The 63rd Grammy Awards was the latest awards show forced to make do with less in this pandemic. Instead of their usual home at Los Angeles' Staples Center, the ceremony was moved across the street to the Convention Center, where masked and socially-distanced nominees were seated in a ballroom-type setting underneath a tent, and host Trevor Noah guided the TV audience through the two bare performing stages inside.
This was the most intimate Grammy telecast ever, with no made-for-TV collaborations or all-star tributes or presenters presenting other presenters mucking things up. However, things got a little too intimate when Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B performed their sexually-charged (and heavily edited) songs "Savage" and "WAP"
It was also, at times, the Bruno Mars Show. He, along with Anderson .Paak, appeared as a backup singer in a band, performed "Good Golly Miss Molly" as Little Richard in the "In Memoriam" segment, and as part of a 1970s-era R&B group. Was Mars nominated for anything?
Speaking of "In Memorium", Brittany Howard knocked it out of the park with her version of Gerry Marsden's "You'll Never Walk Alone". Did you know Marsden, who once fronted Gerry and the Pacemakers, had died in the past year? And that Howard had filmed a TV commercial for a whiskey brand that ran immediately after with her singing the tune?
The awards? There were only a few handed out during the nearly four-hour telecast, with the rest you can find on the Recording Academy's website. Here's some of the awards announced on TV:
Best New Artist: Megan Thee Stallion. She also won for Best Rap Song and Rap Performance.
Song of the Year: "I Can't Breathe", H.E.R.
Album of the Year: "Folklore", Taylor Swift. This is her third album Grammy, becoming the first woman to score that many.
Record of the Year: "Everything I Wanted", Billie Eilish. She swept the Grammys last year, but felt Megan Thee Stallion deserved this one. Another head-scratcher for the Recording Academy.
Beyonce now has 28 Grammys, including four more won Sunday. She has won more than any other woman in Grammy history. Or is it herstory?
Since the pandemic, every awards show has seen their ratings fall off a cliff. The Grammys on CBS were no exception. The telecast drew over eight million viewers, which was ten million less than last year. With the possible return of live performances and more crowd-pleasing music, maybe the Grammys can go back to handing trophies at the sports arena across the street.this time next year.
