music
Billie Eilish Won Record Of The Year, But She Was Rooting For Megan Thee Stallion
Billie Eilish was flattered to win a top honor at the Grammys this year, but she wasn’t expecting it. The nominees for Record of the Year usually make for stiff competition, and the lineup at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (March 14) was no exception, with recordings by Dua Lipa, Meg Thee Stallion, and Beyoncé receiving nods. Ultimately, the award went to alt-pop ingenue Billie Eilish and her brother-collaborator Finneas for “Everything I Wanted,” a pensive 2020 single they co-wrote. (The duo also performed an enchanting rendition of the song earlier in the show.) When the Beatles legend Ringo Starr announced their win, Eilish and Finneas were visibly surprised. “This is embarrassing,” a disbelieving Eilish said into the mic before...
Taylor Swift Thanks The Real-Life James, Inez, And Betty In Album Of The Year Speech
A few hours ago, she took the Grammys to the woods with a hybrid Folklore/Evermore medley performance. And as the night wound down to its final (and top) prizes, Taylor Swift was rewarded for such a journey with a golden gramophone. Yes, the Recording Academy awarded Folklore, Swift’s surprise return-to-roots quarantine album, the Album of the Year trophy. The folk album’s win punctuated one of the most unusual years in the Recording Academy’s history, and Swift mentioned the origins of Folklore‘s 16 tracks in her acceptance speech. “I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine,” she said, thanking her partner, Joe Alwyn. She led by thanking “all of my collaborators,” including recording engineers Jonathan Low and Laura Sisk and c...
Grammys 2021: Taylor Swift Performs “cardigan”, “august”, and “willow”: Watch
Taylor Swift returned to the stage at the 2021 Grammy Awards on Sunday to sing moving renditions of her tracks “cardigan”, “august”, and “willow”. Watch a replay of the three-song medley below. On the heels of her excellent albums folklore and evermore, Swift delivered one of the most anticipated performances of the Grammys. She certainly did not disappoint, creating a woodland fantasy on the socially distanced stage. She began laying among the moss of what you’d assume was the forest floor, but turned out to be the slanted roof of a tiny house. Inside were Swift’s collaborators, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, whom she joined as she went inside “august”. All three then stepped outside to end on “willow” as the makeshift grove came alive with fairy dust. Unsurprisingly, Swift ea...
Grammys 2021: Silk Sonic, Lionel Richie, Brandi Carlie, and Brittany Howard Play In Memoriam Tribute: Watch
During the 2021 Grammys on Sunday night, Silk Sonic, Lionel Richie, Brandi Carlile, and Brittany Howard took the stage for an In Memoriam segment honoring Little Richard, Kenny Rogers, John Prine, and Gerry Marsden. Silk Sonic followed up their earlier performance of “Leave the Door Open” by paying tribute to Little Richard with “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly”. Anderson .Paak slammed the drums and Bruno Mars acted like he was possessed by the late icon. Richie was up next, honoring Kenny Rogers with a performance of Rogers’ “Lady”, while Carlile ran through a solo acoustic version of Prine’s final song, “I Remember Everything”. The segment closed with Brittany Howard being joined by Chris Martin on the piano to sing Gerry and The Pacemakers’ “Y...
Grammys 2021: Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B Perform “WAP” Live for First Time
The 2021 Grammys were one of the smoothest award ceremonies in recent memories, and the proceedings never felt more well-lubricated than when Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion performed their smash hit “WAP” live for the first time. That climactic moment didn’t come without foreplay. The song was preceded by a medley of other songs, beginning with Megan, the newly minted Best New Artist, who turned up the heat with the Good News track “Body”. Dressed in Las Vegas showgirl glamour, she segued into “Savage”, which would go on to win the award for Best Rap Performance only a few minutes later. While Beyoncé herself didn’t join the stage, her voice was heard through the speakers, and Megan used that moment to bust into a dance break. From there, the focus shifted to another side o...
BTS Perform “Dynamite” at 2021 Grammy Awards: Watch
After lots of well-deserved hype and excitement, BTS took the stage at the 2021 Grammy Awards on Sunday to perform their Grammy-nominated smash “Dynamite”. Watch a replay of it below. The multi-millionaire K-pop group — comprised of RM, Jin, J-Hope, Jimin, V, Jungkook, and the freshly minted 28-year-old rapper Suga — put on one of their best performances yet when they took the Grammys stage. “Dynamite” earned BTS their first-ever Grammy nomination in a music category. The septet were up for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance for “Dynamite” against arguably the biggest names in pop music: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift. Though they lost to Gaga and Grande, BTS have done more than enough to prove they’re just as popular as those marquee names considering ...
