GRAMMYs Wrap: Megan Thee Stallion, Kaytranada, Thundercat wins, Phoebe Bridgers and Tame Impala snubs + more
The GRAMMYs has happened for another year, and with it a whole stack of highs and lows for Megan Thee Stallion, Kaytranada and more.
The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards have just wrapped up, and as with every year, it had its fair share of ups, downs and everything in between. Highs and lows were happening for many including Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Kaytranada and more. Here, we take you through some key moments to get up to speed.
Megan Thee Stallion wins big and breaks records
The Houston Hottie Megan Thee Stallion had an incredible night, taking out three of the four awards she was nominated for. She won Best New Artist as well as Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for her Beyoncé-featuring 'Savage (Remix)'. Megan Thee Stallion is the first female rapper to win the Best New Artist award this century, following Lauryn Hill's win of the award back in 1999. She also makes the third ever solo rapper to take home the prize after Chance The Rapper in 2017. She is the first black female to ever win the Best Rap Song category as well. These awards also contributed to Beyoncé's own record breaking achievements on the same night, raising her total Grammy wins to 28 and setting the record for Grammys won by a female artist. Beyoncé's nine-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, also became a Grammy winner tonight alongside her mother for Best Music Video for 'BROWN SKIN GIRL'.
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"Two Time Grammy winner Kaytranada" has a nice ring to it
King Kaytranada was always in for a big night for the 2021 Grammys with the producer picking up three nominations. He was up for Best New Artist, Best Dance/Electronic Album for BUBBA and Best Dance Recording for '10% ft. Kali Uchis', and took out the last two (with Hot Girl Meg taking out Best New Artist). Kali Uchis and Kaytranada celebrated the win over FaceTime, and Kaytranada shared some photos on social media to show how much of a good time he's having as he adds the two awards to his already-lengthy list of achievements. Go Kaytra!
The Grammys paid tribute to SOPHIE
In a very touching In Memoriam segment during the broadcast, The Grammys displayed SOPHIE's image and her artist name. We were expecting it, but it was nonetheless bittersweet to see her acknowledged by the Academy following her devastating passing earlier this year. Alongside the Grammy-nominated producer, the Academy also paid tribute to MF DOOM, Kenny Rogers, Mary Wilson of The Supremes and many more.
Thundercat took home his first Grammy for his own album
After taking home his first Grammy back in 2015 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for his work on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly track 'These Walls', Thundercat took home the gong for Best Progressive R&B Album this year for his album, It Is What It Is. He shouted out Mac Miller, and commented about the kinda weird award title saying, “Do I feel like I make progressive R&B?… I guess if that’s what you would call it, I guess that’s what you would call it. I just make music and I always hope that it would be good music.” Good friend and producer of It Is What It Is Flying Lotus was up for Producer Of The Year, but missed out to Andrew Watt. Thankfully, Thundercat was happy to share the award with his buddy.
Phoebe Bridgers, Tame Impala, Flume all miss out
Unfortunately with every awards show, there are more of those who don't win than those who do, and this year this contingent included Phoebe Bridgers, Tame Impala and Flume. Bridgers in particular was surprising given she was nominated for a whopping FOUR awards — Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Alternative Music Album — and took home none. In an interview prior to the show, Elton John stated he would "hit someone" if Bridgers didn't win at least one award, so the industry may be on alert for a little while until he's seen in public. Tame Impala's 'Lost In Yesterday' and The Slow Rush were nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Album respectively, while Flume's Toro Y Moi-featuring 'The Difference' was up for Best Dance Recording (won by Kaytranada). Disclosure‘s party starter ‘My High’ featuring Amine and Slowthai, Diplo & Sidepiece‘s ‘On My Mind’ and Jayda G‘s exceptional ‘Both Of Us’ were also beaten out by Kaytranada's '10%', while Brittany Howard's 'Stay High' won Best Rock Song and Fiona Apple's Fetch The Bolt Cutters won Best Alternative Album. For Best Dance Album, Kaytranada's BUBBA won over Baauer‘s ‘PLANET’S MAD’, Disclosure‘s ‘ENERGY’, Madeon‘s ‘Good Faith’ and ARCA‘s KiCK i.
Billie Eilish broke a record, too
Billie Eilish had a banner year at last year's GRAMMYs, picking up not only Best New Artist, Record of The Year, Album of The Year, Song of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2021, she was up for three awards and won two — Best Song Written for Visual Media for her Bond theme 'No Time To Die', and Record of The Year again for 'everything i wanted'. This latter award is particularly special as Eilish enters a very exclusive club of artists whom have taken out Record of The Year twice. In fact, the club is so exclusive, Eilish is only the fifth member to enter in the history of the awards alongside Simon & Garfunkel, U2, Roberta Flack and Henry Mancini. She is the third artist ever to win the award in two consecutive years, with U2 and Roberta Flack preceding her. Eilish dedicated her win of the award to Megan Thee Stallion, saying she deserved it and making the audience give the rapper another round of applause.
See the full list of winners and awards HERE.
Words by Emma Jones
Images: Megan Thee Stallion by Marcelo Cantu, Tame Impala by Neil Krug, Kaytranada by Carys Huws, Phoebe Bridgers by Davis Bates, Thundercat by Parker Day,
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