Stars align at the 65th annual Grammy awards
It was a night to remember at The Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles as The Recording Academy honoured musicians for their past years’ contributions to music entertainment.
On a night that saw recording singer, songwriter and performer Beyoncé become the most awarded artiste ever in the 65-year history of the gala, there was a lot to celebrate for the Houston legend and others.
Entering the night tied with her husband Jay-Z tied on 88 nominations, a staggering record only both of them hold, Beyoncé was nominated for nine awards on the night alone.
Her hypnotic and cathartic “Break My Soul” cut off her dance/electronic-hinged opus Renaissance and was nominated for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Dance/ Electronic Recording, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B performance. She would end the night with four wins bagging Best R&B song with “Cuff It”, Best Traditional R&B Performance with “Plastic Off The Sofa”, and Best Dance Recording for “Break My Soul”, as well as Dance/ Electronic Album with Renaissance.
Clean sweep
This saw her topple the classical orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti, who had 31 wins but passed on in 1997 making Beyoncé the sole holder of the remarkable achievement.
“Thank you so much. I’m trying not to be emotional. I’m trying just to receive this. I just wanna thank God, my uncle Johnny whose not her but is here in spirit, I wanna thank my beautiful parents, my husband” she said.
Meanwhile, Nigerian singer Tems made history becoming the first ever Nigerian woman to ever clinch a Grammy after her feature on rap titans Future & Drake’s “Wait For U” won the Best Melodic Rap Performance. Another victor was Compton regal and royalty Kendrick Lamar whose clean sweep of rap categories came by no surprise.
“The Heart Part 5” a song that captured the mental state of the neo-society, sampling Marvin Gaye’s 1976 classic “I Want You” scooped Best Rap Song, Rap Performance and his album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers beat stiff competition in Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry to take home Best Rap Album.
Still, on rap, Hip Hop celebrated its 50th year and was honoured with a sterling performance that featured veterans such as Methodman, LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, Flava Flav, Nelly, Mary J. Bilge, Queen Latifah, The Roots, Big Boi and contemporary star Lil Uzi Vert.
Rare elite
In standout performers, Viola Davis joined a rare elite in earning the EGOT status. She has now claimed an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony becoming the 18th-ever entertainer to do so after winning the Spoken Word Album category.
Other notable winners included Muni Long with her first ever nod with Best R&B performance for “Hrs & Hrs”, Best Global Music Performance with “Bayethe” by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode edging out Burna Boy’s “Last Last”.
The Grammy nights’ proceedings hosted by Trevor Noah, he got assistance from presenters such as The First Lady Jill Biden, James Corden, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, SZA, Viola Davis, Bill Crystal, James Corden and others. Reggaeton sensation Bad Bunny opened up the night with a thrilling performance before Lizzo who won Record Of The Year with About Damn Time also stole the show on stage, while Sam Smith impressed too.
However, it was the “God Did” ensemble of DJ Khaled, Fridayy, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and a 4-minute verse from rap stalwart Jay-Z that closed the show in cataclysmic fashion as they put on a textbook performance featuring moody lighting, a last supper table, all black sartorial wear and a full band showing their class.
