It feels like Grammy season is over as quickly as it starts every year. Last night (February 4), the 66th Grammy Awards took place at the Crypto.com Arena, filled with jaw-dropping grandeur and exciting wins. The ceremony featured some well-deserved nods to legends and some of the most exciting young acts got their chance in the spotlight. 2023 brought us some incredible albums and in a shocking turn of events, the Grammy’s listened and selected some fantastic music to celebrate at the 66th edition of the award ceremony. Without further ado, let’s dive into everything that went down at Sunday’s Grammy Awards.
The hip-hop category was overtaken by Killer Mike’s MICHAEL LP. The Atlanta emcee brought home three Grammys including Rap Album Of The Year, Rap Song of the Year, and Rap Performance of the Year with his André 3000-assisted “Scientists and Engineers” single. By the end of the night, 3-time Grammy Winner Killer Mike was escorted out in handcuffs. Rumors are saying the arrest was linked to a misdemeanor but nothing has been confirmed as of now.
Some other big winners of the night come as no surprise as Boygenius racked up wins in the Rock and Alternative categories. SZA, Victoria Monét, and Phoebe Bridgers pulled in wins from a plethora of categories.
Boygenius won Best Rock Performance with “Not Strong Enough”, the same song was awarded the Best Rock Song of the Year as well. Metallica brings home some more gold for themselves in the Best Metal Performance category with “72 Seasons” while Paramore wins for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance. Boygenius appears again for the Best Alternative Music Album award for their stellar LP The Record.
The young icon Samara Joy won the Best Jazz Performance with “Tight” while the Country/Americana category came with some big names. Chris Stapleton brought home a trophy in the Best Country Solo Performance category with “White Horse”, the same song that won in the Best Country Song category. Zach Bryan and Kacy Musgraves won Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their collaboration “I Remember Everything”. Best Country Album went to Lainey Wilson while Jason Isbell took home the gold for Best American Roots Song and Best Americana Album. Molly Tuttle won a well-deserved Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, beating out Billy Strings and Willie Nelson.
Phoebe Bridgers was the winningest artist at the 66th ceremony, racking up four wins including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her assist on SZA’s “Ghost In The Machine”. SZA put the performance of the night with a theatrical performance of her hit “Kill Bill”. Taylor Swift broke the record for most Album of The Year wins by any artist with her win in the category last night totaling up to her fourth Album of The Year trophy.
Billy Joel performed a brand new song “Turn The Lights Back On”, marking any sort of new music from the legend since 2007. Joni Mitchell not only won Best Folk Album last night but put on a stunning performance of her classic “Both Sides Now”. Another shocking performance comes from Luke Combs who was joined by the iconic Tracy Chapman on stage for a duet of Chapman’s classic single “Fast Car”. This was the first of three times Chapman has performed on TV since her last tour wrapped up in 2009.
Check out the full list of winners and the other nominees from the 66th Grammy Awards below.
Best Rap Performance
“The Hillbillies,” Baby Keem Featuring Kendrick Lamar
“Love Letter,” Black Thought
“Rich Flex,” Drake & 21 Savage
“SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS,” Killer Mike Featuring André 3000, Future And Eryn Allen Kane (WINNER)
“Players,” Coi Leray
Best Melodic Rap Performance
“Sittin’ On Top Of The World,” Burna Boy Featuring 21 Savage
“Attention,” Doja Cat
“Spin Bout U,” Drake & 21 Savage
“All My Life,” Lil Durk Featuring J. Cole (WINNER)
“Low,” SZA
Best Rap Song
“Attention,” Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini & Ari Starace, songwriters (Doja Cat)
“Barbie World” [From Barbie The Album], Isis Naija Gaston, Ephrem Louis Lopez Jr. & Onika Maraj, songwriters (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice Featuring Aqua)
“Just Wanna Rock,” Mohamad Camara, Symere Woods & Javier Mercado, songwriters (Lil Uzi Vert)
“Rich Flex,” Brytavious Chambers, Isaac “Zac” De Boni, Aubrey Graham, J. Gwin, Anderson Hernandez, Michael “Finatik” Mule & Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, songwriters (Drake & 21 Savage)
“SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS,” Andre Benjamin, Paul Beauregard, James Blake, Michael Render, Tim Moore & Dion Wilson, songwriters (Killer Mike Featuring André 3000, Future And Eryn Allen Kane) (WINNER)
Best Rap Album
Her Loss, Drake & 21 Savage
MICHAEL, Killer Mike (WINNER)
HEROES & VILLIANS, Metro Boomin
King’s Disease III, Nas
UTOPIA, Travis Scott
Best Rock Performance
“Sculptures Of Anything Goes,” Arctic Monkeys
“More Than A Love Song,” Black Pumas
“Not Strong Enough,” boygenius (WINNER)
“Rescued,” Foo Fighters
“Lux Æterna,” Metallica
Best Metal Performance
“Bad Man,” Disturbed
“Phantom Of The Opera,” Ghost
“72 Seasons,” Metallica (WINNER)
“Hive Mind,” Slipknot
“Jaded,” Spiritbox
Best Rock Song
“Angry,” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Andrew Watt, songwriters (The Rolling Stones)
“Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl,” Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)
“Emotion Sickness,” Dean Fertita, Joshua Homme, Michael Shuman, Jon Theodore & Troy Van Leeuwen, songwriters (Queens Of The Stone Age)
“Not Strong Enough,” Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers & Lucy Dacus, songwriters (boygenius) (WINNER)
“Rescued,” Dave Grohl, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett & Pat Smear, songwriters (Foo Fighters)
Best Rock Album
But Here We Are, Foo Fighters
Starcatcher, Greta Van Fleet
72 Seasons, Metallica
This Is Why, Paramore (WINNER)
In Times New Roman…, Queens Of The Stone Age
Best Alternative Music Performance
“Belinda Says,” Alvvays
“Body Paint,” Arctic Monkeys
“Cool About It,” boygenius
“A&W,” Lana Del Rey
“This Is Why,” Paramore (WINNER)
Best Alternative Music Album
The Car, Arctic Monkeys
The Record, boygenius (WINNER)
Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Lana Del Rey
Cracker Island, Gorillaz
I Inside The Old Year Dying, PJ Harvey
Best Jazz Performance
“Movement 18′ (Heroes),” Jon Batiste
“Basquiat,” Lakecia Benjamin
“Vulnerable (Live),” Adam Blackstone Featuring The Baylor Project & Russell Ferranté
“But Not For Me,” Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding
“Tight,” Samara Joy (WINNER)
Best Country Solo Performance
“In Your Love,” Tyler Childers
“Buried,” Brandy Clark
“Fast Car,” Luke Combs
“The Last Thing On My Mind,” Dolly Parton
“White Horse,” Chris Stapleton (WINNER)
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“High Note,” Dierks Bentley Featuring Billy Strings
“Nobody’s Nobody,” Brothers Osborne
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan Featuring Kacey Musgraves (WINNER)
“Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold),” Vince Gill & Paul Franklin
“Save Me,” Jelly Roll With Lainey Wilson
“We Don’t Fight Anymore,” Carly Pearce Featuring Chris Stapleton
Best Country Song
“Buried,” Brandy Clark & Jessie Jo Dillon, songwriters (Brandy Clark)
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves, songwriters (Zach Bryan Featuring Kacey Musgraves)
“In Your Love,” Tyler Childers & Geno Seale, songwriters (Tyler Childers)
“Last Night,” John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin & Ryan Vojtesak, songwriters (Morgan Wallen)
“White Horse,” Chris Stapleton & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Chris Stapleton) (WINNER)
Best Country Album
Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, Kelsea Ballerini
Brothers Osborne, Brothers Osborne}
Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan
Rustin’ In The Rain, Tyler Childers
Bell Bottom Country, Lainey Wilson (WINNER)
Best American Roots Performance
“Butterfly,” Jon Batiste
“Heaven Help Us All,” The Blind Boys Of Alabama
“Inventing The Wheel,” Madison Cunningham
“You Louisiana Man,” Rhiannon Giddens
“Eve Was Black,” Allison Russell (WINNER)
Best Americana Performance
“Friendship,” The Blind Boys Of Alabama
“Help Me Make It Through The Night,” Tyler Childers
“Dear Insecurity,” Brandy Clark Featuring Brandi Carlile (WINNER)
“King Of Oklahoma,” Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
“The Returner,” Allison Russell
Best American Roots Song
“Blank Page,” Michael Trotter Jr. & Tanya Trotter, songwriters (The War And Treaty)
“California Sober,” Aaron Allen, William Apostol & Jon Weisberger, songwriters (Billy Strings Featuring Willie Nelson)
“Cast Iron Skillet,” Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit) (WINNER)
“Dear Insecurity,” Brandy Clark & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Brandy Clark Featuring Brandi Carlile)
“The Returner,” Drew Lindsay, JT Nero & Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)
Best Americana Album
Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark
The Chicago Sessions, Rodney Crowell
You’re The One, Rhiannon Giddens
Weathervanes, Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit (WINNER)
The Returner, Allison Russell
Best Bluegrass Album
Radio John: Songs of John Hartford, Sam Bush
Lovin’ Of The Game, Michael Cleveland
Mighty Poplar, Mighty Poplar
Bluegrass, Willie Nelson
Me/And/Dad, Billy Strings
City Of Gold, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway (WINNER)
Best Folk Album
Traveling Wildfire, Dom Flemon
I Only See The Moon, The Milk Carton Kids
Joni Mitchell At Newport [Live], Joni Mitchell (WINNER)
Celebrants, Nickel Creek
Jubilee, Old Crow Medicine Show
Seven Psalms, Paul Simon
Folkocracy, Rufus Wainwright
