On Feb. 1, Trever Noah hosted the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, and it was nothing short of entertaining. Despite the main awards and viewers complaining about who won or who should have won, the night was full of controversy that kept the viewers on their toes.
The main awards of the night were awarded respectfully. Best New Artist went to Oliva Dean, Song of the Year went to Billie Eilish for her song “Wildflower.” Record of the Year was awarded to Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA for “Luther”, and the Album of the year was awarded to Bad Bunny for his album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”
Among these four major awards were the many others that went to the hard-working and very much deserving artists. However, with award shows, not only do artists win their respective trophies, the audience is rewarded with drama that can be talked about for weeks.
Within his opening monologue, Noah made a comment on the absence of Nicki Minaj and blamed it on her newly announced friendship with president Donald Trump. Despite this comment, Noah hosted wonderfully with many jokes to keep the audience laughing. He even had a funny bit with winner Bad Bunny, trying to make him sing, or perform, at the Grammys. What many people fail to realize is that if an artist is performing at the Super Bowl, they are restricted from performing at the Grammys. This is what made their entire interaction so hilarious.
Despite this being the 68th award show, they still had some surprising technical difficulties, shining in Alex Warren’s performance of his song “The Ordinary.” His in-ears were malfunctioning, causing the artist to sound “off-beat,” leaving Warren to be heavily disappointed in his own performance.
Not only that but Icon Cher was tasked with announcing the record of the year. After giving her short speech before announcing the winner, Cher paused and looked at the camera for what seemed like ages. After laughing and explaining that she was told the winner was going to be announced on the teleprompter, she proceeded to open the winner envelope and announced the wrong name. Cher announced that the winner was Luther Vandross, instead of Kendrick Lamar. The song that Lamar was winning for was titled, “Luther,” dedicated to the late R&B legend, Luther Vandross. Although it was a minor mishap, it still was a mistake that left fans giggling.
There were many performances at the Grammys that were quite enjoyable, but also not so much. Despite the many performances, there were a few that notably stood out. For the second year in a row, the Grammys featured a performance of all the artists nominated for the award of Best New Artist. While the majority of the artists in the category gave wonderful performances, people did claim Addison Rae’s performance to be slightly lackluster, with her vocals seeming slightly off. However, the rest of the artists in this category surely delivered.
The Grammys also saw wonderful performances from newly budding star Zara Larson, who performed a stripped down version of her song “Midnight Sun” at the Grammys pre-show, and Sabrina Carpenter, who delivered an outstanding performance of her song “Manchild.”
Everybody had their own opinions on who should have won, but that comes with every award show. It being award-show season, there are sure to be more discrepancies in the results of the following award shows, such as the Oscars, or even the Tonys. With an interesting and surprising Grammys, there’s no telling what may be in store for the following awards shows.
