2024 Grammy's: Best of the Night
Music's biggest night of the year was filled with unforgettable music moments and live performances of some of the best songs of the year. Every single category at this year's Grammy ceremony was stacked with incredible talent, making it impossible to really predict which way each award was going to go. It has been such a great year for new music and this show served as a perfect celebration of that.
The show opened with a performance from Dua Lipa of her new song "Training Season", which is set to be officially released later this month. She also performed one of my current favorites, "Houdini", which was also her first time performing that song too. It was one of the first glimpses we got into the visuals surrounding her upcoming album, and I am so excited to hear more from it soon! She was nominated this year for "Dance The Night" from Barbie: The Album, which she didn't win any awards for, but is a great song nonetheless!
The rest of the Barbie soundtrack did sweep up many other awards at this year's ceremony, including Best Soundtrack Album for Visual Media, which was a no-brainer for Mark Ronson and Andrew Watt to win this year and was so deserved. Billie Eilish and Finneas also won two awards for their stunning "What Was I Made For?" that featured in the film, including Best Song Written for Visual Media. That category that was made up almost exclusively of songs from the Barbie's soundtrack this year. They also won Song of the Year for it too, which was so deserved. Is is actually their second time winning both of those awards in the past few years. Somehow Billie and Finneas just keep getting better and better. I have loved seeing all that they have achieved over the past five years, it has been so inspiring to see. They really just can't be stopped and I am always so excited to hear what comes next for them. I absolutely loved their performance of the song too and can't wait to see them get another Oscar next month!🤞
The show was filled with other great performances all throughout the night, spanning a wide range of genres. One of my most anticipated was Miley Cyrus' debut televised performance of "Flowers". She sounded great and it was overall such a shining vocal performance from her. "Flowers" had such a huge moment over the past year and absolutely deserved Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year. I feel like this has been a long time coming for Miley, she has been putting out consistently amazing music since she was barely a teenager, now almost twenty years into her career, it's about time Miley gets her flowers! In the middle of her performance she sang, "started to cry, but then remembered I...just won my first Grammy!"
When she won her first award of the night for Best Pop Solo Performance, she told such a beautiful story about a boy trying to catch a butterfly, "...He just went outside out in the sun and started swinging and swinging. But with no luck, he sat down on the ground, he finally let go, and he surrendered, and he was OK that he wasn’t going to capture this beautiful butterfly. And right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose. And this song, ‘Flowers,’ is my butterfly. Thank you.”
Looking at her discography and all of the massive songs she wrote, it's crazy to think this is the first time she has ever won any award at the ceremony. I can think of at least ten songs off the top of my head that deserved at least a nomination over the course of her career but didn't. The song was produced by the talented Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, both of whom won massive awards last year at the Grammy's with Best Pop Vocal Album and the coveted Album of the Year win for their work with Harry Styles on Harry's House. "This award is amazing, but I really hope that it doesn't change anything because my life was beautiful yesterday," Miley said in her acceptance speech. "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."
Victoria Monet also won three awards, including for Best New Artist, which I was happy to see too! I saw her perform years ago on the Dangerous Woman Tour with Ariana Grande and she was such a talent then and has only grown in the years that followed. I know her more for her songwriting and collaborations with Ariana, who she has been working with from the very beginning and is responsible for co-writing some of the greatest songs of her discography. It's great to see her receive so many accolades for her solo work now too!
SZA, who was the most nominated artist this year, put on one of the best performances of the night with a medley of songs from SOS, including the chart-topping "Kill Bill". SOS also won for Best Progressive R&B Album, which she accepted with an emotional speech. "You don't really understand," she said. "I came really, really far and I can't believe this is happening and it feels fake."
SZA also won for her collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, "Ghost In The Machine" for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. That was also Phoebe's very first Grammy win. It was such an unlikely pairing for a song, but I absolutely love it. It's still insane to me that Phoebe didn't win any awards for Punisher a few years ago, but all of the accolades she received this year are so deserved. The rest of boygenius also won three of their first awards too, which I was hoping for! Their debut album, the record was among one of the very best of 2023 and "Not Strong Enough" is easily one of my favorite songs ever. They won for Best Rock Song & Best Rock Performance for "Not Strong Enough", as well as Best Alternative Album. I was really rooting for them to win, especially after the huge breakout year they had. I am so happy for them and am looking forward to hearing what comes next for them collectively and as solo artists! Their acceptance speech in the pre-show was also so beautiful. Lucy Dacus said, "We were all delusional enough as kids to think that this might happen to us someday. Phoebe would sing at Guitar Center hoping that she would get discovered. Julien was always in bands as a kid and wanted to play sold-out stadiums. And I would practice writing an acceptance speech and thank all of the people that have been nice to me, like my bus driver and the guy who held the door at church, so I feel kinda like a kid, because that was the last time that something like this felt possible. This just, like, isn’t real." Julien Baker finished their first acceptance speech of the night by saying, "Music saved my life, everyone can be in a band. This band is my family."
I was also happy to hear that Paramore won for Best Rock Album for This Is Why, which was another one of my top albums of the last year. They make history as the very first female-fronted rock band to win this award, which is such a great accomplishment and I hope to see rock music continue to go in this direction in the years to come. Hailey Williams is such a powerhouse musician and there is no one better fit to shatter those glass ceilings in rock music. I loved seeing all of the other categories honoring so many incredible female musicians. In fact, all of the winners on the televised broadcast were women. It is such a great time in music right now and such a bright future ahead. I am such a fan of all of the artists that were nominated and loved seeing them honored.
