Before Beyonce made history at the 65th Grammys, she was stuck in traffic. When her award for the best R&B song, for “CUFF IT”, was announced, she was yet to reach the Crypto.com Arena, even as she was within striking distance of a monumental achievement. But she did arrive, just in time, in a smashing metallic gown. She sat next to Mr Carter chomping on crackers, smiling her beatific smile, as they announced the award for best electronic/ dance album. Renaissance won, making Beyonce the musician with the most Grammy awards in history, bringing her award tally at the Grammys 2023 to four wins; racing ahead of the conductor Georg Solti as the most awarded artist in Grammys history.
Beyonce’s achievement was, to many, a foregone conclusion. But it was also an example of why the 65th Grammys appeared to be an exercise in diplomacy more than anything else—and not a very successful one at that. For the Recording Academy, which has been under fire for many years for not acknowledging and representing the diversity of music and music makers in the world, the 65th Grammys was another opportunity to appease and please. With some fantastic curation and programming, it appeared to be succeeding—until it didn’t.
First, the awards that came through as expected. Kendrick Lamar swept the rap categories with Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, one of the best works of his career. Beyonce dominated the R&B ones. Ozzy Osbourne won best rock album for Patient Number 9. Ricky Kej brought home a third Grammy, the best immersive audio title for his album Divine Tides. New York native Samara Joy took home the best new artist award. Kim Petras and Sam Smith won best pop duo (an award that seemed to be invented just for them). Adele won the best pop solo performance for “Easy On Me”, presented by her new “best friend” Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, to whom she was kindly introduced by host Trevor Noah at the beginning of the evening.
Then, there were the surprises. Brandi Carlile was not expecting three Grammys for “Broken Horses”, even if her adoring fans were. American blues singer Bonnie Raitt couldn’t move from her seat for several seconds upon hearing that she had won the song of the year for “Just Like That”. Lizzo, solid as steel, looked thunderstruck to have won Record of the Year for “About Damn Time”, but then gave one of the night’s most memorable acceptance speeches, thanking her lifetime inspiration Prince, upon whose death she promised to only make music about joy and positivity.
And then there were the awards that defeated all expectations, and not necessarily in a good way. Chief among them, the album of the year Grammy award. Harry Styles’s face crumpled in relief when his superfan announced that Harry’s House had won. Minutes later, it became evident he was not ready for this—how could he be, when he was competing alongside Beyonce, Bad Bunny, Adele, Lizzo, ABBA, Kendrick Lamar and when he had already won the best pop vocal album. “This doesn’t often happen to people like me very often,” he ended a speech that began nicely, but really could have used a little more explanation.
Over at Twitter—consistently honouring expectations since the dawn of time—the pitchforks were out in the A.M. Harry Styles’s comment is receiving flak, but that is nothing compared to how the Grammys is being dragged for this, let’s call it, unconventional choice for the biggest award of the night. While the Harries and the Beyhive rally troops, the Swifties will have to wait till next year for their queen’s moment as Midnights, one of the biggest albums of the year, couldn’t compete on a technicality.
But credit where it’s due, the Recording Academy promised diversity, and diversity is what we got at the 65th Grammys. Iranian artist Shervin Hajipour, currently in jail, was honoured with the first ever best song for social change; announced by first lady Jill Biden. Hajipour’s song “Baraye”, a moving number formed out of tweets of protest, anger and frustration against the government—a song that reached 40 million views on Instagram before it was taken down on the day of Hajipour’s arrest.
In a clever (if belated) move, the Grammys also acknowledged the power of fandom by bringing up a battery of superfans to present the final album of the year award. This was preceded by a mini-documentary profiling these fans and a roundtable discussion where they discussed what their hallowed superstars meant to them. A 78-year-old superfan squealing as she presents the award to her Gen Z superstar: you can’t script moments like that (or can you?).
But the real highlight of the 65th Grammys awards was its well-orchestrated tribute to hip hop, a genre celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023. To kick off the celebrations in a segment anchored by LL Cool J, Dr Dre became the recipient of the inaugural Dr Dre Global Impact award. Both reminisced about that day in 1973, when DJ Kool Herc threw a back-to-school party in the Bronx, and laid the foundation for a genre that would cause a tectonic shift in music.
Then came the piece de resistance: A 15-minute-long multi-talent, multi-generational hip hop act curated by the one and only Questlove (of The Roots). It opened with the legendary Grandmaster Flash performing his signature record-scratching technique, and then thumped through five decades of hip hop with appearances by Run-DMC, Salt-n-Pepa, Rakim, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Nelly, Lil Uzi Vert and many more. It was the party we didn’t know we needed; nor the kind many thought the Grammys were capable of.
Which is to say, if you’re wondering whether the powers that be at the Recording Academy have it in them to look beyond their bubbles and truly be the fulcrum of the music world as it grows—wild, ecstatic, immense, joyous, and diverse—then we’re here to report, it seems they really are trying. And Beyonce? That best album award should’ve been hers, goes popular opinion; but she’s just going to have to settle for being all up in our minds, until next time.
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