After so many years of being in the dog house, the Recording Academy must have sipped some Celsius because the 2023 Grammys was energetically entertaining this year. Although some wins were eyebrow raising, this year’s impression of the annual award show was giving diverse, in touch, and urgent.
Habits do die hard, however. The producing and camera personnel are still addicted to the multiple cuts to Taylor Swift dancing, smiling, and celebrating very hard when she loses to another artist, but in turn, makes up for it by actually giving good artists their just due recognition.
At one point, when they fell short, sweet Houston native Lizzo graciously accepted her award and gave a genuine thank you to her predecessor, Beyonce, who shared the same category nomination with the “About Damn Time” singer.
Another precious moment came in the unexpected win of Samara Joy who won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Humbled by the greatness she stood before, she thanked the attendees for inspiring her to be her true authentic self.
Dare I say it, but this year’s Grammys was a flavorful event with outstanding performances. One of the most notable was the tidbit of Motown history that was presented by Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, while Motown founder Berry Gordy cheered them on from the audience seats. Of course, Lizzo and Mary J. Blige came through with some stirring performances, bringing out the deep-rooted gospel influences embedded in Black culture.
The “In Memoriam” segment also contained some beautiful performances, including one by Quavo, who gave a heartbreaking tribute to Migos member Takeoff. Kacey Musgraves strung a guitar while she sang an ode in the spirit of the late Loretta Lynn. Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, and Mick Fleetwood also gave a soul-cleansing performance during the humbling break in festivities.
Then, there was the fantastic homage to hip hop, which consisted of generations of hip hop talent gracing the stage, including LL Cool J, Rakim, Queen Latifah, Scarface, Big Boi, Too Short, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Lil Baby, GloRilla, and more. Each rapper did a short stint of a performance in what felt like one of the most iconic cyphers of all time. The set not only did a great job of showing hip hop’s legacy, but it also spruced up a normally predictable awards show.
Noticeably absent from the festivities were the two hottest hip hop acts of recent times, Kanye West and Drake. Rihanna was also understandably missing in action, most likely prepping for her grand Super Bowl halftime performance.
However, everyone and their mothers were in the building – including the newly minted “EGOT” award-winning Viola Davis, J. Lo and hubby Ben Affleck, Bad Bunny, Dwayne Johnson, Future, and Kendrick Lamar.
Even a very busy Jay-Z attended to root for his wife and perform his epic lyrical contribution to DJ Khaled’s “God Did.” He was joined by rap pioneers Lil Wayne and Rick Ross in arguably one of the most vitalizing rap collaborations to hit the awards show in a while.
Beyonce arrived fashionably late to accept her much deserved awards, to the pleasure of the BeyHive. Other winners included Lizzo for Record of the Year, Harry Styles for Album of the Year, Bonnie Raitt for Song of the Year, Adele for Best Pop Solo Performance, and Muni Long for Best R&B Performance.
To see the complete list of winners, click here.
