On Sunday evening, the Grammys were upstaged by a force of their own making — Taylor Swift announced her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, as she accepted Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights. Other than that, music’s biggest night tried its darndest to hang on to its self-proclaimed title. The show featured the largest slew of legends in recent memory, including performances by Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Billy Joel, and Stevie Wonder and appearances by Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey, and Meryl Streep. Today’s stars were out, too, with SZA, Miley Cyrus, and Olivia Rodrigo performing the year’s biggest hits and Dua Lipa also launching a new era. And, of course, it all came back to Swift herself rewriting history.
WHOA: Women sweep up the Rock and Alternative awards.
Just a few years after nominating a slate of all women in Best Rock Performance, it was a bit bizarre to see the Academy deciding that, actually, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and a little band called the Rolling Stones deserved more attention in the categories this year. But at least voters righted things a bit by making sure a woman walked away with every Rock and Alternative trophy. Boygenius won Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for “Not Strong Enough†and Best Alternative Album for The Record, while the Hayley Williams–fronted Paramore won Best Rock Album for This Is Why and Best Alternative Performance for its title track. (Add in a win for her SZA duet “Ghost in the Machine,†and Phoebe Bridgers is the top winner of the night — wild!) Bonus: Pre-show watchers were treated to three charming Boygenius speeches.
HIGH: The Academy actually gets some global wins right.
The Grammys doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to recognizing non-American music. Yes, they added the Best African Music Performance category this year, but only after failing to award previous Afrobeats hits like “Essence†and “Calm Down.†Not to mention that African music and the equally booming música Mexicana scene barely made a blip outside of their siloed categories. But the Academy ever so slightly corrected the record this year by awarding a bonafide hit, Tyla’s amapiano track “Water,†the inaugural trophy, while Best Música Mexicana Album went to Peso Pluma’s Génesis, giving some major recognition to the booming corridos tumbados scene.
WHOA: Hazel Monét wants to go home.Â
Put that on her own mama. Victoria Monét’s 2-year-old daughter was fussy on the red carpet, cutely interrupting interviews and looking thoroughly disgruntled during photo ops. Maybe the youngest-ever Grammy nominee was just disappointed that she didn’t win her category for Best Traditional R&B Performance?
LOW: AI gets an ad during the red carpet.Â
IBM’s generative AI was used to write social copy for the Grammys, and red-carpet presenters made sure to give the technology a shout-out. The Grammys won’t let robots win awards, but apparently this is fine.
HIGH: Dua Lipa dances the night away.Â
Lipa opened the ceremony by debuting part of her unreleased single “Training Season†in a medley with “Houdini†(and a few seconds of “Dance the Nightâ€). She remains determined to give us more than nothing, girl, so we got scaffolding choreo and a solid dance break, too.
WHOA: Trevor Noah can’t slow down.
If the Grammys’ 8 p.m. start was dangerously close to your bedtime, Trevor Noah’s opening monologue would’ve jolted you awake. Noah kicked things off with an overexcited, rapid-fire set of the usual jokes about big stars in the room along with some general music-industry news. Blame it on the coffee or something stronger, but Noah was on 1.5 speed this evening. Still, Noah got some good jokes in about Taylor Swift and Meryl Streep (Jo Koy who?), not to mention some spicy jabs at TikTok and AI. (On an AI recording of Andrea Bocelli singing “My Neck, My Backâ€: “It was beautiful, but it was wrong.â€) If you’ve got job security, might as well put it to use.
HIGH: Tracy Chapman sounds timeless.
Tracy Chapman finally got to bask in the glow of Luke Combs’s hit “Fast Car†cover, and it was well worth the wait. At her first live performance in over three years, Chapman took us right back to where she started, bringing a reliable soul and warmth to her hit 1988 single. Combs, who said “Fast Car†was his “favorite song before I knew what a favorite song was,†grinned nonstop as he took in the moment — and hit some great harmonies with his duet partner. One note, though: Why was Taylor Swift the only one in the audience standing and singing?
WHOA: SZA brings out the swords.Â
During SZA’s performance of “Kill Bill,†a dancer jumped up on a table with a sword, one wrong move away from beheading Phoebe Bridgers (though SZA’s “Ghost in the Machine’†collaborator looked thrilled to witness the stunts firsthand). At one point during the stage fighting, SZA appeared to grab a man by his tie and send him flying to the ceiling. That’s one way to end an argument!
WHOA: Miley Cyrus is the queen of ad-libs.
After winning her first ever Grammy, Miley Cyrus was feeling loose as she sang her hit “Flowers†live. “Why are you all acting like you don’t know this song?†she asked the crowd, as if said song didn’t top the Hot 100 for eight weeks. There was a lot of sax, cheesy choreography, and a wild breakdown, but Cyrus’s impromptu comments stole the show. The best one: “Started to cry, but then remembered … I just won my first Grammy!â€
LOW: The sound mixing sounded … off.
Throughout the ceremony, we heard loud crowd chatter while presenters were talking, and there was also a little too much reverb on the mics at certain points. This isn’t the first time there’ve been audio issues at the Grammys, but come on. Isn’t sound supposed to be your specialty?
LOW: U2 gives us literal vertigo.
Here’s what we learned from the first-ever televised performance from the Sphere: If you get queasy, it’s not for you. The drone-shot footage of U2 performing “Atomic City†was dizzying, as the camera swept across the venue jerkily zooming in and out. With that much motion, it was hard to get an idea of what a Sphere performance even looked like.
