This year the Grammys brought a lot of surprises, controversy and history-making moments. If you missed it, or simply want another recap of the night, look no further. Here are the winners from this year from each main category.
There are a total of 91 Grammy categories—obviously, neither you nor I have the time or energy to go through all of them. So let’s do a breakdown of the main sections and the biggest awards in each. Starting with the main winners of the year.
If there’s anything you walk away with from this article, the most important and iconic to know would be record, album and song of the year. For clarification, record of the year refers to the recording of a song, which sounds simple but can be confusing when talking about song of the year as well. Record of the year notices the artist, producers and engineers while song of the year focuses on composition.
This year, Lizzo and her team walked away with record of the year with the song “About Damn Time,” as song of the year went to Bonnie Rait for “Just Like That.” And, as most everyone has probably heard already, album of the year went to Harry Styles for “Harry’s House.” This sparked a lot of debate as Styles’ album was up against Beyoncé’s “Renaissance,” with Beyoncé holding a track record of being beat out for album of the year despite being nominated four times for four different albums.
For best new artist, the academy selected Samara Joy, a 23-year-old contemporary jazz singer for the category. Other pop awards included “Easy on Me” by Adele for best pop solo performance, “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras for best pop duo/group performance and yet again, “Harry’s House” for best pop vocal album. Petras made history by being the first trans woman to win in the best pop duo/group performance category.
Although she didn’t walk away with album of the year, Beyoncé made history with her 32 Grammy win, making her the artist with the most Grammy wins ever. Beyonce walked away with best dance/electronic recording for “Break My Soul” and best dance/electronic music album for “Renaissance.”
The rock category had some surprising wins, with not a lot of new acts taking home Grammys, or punk and hardcore bands despite their nominations in nearly every category. Best rock performance and best rock song went to Brandi Carlile for “Broken Horses.”
Best metal performance went to Ozzy Osbourn for “Degradation Rulers” winning against Turnstile and Megadeth. Ozzy also won best rock album for “Patient Number 9” up against artists such as Idles and Spoon.
The alternative category was all about Wet Leg this year, as they took home both best alternative music performance and best alternative music album.
Best R&B album went to Robert Glasper for “Black Radio III” as Steve Lacy took home the award for best progressive R&B album for “Gemini Rights.” Beyonce took home awards for best traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa” as well as best song in the genre for “Cuff It.”
Rap rounds out the last of the most popular sections of the award show, with Kendrick Lamar dominating the genre. Lamar won best rap album for “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” as well as best rap performance and best rap song for “The Heart Part 5.” Future took home one win for best melodic rap performance for their song with Drake and Tem’s “Wait for You.”
Do you agree with who won at the Grammys this year? Now that you’re informed, take to the internet with the rest of your world or talk with your friends to debate (I know I did), until more wins and music next year.
