Grammys 2021: 5 key moments from the historic awards ceremony
Beyonce and Taylor Swift each made Grammys history, while British artist Harry Styles scooped his first award
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The 2021 Grammys took place on Sunday (14 March), with Megan Thee Stallion, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift all scoring top awards in what was an eventful (yet socially distanced) ceremony.
Trevor Noah hosted the event from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Despite a modified format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the evening included several energetic performances from Harry Styles, Cardi B, BTS, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, and more.
The ceremony marked the turning of a few pages of Grammys history, with Beyoncé becoming the female artist with the most trophies, Taylor Swift becoming the first woman to score three wins in the Album of the Year category, and Harry Styles taking home his first Grammy.
Here are the main talking points from the 2021 Grammy Awards:
1. Beyoncé becomes the female artist with the most Grammys ever
Beyoncé has officially become the female artist with the most Grammys ever, with 28 trophies to her name. Four of those wins came on Sunday, in the Best Music Video ("Brown Skin Girl"), Best R&B Performance ("Black Parade"), Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance (both for “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé) categories. In her acceptance speech, Beyoncé said she has been working towards this accomplishment her entire life, and dedicated her wins to her children – notably Blue Ivy Carter, who was a joint winner in the Best Music Video category.
2. Megan Thee Stallion dominates the 2021 ceremony
The 26-year-old rapper, whose year has been marked by the breakout single “Savage” as well as her featuring on Cardi B’s “WAP”, was crowned Best New Artist – becoming the first female rapper to do so in two decades. “Savage” then took Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. It really is no wonder that Billie Eilish dedicated her Record of the Year win to Megan Thee Stallion – who really would have been a deserving winner in that category too.
3. Taylor Swift becomes first female artist to win Album of the Year three times
Swift only scored one win on Sunday night, but it marked an important step in her career: she took home Album of the Year forFolklore, her surprise album recorded during the coronavirus pandemic. This marks the third time she has won this award. Swift took home the trophy in 2016 for 1989, and in 2010 for Fearless. She’s the first female artist to win in that category three times.
4. Harry Styles wins his first Grammy
It was a big night for Harry Styles too. The British singer won his first Grammy ever, taking home Best Pop Solo Performance for his chart-topping hit “Watermelon Sugar”. He’s the first former One Direction member to win one of the awards – and the band itself never won one, either. He defeated Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Taylor Swift in that category. Styles went into the evening with three nominations, but missed out on Best Pop Vocal Album (won by Dua Lipa) and Best Music Video (which went to "Brown Skin Girl" by Beyoncé, Saint Jhn and Wizkid featuring Blue Ivy Carter).
5. Billie Eilish takes Record of the Year and dedicates her speech to Megan Thee Stallion
Billie Eilish, who swept last year’s ceremony five wins, took home two trophies on Sunday: one for Best Song Written for Visual Media, for the James Bond theme “No Time To Die”, and the most high-profile award of the evening: Record of the Year, for “Everything I Wanted”. It’s the second year in a row Eilish wins this specific trophy; she took it home last year for “Bad Guy”.
In her acceptance speech, Eilish praised Megan Thee Stallion, telling her: “This is really embarrassing for me. Megan, girl... I was gonna write a speech about how you deserve this but then I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to choose me,’ I was like, ‘It’s hers.’ You deserve this. You had a year that I think is un-toppable. You are a queen—I want to cry thinking about how much I love you. You’re so beautiful. You’re so talented.”
The liveblog is now closed. See the full list of Grammy winners here.
And here are a few more photos from the “in memoriam” sequence earlier:
Grammy alert! HER wins Song of the Year for “I Can’t Breathe”. She wrote it with D'Mile and Tiara Thomas. Also nominated in the category were "Black Parade" by Beyoncé, "The Box" by Roddy Ricch, "Cardigan" by Taylor Swift, "Circles" by Post Malone, "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa, "Everything I Wanted" by Billie Eilish, and "If the World Was Ending" by JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels.
And Bad Bunny has won Best Latin Pop or Urban Album for YHLQMDLG. He staves off competition from Camilo, Kany García, Ricky Martin, and Debi Nova.
Here are HER and Tiara Thomas accepting the Song of the Year award for “I Can’t Breathe”. Aged 23, HER is one of the biggest revelations of the past few years. She has released five EPs since 2016, and her first album, HER, came out in 2017. A second, titled I Used to Know Her, followed in 2019. It was up for Album of the Year at least year’s Grammys (and lost to Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?).
Cardi B is about to perform, and our host for the evening Trevor Noah just referred to Cardi’s song “WAP” as a song about giving a bath to a cat.
Best New Artist Megan Thee Stallion just performed on the Grammys stage, followed by Cardi B:
Grammy alert! Megan Thee Stallion wins Best Rap Song for “Savage” featuring Beyoncé, defeating "The Bigger Picture" (Lil Baby), "The Box" (Roddy Ricch), "Laugh Now Cry Later" (Drake featuring Lil Durk), and "Rockstar" (DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch). They’re the first two women to win the award. Aged 26, Megan Thee Stallion also won Best New Artist earlier in the ceremony. Her album Good News was released in November 2020 to critical acclaim. She’s also featured on Cardi B’s famous tune “WAP”. Here she is performing on the 2021 Grammys stage:
New Grammy alert! Dua Lipa wins Best Pop Vocal Album with Future Nostalgia, her second album. She defeats Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift in the same category. Dua Lipa, a native of London, released her first EP in 2016 and is becoming a household name. She released her first, self-titled album in 2017. The Independent gave Future Nostalgia a five-star review, which you can read here.
Beyoncé has just made Grammys history, with a total of 27 Grammys to her name. This means she ties with bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss, who has also won 27 trophies. Read all about that page of Grammys history here:
Beyoncé just made Grammys history - but who has won the most Grammy awards?
The ‘Black Parade’ singer now has won a total of 27 Grammy awards, which ties her with Alison Krauss
MORE GRAMMYS HISTORY! Beyoncé just won Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade”, making her the female artist with the most Grammy wins ever with 28 trophies. She defeats "Lightning & Thunder" (Jhené Aiko featuring John Legend), "All I Need" (Jacob Collier featuring Mahalia & Ty Dolla $ign), "Goat Head" (Brittany Howard), and "See Me" (Emily King). In her acceptance speech, Beyoncé highlights the fact that she has been working toward this milestone for her entire life and dedicates her win to her children.
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