WHOA: Taylor Swift does a classic Taylor Swift reveal.Â
Of course she had to do something special while accepting her 13th Grammy. “I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years,†she said, before announcing that her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, will drop on April 19. Tumblr is shaking.
HIGH: The In Memoriam gets personal.
A tribute performance is always going to be an intimate affair, but this year’s In Memoriam hit harder than usual. The supersize segment kicked off with Stevie Wonder re-creating his duet of “For Once in My Life†with a recording of Tony Bennett, after they recorded it for Bennett’s 2006 album Duets. Annie Lennox followed with a powerful, stripped-down take on Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,†backed by Wendy and Lisa — there to represent their mentor Prince. To honor the late “Godfather of Black Music†Clarence Avant, the Grammys tapped both Lenny Kravitz to give a speech about Avant, and Jon Batiste, for a lively medley of songs by Bill Withers, one of Avant’s biggest successes. And bringing the performance home was Oprah Winfrey herself, to remember her friend Tina Turner and to introduce Fantasia Barrino, who performed a rocking take on “Proud Mary.†Even compared to the past few years of moving In Memoriams, this one raised the bar.
WHOA: Annie Lennox calls for a cease-fire while honoring Sinéad O’Connor.Â
Lennox finished her cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U†by declaring, “Artists for cease-fire! Peace!†just before the cameras cut. It’s the first explicit call for a cease-fire during a major American awards show this season, and it’s exactly what O’Connor would’ve done.
WHOA: Jay-Z talks his shit.Â
While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award (with Blue Ivy at his side!), Jay-Z shaded the Grammys for historically snubbing Beyoncé. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year, so even by your own metrics that doesn’t work,†he said. “Think about that.†He went on to say that some nominated artists “don’t belong†in their category, joking that he tells the truth when he gets nervous.
HIGH: Joni Mitchell hits the Grammys stage — and brings the Joni Jam crew.
Joni Mitchell’s return to the spotlight has been a family affair, with Brandi Carlile ushering her back onto the stage at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 and a collective of other musicians joining her for recent performances. So it only felt right for Mitchell to bring the whole Joni Jam for her first-ever (?!) Grammys performance. After Carlile introduced her friend and hero, Mitchell began singing a stripped-back “Both Sides Now†with her back to the audience. Then, after a dramatic chair-spin reveal, she appeared in the middle of nearly a dozen musicians, all there for her. As much as the harmonies shone, Mitchell’s rich, wizened voice was the focal point, and everyone on that stage (not to mention in the room) knew it.
WHOA: The Grammys’ CEO attempts a musical metaphor for world peace.Â
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. takes the concept of harmony on earth quite literally, it seems. While a string quartet played in front of him, he gave a rambling speech that began by noting the global diversity of the performers and winners of the night. He went on to reference “over 360 music fans†who were killed on October 7 and “all the tragic days that have followed.†“These musicians of Palestinian, Israeli, and Arab descent are here, playing together,†he added. “Now is the time for us, for humanity, to play together.†Clearly he did not learn from the lessons of the celebrity “Imagine†cover.
HIGH: Burna Boy takes the Grammys to Africa.
The Grammys’ first-ever Afrobeats performance came way too late in the evening, but when it finally did happen, it happened in full force. Burna Boy didn’t bring Africa to the stage — he brought the Grammys to his home country of Nigeria, kicking off his set with a lively take of “On Form†surrounded by Nigerian musicians and dancers. He went on to show just how big the genre had gotten as he performed “Sittin’ on Top of the World†with 21 Savage, one of the biggest rappers working right now, and Brandy, an R&B icon. Better late than never.
LOW: Can we turn out the lights already?
A Billy Joel performance earlier in the night would’ve been a welcome moment to slow things down. But Joel’s live debut of his new song “Turn the Lights Back On†over three hours into the ceremony just felt like a drag. (Though Joel popped up again for a romp of a show closer with “You May Be Right.â€) Meanwhile, between the flashing lights and thrown chairs, Travis Scott’s discordant Utopia medley felt like too much too late. We’d love to have a word with whoever schedules these performances.
HIGH: Victoria Monét wins Best New Artist.
She was overflowing with gratitude, thanking the Champagne servers at the ceremony, her mom (for singlehandedly raising “this really bad girlâ€), God, and her fellow nominees. Monét then teared up as she described her 15-year “pursuit†of the award, describing herself as a plant whose roots have been growing unseen in the music industry. “I feel like today I’m sprouting, finally above ground,†she said.
WHOA: Céline Dion makes a rare public appearance.
Dion has stopped performing since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. While she might not be ready to take the stage to sing again just yet, she was ready to return as the surprise presenter of the Album of the Year award. “When I say that I’m happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart,†she said.
WHOA: Taylor Swift breaks the Album of the Year record.
With her fourth win for Midnights, Taylor Swift officially has more Album of the Year Grammys than Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, or Paul Simon. Just three years after she tied those legends for Folklore, Swift cemented her own legend status with her massive pop return Midnights — and on a night when she announced what could be her next winner, The Tortured Poets Department. (She’s only the artist with the most AOTYs, though — with this win, engineer Serban Ghenea earns his fifth trophy.) After Midnights was far and away the biggest album of her career, how else would this era have ended?
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the title of Dua Lipa’s next single.