2021 Grammy Winners: See The Full List
How long has it been since the 2020 Grammys? The factual answer is about 14 months, but it feels much longer, thanks to the lingering pandemic and the various challenges it’s presented in the past year. Still, the Recording Academy adapted, opening itself up even as it weathered more than a few storms. The 63rd annual ceremony tonight (March 14) will still showcase the best of the best, as far as the institution is concerned. The lead-up showcased an impressive nine nominations for Beyoncé, with her leading the pack ahead of Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, and Roddy Ricch, who racked up six nods each. But who took home the show’s biggest honors? Here are the winners some of the night’s key categories. Record of the Year Beyoncé: “Black Parade” Black Pumas: “Colo...
Grammys 2021: Toots and the Maytals Win Best Reggae Album for Got to Be Tough
Toots Hibbert posthumously won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for his final record with Toots and the Maytals, Got to Be Tough. Hibbert died in September at the age of 77 due to complications caused by COVID-19. Got to Be Tough was the band’s first LP since 2010’s Flip and Twist. In claiming Best Reggae Album, it beat out releases like One World by The Wailers, It All Comes Back to Love by Maxi Priest, Higher Place by Skip Marley, and Upside Down 2020 by Buju Banton. Accepting the award from his home in Montego Bay, the group’s bassist for over 50 years, Jackie Jackson, said, “This is a great honor for a legend and so well-deserved. No words can express how we guys are feeling right now.” Toots and the Maytals previously won Be...
Fiona Apple Wins First Grammy Awards in 23 Years
Fiona Apple was one of the big winners at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony on Sunday, taking home two Grammy Awards. Apple’s latest opus Fetch the Bolt Cutters was awarded Best Alternative Music Album, besting formidable contenders including Beck’s Hyperspace, Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher, Brittany Howard’s Jamie, and Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush. She also won Best Rock Performance for “Shameika”. Other nominees in the category included Big Thief’s “Not”, Phoebe Bridgers’ “Kyoto”, HAIM’s “The Steps”, Brittany Howard’s “Stay High”, and Grace Potter’s “Daylight”. Today’s victories mark the second and third Grammys of Apple’s career, and first in 23 years. She previously won in 1998, earning Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Criminal”. Apple did not attend the Pr...
Grammys 2021: Body Count Win Best Metal Performance, Earning Ice-T His First Grammy in 30 Years
Body Count won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance on Sunday, earning frontman Ice-T his first award at the ceremony in 30 years. The band won the award for “Bum Rush”, from their 2020 album, Carnivore. The veteran metal act beat out fellow nominees Code Orange, In This Moment, Poppy, and Power Trip for the award. Power Trip were nominated following the tragic death of lead singer Riley Gale this past summer, and Ice-T would have been just as happy if they had won. As he told Heavy Consequence last year, he was equally rooting for Power Trip, telling us, “It would be just like I won the Grammy ’cause [Riley Gale] was my guy.” Prior to Gale’s passing, the Power Trip vocalist guested on Body Count’s song “Point the Finger”. The Grammy win for Body Count is their first as a band, and the fi...
The Strokes Win First-Ever Grammy for Best Rock Album
20 years into their celebrated career, The Strokes are finally Grammy winners. The New York greats took home Best Rock Album for The New Abnormal, and they gave as hilariously abnormal an acceptance speech as you’d hope they would. Despite a number of albums that many music fans would deem classics, The Strokes had never even been nominated for a Grammy prior to this year. Winning a golden gramophone after such a distinguished career was, understandably, an exciting moment for the group, who Zoomed in to accept the award from what appeared to be their personal basement pool hall. Amazingly, the group appeared to not catch the announcement at first, as Julian Casablancas, Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti leaned into their computer to hear the winner. “Wow! Damn! Sorry we couldn’t hear...
Fiona Apple Explains Why She Won’t Be Attending the Grammys
Fiona Apple is nominated for three Grammys this year, including Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Alternative Music Album. While a limited number of guests will be allowed to attend tonight’s ceremony, Apple will not be among them. “It’s not because I’m trying to protest, even though I have problems with the Grammys, it’s not because of that,” Apple explained in a video posted to her friend Zelda Hallman’s Instagram on Sunday. “It’s really because I don’t want to be on national television — I’m just not made for that kind of stuff anymore. I want to stay sober and I can’t do that sober — it doesn’t feel safe to me to be under exposure, scrutiny, comparison to people. I can’t.” Apple continued by noting that “there’s been lots of questions about the transparency of the Gr...
