A Night of Success

Sunday night was the 66th annual Grammy Awards, often considered music’s biggest night. This year’s awards featured superb performances and much-deserved wins.

For the fourth year in a row, comedian Trevor Noah hosted the Grammys. 

A grand majority of nominations went to women this year, which is something that the Grammys have been criticized for due to overlooking women in the industry in the past. 

“I thought it was very cool to see so many women nominated and winning at the Grammy Awards,” Paige Stranahan said.

Artist SZA had the most nominations this year with nine categories: Album Of The Year for SOS, Record Of The Year for her song “Kill Bill,” and Song Of The Year for “Kill Bill.” She won the Grammy for Best Progressive R&B Album for SOS and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Ghost in the Machine” featuring Phoebe Bridgers. SZA also performed her songs “Snooze” and “Kill Bill” on the Grammy stage.

Phoebe Bridgers took home the most awards last night with four. She was awarded the Grammy for “Ghost in the Machine” along with SZA, and she won three more as a member of the band Boygenius. The band had many nominations in categories such as Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year, but ultimately, they took home three awards in the Rock category. They won Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for their hit single “Not Strong Enough” on the album “he Record, which also won Best Alternative Music Album of the Year. 

Record of the Year is a complicated and sought-after award that acknowledges everything involved in making a song, including the writers, producers and mixers. This year was a tough choice, with competitors including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Billie Eillish, Victoria Monét, Boygenius and Jon Batiste. Still, it ultimately went to Miley Cyrus for her chart-topper “Flowers,” which also won Best Pop Solo Performance. Cryus performed “Flowers” on the Grammy stage that evening. 

Swift made history and won Album of the Year for Midnights, winning this award for the fourth time. She is the only person to have won this award four times and was previously the only woman to have won it three times. She also won Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights. As she accepted the award, she announced her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is set to come out on April 19.

Song of the Year went to Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas for their song “What Was I Made For?” for the Barbie movie. In addition, “Dance the Night Away” by Dua Lipa, also written for Barbie, was nominated in this category. 

Best New Artists is another coveted award with stiff competition, and it went to Victoria Monét, who also won Best R&B Album. Monét gave a beautiful speech about her journey in the music industry as she accepted the award. 

The last two categories in the general field go to the people who work on songs. Producer Of The Year went to Jack Anatnoff and his work on three albums, and Songwriter Of The Year went to Theron Thomas and his work on nine songs.