Later that night at the post-show press conference, Phoebe Bridgers was asked about the current state of music and the way women dominated the show this year, to which she had the perfect response. "I have something to say about women. The ex-president of The Recording Academy, Neil Portnow said that if women want to be nominated at the Grammy's that they should 'step up'. He's also being accused of sexual violence. So to him, I'd like to say, 'I know you're not dead yet, but when you are, rot in piss'".
Perhaps the biggest winner of the night was, to no one's surprise, Taylor Swift. The first award of the night that she won was Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights, which marked her 13th Grammy win of her career. If you know anything about Taylor, you'll know her lucky number is 13 and to celebrate that special award, she surprise announced the release of her next album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is set to come out in April! I still can't believe that she is coming out with a brand-new album already! At the most, I was anticipating the announcement of Reputation (Taylor's Version), but never an entirely new record already! I mean, she did tell us she was a mastermind after all! She says she has been working on it for the past two years and it's insane that she was able to find the time to record (at least) four albums in that time, along with touring the world on her Eras Tour and the millions of other things she is doing. She's the greatest, there's no doubt about it! The album cover looks stunning and I can't wait to hear more about it. Also, if she is outright calling herself a poet with that album title, then you know we are already in for something so special. 🤍
For the final award of the night, Midnights also won for the record-breaking Album of the Year! This makes Taylor the artist with the most Album of The Year wins in history. That category was so stacked with incredible albums this year, but I am so happy to see her break the record with this award. She previously won Album of The Year for Fearless, 1989 and Folklore and now broke the tie between her, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon who have three wins in the category. It is so inspiring to see her continuously reach new heights in her career and continuously outdo herself with her work. I have been a huge fan of Taylor for as long as I can remember, and her music shaped me into the person I am today. Midnights is such a great album too, featuring some of the best work of her career, detailing thirteen sleepless nights throughout her life. Songs like "Your On Your Own, Kid", "Maroon" and "Karma" alone made her deserve that Grammy! As Taylor would say herself, "That's a real fucking legacy to leave!"
"I would love to tell you that this is the best moment of my life," she said in her acceptance speech, "but I feel this happy when I finish a song, or when I crack the code to a bridge that I love, or when I’m shot listing a music video or when I’m rehearsing with my dancers or my band or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show." She continues, "For me, the award is the work, All I want to do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much. It makes me so happy. It makes me unbelievably blown away that it makes some people happy who voted for this award, too. All I want to do is keep doing this. So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much. Mind blown. Thank you so much!”
She also thanked her collaborators in her acceptance speech for Album of the Year, including Lana Del Rey, who she recorded "Snow On The Beach" with. They are two of my favorite artists ever and I hope that is just the first of many collaborations between them. "...I think so many female artists would not be where they are and would not have the inspiration they have if it weren't for the work that Lana has done. I think she's a legacy artist, a legend in her prime right now. I'm so lucky to know you and to be your friend." It is also surprising for Lana Del Rey to yet again not receive any awards. Awards don't really mean anything though, it is all arbitrary and doesn't really define the importance that the art holds for the audience, but the principle of it is still surprising. So much of the music industry that we know today has been paved by her and this recognition is long overdue for her. But I think if she was in it for the recognition, she probably would have quit a long time ago. She is a once-in-a-generation talent that somehow just keeps getting better and better each year. I said this in my post about my favorite albums and songs of the year, but I am so happy to be alive at the same time as her and experience her genius in real-time. The same goes for Taylor too, they have both changed my life with their music in so many ways. Regardless of awards, I know that there is still so much more to come from both of them and I can't wait to hear what's next!
Midnights was the first full album that she and her frequent collaborator, Jack Antonoff made together. The songs they have made together are among some of my favorite songs of all time. Jack also made history as only the second artist ever to win producer of the year three years in a row, which is so well deserved. There is truly no one else like him in music right now. Year after year he outdoes himself with the work he releases, and I can't wait to hear what the next year holds for him. Hopefully 2025 makes it four in a row! So much of the music that has changed my life in insurmountable ways has always had the common denominator of Jack Antonoff writing and producing the song. He is one of the musicians in my life that has forever changed me and I can only imagine what he is going to come up with next! I have written about Jack and his music countless times, but I can't say it enough - he is the greatest! In his acceptance speech in the pre-show he talked about breaking through in the music industry as a producer and how "Taylor Swift kicked that fucking door open for me," with "Out Of The Woods" ten years ago. "Everyone, in this room especially, knows that feeling when you hear something and say: 'I love this' and then there's all these people saying: 'No, it’s gotta go to a big-name person.'" He continued, We made a song called ‘Out of the Woods’ for 1989, and when I was waiting for that call to tell me it was going to some big-name person, she said: ‘Let’s mix this shit’. So I love you to death, Taylor and I love all you guys. This means a lot to me.”
In addition to the iconic musical moments, I always love to highlight some of my favorite red carpet fashion moments too!
B E S T D R E S S E D
Taylor Swift
Lana Del Rey
Miley Cyrus
Olivia Rodrigo
Dua Lipa
Billie Eilish & Finneas
Victoria Monet
Gracie Abrams
Halle Bailey
Paris Hilton
boygenius
Madison Beer
Mark Ronson & Grace Gummer
Jack Antonoff
Caroline Polachek
Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below! If you are interested in purchasing a copy of any of the Grammy nominated artists this year*, I would really appreciate it if you could do so through my affiliate links*, which I may earn a commission from. ♡ I have written about many of this year's nominees and winners in-depth, I would love for you to check some of them out at the links below!
Photo Credit to all owners: CNN, Billboard, The Boston Globe, Getty Images, CBS, The Recording Academy
*affiliate links are featured throughout this post. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. -- Melissa Kacar is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
Related Posts:
Midnights // Taylor Swift Album Review
Endless Summer Vacation by Miley Cyrus // Album Review
Paramore This Is Why Album Review
Comments
Post a Comment