The 64th Annual Grammy Awards took place on April 3rd in Las Vegas. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the award ceremony returned back to its almost normal scale since the pandemic started. The show featured live performances from Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Justin Bieber.
Best New Artist: Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo brought home this year’s Best New Artist Award. After starring on the Disney show, “High School Musical: the Musical: the Series,” she shocked the world with a full album. SOUR was released in May 2021, featuring 11 tracks. Olivia soon amassed a whopping 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. Being only 19 years old, Olivia has already accomplished so much for her age. By winning Best New Artist, Olivia has proved her potential for future success in the music industry.
Song of the Year: Leave the Door Open – Silk Sonic
Silk Sonic won all their nominations at this year’s Grammys, including Song of the Year. They simultaneously received Record of the Year for the same song. When accepting the award, Anderson Paak said “We are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point, but in the industry we call that a clean sweep.” Bruno Mars was seen standing next him lighting up a cigarette while Paak was talking. They brought home a total of four Grammys that night.
Best Pop Duo or Group Performance: Kiss Me More – Doja Cat ft. SZA
Both first time Grammy winners, Doja Cat and SZA won for their collaboration on “Kiss Me More.” After running from the bathroom to claim the award, Doja got emotional over their win, although it was not surprising it won since the song has more than 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. Additionally, the song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 Radio. Doja herself was nominated in eight categories total that night.
Best Pop Solo Performance: drivers license – Olivia Rodrigo
One of the three Grammy’s Olivia received was won for her debut single off SOUR. “Driver’s License” was officially released in January 2021, marking the start of Rodrigo’s stardom. The song is about watching her ex-boyfriend move on and forget about all the things they looked forward to doing together. This song and the rest of the album is rumored to be about her relationship and breakup with co-star Joshua Bassett. She also performed this song live at the show.
Album of the Year: We Are – Jon Batiste
One of the most surprising moments of the night, Jon Batiste won Album of the Year for his most recent record “We Are.” This album shows himself as a jazz pianist due to his hometown roots of New Orleans. Although the album is not very well known by the general public, it is said to be incredible. It peaked at 86 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It also had a grand total of eleven nominations at this year’s awards.