revue that included Smokey Robinson and the prodigiously bearded country songwriter Chris Stapleton. One of the highlights of the night was a 12-minute celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — the genre’s origin is tied to a birthday party in the New York City borough of the Bronx in 1973 — that featured LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Method Man, Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy, Missy Elliott, Future, Grandmaster Flash and many others.

A somber, multipart “In Memoriam” segment included country singer Kacey Musgraves singing Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” barefoot in a blood-red dress; a tribute to Takeoff of the Atlanta rap trio Migos led by his bandmate Quavo; and Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Mick Fleetwood singing “Songbird,” one of the signature compositions by Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, with Fleetwood tapping a hand drum like it was a gently beating heart.

Harry Styles performed his bubbly but pensive hit “As It Was” in a silvery sequined suit that had tassels that shook as he danced. Styles took best pop vocal album for “Harry’s House.”

Kendrick Lamar won three rap prizes: best performance and best song, for “The Heart Part 5,” and best album, for “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.” Accepting the album award, he thanked his family “for giving me the courage and giving me the vulnerability to share my truth and share these stories.”

The 89-year-old Willie Nelson, who was not present, won for best country album for “A Beautiful Time,” and best country solo performance for the song “Live Forever.”

For an industry that has lately gotten worried about the difficulty minting stars amid the fire hose of content in the age of streaming and social media, this year’s list of nominations was about as good as it gets. It guaranteed plenty of star power and, potentially, some drama over winners and losers. On Grammy night, drama is a good thing.

Of the 91 awards this year, all but about a dozen were given out in a nontelevised ceremony Sunday afternoon.

Beyoncé took her first two prizes of the day there, for best dance/electronic recording (“Break My Soul” and traditional R&B performance (“Plastic Off the Sofa”).

Actress Viola Davis won best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording for her memoir “Finding Me,” making her the newest EGOT — the coveted acronym for the winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.

Among the new categories this year was songwriter of the year (nonclassical), intended to recognize the writers who work behind the scenes. It was won by Tobias Jesso Jr., who has written songs for Adele, Styles and others. Stephanie Economou was the first winner for best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media for her work on the game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok.

Below the superstar level, the Grammys have the power to transform artists’ careers. The Tennessee State University Marching Band was the first college marching band ever nominated for best roots gospel album, and it won with “The Urban Hymnal.”

Accepting that award, Sir the Baptist, one of the album’s producers, addressed the straitened finances of historically Black colleges and universities. “HBCUs are so grossly underfunded to where I had to put my last dime in order to get us across the line,” he said. “We’re here with our pockets empty but our hands aren’t.”

As much as the Recording Academy, the institution behind the Grammys, promotes its mission of celebrating artistic excellence and being a supportive home for creators, the Grammys is also a TV show that needs to attract a big audience.

As they have for all major awards shows, ratings for the Grammys have been slipping for years. But the past two years have been brutal. In 2021, when the Grammys put on an outdoor show with no audience, its viewership fell to 8.8 million, the lowest ever; last year, when the show was delayed by the spread of the omicron variant and held for the first time in Las Vegas, the number was only marginally better, at 8.9 million.

The eyes of the music industry, and CBS, the Grammys’ longtime broadcast partner, will be on the ratings this year. It was Noah’s third outing as the show’s host.

For years, the academy has banked on high-profile performances, as much as the award contests, to draw in viewers. And this year, for performances, the Grammys lined up Styles, Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Brandi Carlile, Sam Smith and Kim Petras, and a tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — the genre’s origin is tied to a birthday party in the New York City borough of the Bronx in 1973 — featuring Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Method Man, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Missy Elliott, Future, Grandmaster Flash and others.

Yet the show did not book any of the three pop divas who have drawn by far the most fan interest: Beyoncé and Adele, who were facing off once again, and Swift, whose latest tour proved such a hot ticket that Ticketmaster failed, prompting a Senate hearing.

Lifetime achievement awards went to Bobby McFerrin, Nirvana, the Supremes, Rodgers, rapper Slick Rick, Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart and 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey.