Bad Bunny's 'ICE out' comment received a standing ovation at the Grammy Awards.
Reuters
Hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar won five trophies on Sunday at the 68th annual Grammy Awards, held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, but lost out to Bad Bunny for the album of the year.
The Puerto Rican superstar’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos was the first all-Spanish album to win in the category.
“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said in English, in a speech otherwise in Spanish.
Bad Bunny wins album of the year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Bad Bunny was one of a few artists who addressed U.S. immigration policies. (“Ice Out” pins were popular accessories.) Accepting the award for best música urbana album, he said, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”
Lamar won record of the year (for performance and production) for Luther, with singer SZA. Billie Eilish won song of the year (songwriting) for Wildflower, and Olivia Dean won best new artist.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA accept the Record Of The Year award for their song luther.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Los Angeles-based producer Cirkut, born Henry Russell Walter 40 years ago in Ottawa, won in the producer of the year, non-classical, category for his work with Lady Gaga, the Weeknd, Ed Sheeran and more. “Once upon a time I was a kid from Canada making beats in my bedroom,” he said during the during a streamed ceremony held in the afternoon.
Sunday’s telecast of music’s biggest night marked the end of era. Starting in 2027, the annual industry honours will run on ABC, Hulu and Disney+, after more than half a century at CBS.
The best red carpet looks of the night
The Good
Plane around: Sabrina Carpenter wore hot pants as an airline pilot for her snazzy aviation-themed performance of Manchild.
Living up to his name: Rap artist Tyler, the Creator wore the militaristic garb from his Chromakopia album while performing a medley of songs. He threw fuel on the fire by blowing up a gas station.
Up to her new tricks: Lady Gaga’s shock-rock rendition of Abracadabra was so scary it made Marilyn Manson look like Marilyn Monroe.
Lady Gaga performs a new rendition of her song Abracadabra.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
In memoriam: The tributes to the late Ozzy Osbourne, D’Angelo and Roberta Flack were exceptionally done. Highlights included Lauryn Hill’s version of Killing Me Softly and a fire-breathing version of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs by a rock super group composed of Slash, Andrew Watt, Post Malone, Duff McKagan and Chad Smith.
Rock on: Justin Bieber, Leon Thomas and Bruno Mars are not known for their electric guitar skills, but they all strapped on instruments for their performances. Maybe rock isn’t dead after all?
The Bad
We demand a recount: British neo-soul singer Dean upset R&B singer Thomas for the best new artist award, even though Thomas was nominated for five other awards.
Flying commercial: For every three minutes of Grammys, there were five minutes of commercials. That may be an exaggeration, but the ratio was not good.
That’s enough of hat: The repeated cameos of Jamie Foxx’s ridiculous chapeau probably went to the actor’s head.
The Weird
Bad break: Coming back from the first commercial, people in the audience were late returning to their seats. One man even stood between host Trevor Noah and the camera.
Is he okay?: For his captivating performance of his single Yukon, Justin Bieber wore just socks and boxers. It was either a brilliant expression of vulnerability or a cry for help − or both.
Justin Bieber performs his song Yukon.DANIEL COLE/Reuters
The Quotes
Trevor Noah’s best: “There are so many stars in this room, I feel like I’m at Jeff Bezos’s wedding, but with more Black people.”
Not like us: Noah worked in a shot at Drake while introducing the Canadian’s rap-beef nemesis, Kendrick Lamar. “I actually though about writing a few jokes, roasting you,” the host said to Lamar. “But then I remembered what you can do to light-skinned dudes from other countries.”
Grammys host Trevor Noah speaks on-stage during the show.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Sunday night live: Marcello Hernández of Saturday Night Live praised the nominees in the best música urbana category for “making the music that my kids will one day have to clean to.”
The Canadians
Joni Mitchell: “Who won? Oh, I won?“ The legendary artist hadn’t realized she’d won best historical album as she stood at the podium during the pre-telecast afternoon ceremony. She took the prize for Archives – Volume 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980).
Joni Mitchell accepts the Best Historical Album award for Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 4: The Asylum Years — 1976-1980.DANIEL COLE/Reuters
Justin Gray: The audio production teacher at Toronto’s Humber Polytechnic schooled the competition to win the best immersive audio album award for his jazz LP, Immersed. It’s the first Canadian work ever nominated in the category dedicated to surround sound recordings.
Serban Ghenea: The audio engineer and mixer who has quietly racked up 23 Grammys over the years added another one, for best dance pop recording (Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra).
Bad Bunny, the Latino rap star whose forthcoming Super Bowl gig has ignited a culture wars controversy, won the top Grammy prize on Sunday, a first for a Spanish-language album, with Debí Tirar Más Fotos, a celebration of his Puerto Rican roots.
Reuters