On November 20th, 2023 I published an article entailing my excitement for the upcoming Grammy award ceremony. My thoughts were easily changed the night of the ceremony.
The Grammys took place on February 4th, 2024, and opened with Dua Lipa performing her recent single Houdini, a single that I significantly enjoyed and loved to see in a live performance setting. Ever since she was criticized for her dancing skills, she has made her performances incredible.
The first award went to Miley Cyrus for best pop vocal performance for her song “Flowers” – a loaded category containing Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift. Cyrus noted that it was her first Grammy, and oh my god, Mariah Carey. Award in hand, she says, “There’s a story I wanna tell that sums up this moment, and I wasn’t gonna tell it, but now Mariah’s here.”
Trevor Noah gave us his typical spiel of force-fed jokes addressing Taylor Swift at Chiefs games, the recent Universal Music Group (UMG) news, and the array of celebrities in front of him. He was relatable and refreshing, but again, nothing different from his prior mundane hosting record.
Karol G won the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album and gave a heartwarming speech. I’m not a fan but I was about to break down – only the second award of the night, too. This award has been around for only the past two years and was given to Bad Bunny as the only other recipient.
SZA gave us a break with her incredible performance of “Snooze” and “Kill Bill”, embracing the dark side of her murderous single. Wielding a giant sword and showing no mercy to her enemies, she delivered. SZA was the most nominated artist this year – nominated for nine Grammys and proved why with her performance.
She was followed by the sibling duo of Billie Eilish and Finneas, performing the single that brought tears to girl’s eyes across the globe: “What Was I Made For?” It’s no surprise that this song won Best Song Written for Visual Media earlier in the day, and this performance only solidified the win. You just can’t deny those two are oozing with talent.
This awards ceremony is riddled with performances – Miley Cyrus reunited with the stage to perform “Flowers”, where she asked the crowd why they were singing like they didn’t know the song. I agree with her, probably because you couldn’t enter a department store without hearing it three times. Her true Miley attitude came out in this performance with her ad-libs and attitude.
After almost a half hour without awards presented, it’s back to the show.
SZA accepted her award for best R&B song for “Snooze” and emotionally thanked Lizzo after downing a shot seconds before, noting their friendship from the early days.
Olivia Rodrigo took the stage to perform “Vampire” – and it was everything I wanted and more. A gory and elegant rendition of the song while she bled profusely. It was so good that I wished the show would end there.
I mean it – the show should’ve ended there.
We got a preview of the inside of the sphere, the ridiculously enormous sphere in Las Vegas. I’ve always thought it was extremely unique and goofy in general, but the inside of it looks like such a unique concert experience that I think everyone should get to see. U2 presented the award for best pop vocal album, though I am unclear why U2 gets so much credit ever since the Apple music incident. Whatever, we press on.
Taylor Swift takes home the award for “Midnights”, an album that I remember receiving entirely mixed reviews from her seemingly dedicated fanbase. In her speech, she announced that her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department” would be released on April 19, 2024. This shook her die-hard followers, but not quite the audience of her peers. The crowd reaction was mild, probably because the next Grammys would be expected to be another Swift sweep. Moving past that tension-raiser.
With social media now buzzing over this news, nobody seemed to appreciate the details of the tribute performances, with dedications to Tony Bennett, Sinead O’Connor, and Clarence Avant. Fantasia Barrino provided us with an electrifying modern performance of “Proud Mary” in remembrance of Tina Turner who had Oprah dancing up out of her chair.
The messiness of the Grammys always comes when you least expect it. Jay-Z was presented with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award and took the stage with his daughter, Blue Ivy. This is the time he decided to call out the Grammys for its nonsense – a year too late. He brings up the fact Beyoncé has the most Grammys and has yet to win Album of the Year. He runs on with “Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category”. The audience just keeps taking hit after hit. Nonetheless, he thanks Dr. Dre for his paving of the way and returns to an astounded Beyoncé.
Billie Eilish and Finneas return to the stage to accept the Song of the Year award for “What Was I Made For?” – one honor that I can truly agree with. What a song to define a generation, and a year of girlhood.
Not long after, Joni Mitchell performed at the Grammys for the first time ever, after winning the award for best folk album. A historical moment for the books. But, we are apparently still stuck on the new Swift album.
In a moment of severe contrast from Mitchell’s serene scene, we watched Travis Scott perform songs from “UTOPIA”. I could only stay stuck on his Astroworld scandal, but the performance played on and he did not end up getting any nods for the new album.
Victoria Monet received a deserved Best New Artist award until she delivered one of the longest acceptance speeches of the night, or possibly ever, after artists were scolded for keeping it concise. Seriously, this Tik Tok video from @martialkat shows the frustration of the Recording Academy.
Miley Cyrus returned once again to accept Record of the Year and gave a much-improved speech from earlier in the night, telling us,
“This award is amazing, but I really hope that it doesn’t change anything, because my life was beautiful yesterday. Not everyone in the world will get a Grammy, but everyone in this world is spectacular, so please don’t think that this is important — even though it’s very important, right, guys?”
Miley Cyrus
Almost makes up for the incredibly tension-raising moments of the night, but not really – we haven’t gotten to the snubs.
Billy Joel received a standing ovation for performing his first single in many years. He is soon to retire after his Madison Square Garden residency runs out.
The room was shocked to see Celine Dion return to the public eye to present Album of the Year, after dealing with personal health issues. She presented the award to Taylor Swift for “Midnights”, making her the only artist to win Album of the Year four times. Who also didn’t seem to acknowledge Dion – something that people took to social media.
And it’s over, what a night. And after the conclusion, we can acknowledge some of the snubs that took place and the reception from the public.
Lana Del Rey, the queen of snubs was deprived of yet another year of Grammys after it was rumored that one of the voters on the panel couldn’t forgive her for her Saturday Night Live performance from 2012 that prevented her from performing on national television for year after harsh criticism. …. Her album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” was nominated for five Grammys, and took home none.
Others on social media took to begging for justice for Olivia Rodrigo, SZA for album of the year, and for the wins of boygenius to be seen on national television – not just in the pre-show. I would have loved to see my favorite artist, Phoebe Bridgers, receive her first Grammy on television like many others.
With an unforgettable ceremony (not necessarily in a good way) I can only wonder if it can get worse. I’ll see you back here for the next Grammy Awards.