After a two-month postponement by
the Recording Academy, the 63 Grammy Awards were finally given away this past
Sunday, March 14, at the LA Convention Center. This edition of the annual
Grammys had as one of its primary themes the impact of the pandemic on the
arts, and thus was reflected on there being no audience but those watching
online and on CBS. Performances and presentations were done on five stages
arranged in a circle. In this unique arrangement were several records broken,
particularly by Beyoncé, in terms of lifetime total in Grammy Awards received.
People.com reports that Beyoncé now holds the record of being the
most-awarded female artist in the history of the Grammy Awards. Not any regular
artist could rack up no less than nine nominations in an awards night. Even lesser
are those who could win almost half of those categories. Beyoncé won this
year’s Grammys for Best R&B Performance (“Black Parade”), Best Rap
Performance (“Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion), Best Rap Song (again “Savage”)
and Best Music Video (“Brown Skin Girl”). Add that to her past Grammy victories
and she has 28. She has just surpassed bluegrass musician Alison Krauss, who
had 27 awards herself.
“As an artist, I believe it's my job
and all of our jobs to reflect the times," Beyoncé said
upon receiving Best R&B Performance as her Grammy number 28 that evening.
"I wanted to uplift and encourage all of the Black kings and queens who
inspire me and inspire the whole world...I can't believe this happened, it's
such a magical night." Currently, Beyoncé is tied with Grammy Legend Quincy
Jones at 28 career awards. They still have a ways to go however to catch up to
the current Grammy total titleholder, conductor Georg Stolti who won 31 Grammys
for his orchestra recordings before his 1997 death.
Also among the winners last Sunday is
Filipina-American singer-songwriter H.E.R., who was nominated three times and
won twice, for Best R&B Song (“Better Than I Imagined” with Robert Glasper
and Meshell Ndegeocello), and Song of the Year for “I Can’t Breathe.” On her
Twitter post dated March 16, she related how her “Tita” Joan congratulated
her Grammy victories with Filipino-accented English, much to the amusement of
Filipinos on the comments.
Image from The NY Times
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