Sheepish Harry Style usurps Grammy queen Beyonce
Pop heart-throb Harry Styles beat music’s reigning queen, Beyonce, for album of the year at the 2023 Grammys, in an upset even he seemed embarrassed by.
Pop heart-throb Harry Styles beat music’s reigning queen, Beyonce, for album of the year at the 2023 Grammys, in an upset even he seemed embarrassed by.
Despite becoming the most decorated artist in Grammys history, Beyonce was shut out of all the top prizes, leaving many music fans and commentators wondering if music’s biggest awards show has lost its touch.
Of the major awards, Styles sheepishly took out album of the year for Harry’s House: “There’s no such thing as the best,” he said before palming off speech duties to his producers.
Lizzo won record of the year for her anthem, About Damn Time. And a surprise song of the year win went to Bonnie Raitt for her folky Just Like That.
“I would not be up here tonight,” Raitt said, “if it wasn’t for the great, soul-digging, hardworking people that put these songs and ideas to music.”
It was Beyonce’s fourth career loss for album of the year. The musician has only won a major category once, with Single Ladies taking out song of the year more than a decade ago.
Still, Beyonce won four of the nine awards she was nominated for, surpassing Hungarian conductor Georg Solti, for most Grammy victories at 32. The singer took out best dance/electronic recording and album (beating Sydney dance trio Rufus Du Sol in both categories), traditional R&B performance, and R&B song.
“I’m trying not to be too emotional,” she said, “and I’m trying to just receive this night.” She dedicated the award to her uncle Johnny, “the most fabulous gay man I’ve ever met”, whose battle with HIV inspired her to turn to dance music.
“I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre,” the singer said in accepting the award for best dance album.
Until the major awards were announced, there was an optimistic feeling that the Grammys had got it right. Things started off sensationally, with an opening performance from Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny, the most streamed artist on the planet.
Kim Petras and Sam Smith took out best duo for their collaboration, Unholy, making Petras the first transgender woman to win the award. Petras dedicated the win to pioneering transgender producer Sophie, who died in January 2021.
The Grammys finally gave hip-hop its due, with a thoughtful and bombastic Questlove-curated performance, celebrating 50 years of the genre. A string of legends such as Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Public Enemy, Scarface, Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah tore up the stage with a 15-minute performance tracing hip-hop’s history. And the elegant, multipart In Memoriam segment saw Kacey Musgraves sing Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, Mick Fleetwood perform Songbird, a tribute to late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie, and Quavo pay tribute to his Migos bandmate and nephew Takeoff, who was fatally shot in November.
US first lady Jill Biden announced the winner of a new award, best song for social change, which went to 25-year-old Iranian songwriter Shervin Hajipour, whose Baraye was born out of the women’s rights protests that swept Iran late last year.
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