Grammys 2023 Highlights: Beyonce creates history, Bad Bunny's tribute, Indian Ricky Kej wins third Grammy
Beyonce was and is still the talking point of the 65th Grammys ever since the nominations were first announced. With nine nominations at this ceremony followed by four wins, the Renaissance hitmaker has already broken the record for most Grammy wins in history with 32 wins.
- The ceremony hosted yet again by South African comedian Trevor Noah (he has been hosting the Grammys for two years now) was kicked off by a stunning performance by Latin Pop superstar Bad Bunny managing to grab all the attention like always, while also paying respect to his native country Puerto Rico.
Other popular faces like Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, and even ABBA managed to pick up some trophies home on music’s biggest night.
- Closer home, Bengaluru-based musician and environmentalist Ricky Kej also managed to pick up his 3rd career Grammy.
Beyonce reigns supreme with record-breaking wins: The R&B and pop giant ventured into dance and electronica territory with her 2022 album Renaissance. The album, along with its breakout single Break My Soul, had a stellar run at the Grammys with its artist picking up
- Best Dance Electronic Recording (Break My Soul),
- Best Dance/Electronic Music Album (Renaissance),
- and even reigning over the R&B categories with wins like Best Traditional R&B Performance (Plastic Off the Sofa),
- and Best R&B Song (Cuff It).
With four wins out of nine nominations, Beyonce is officially the artist with highest number of Grammy wins, her total award count rising to a whopping 32 surpassing the likes of other multiple Grammy winners like late conductor George Solti (31), artist-arranger-producer Quincy Jones (28) and her own husband rapper Jay-Z (21).
Bad Bunny’s stellar opening performance: Puerto Rican singer-rapper Bad Bunny who is known for his unconventional fashion choices and high-energy performances, knows how to kick off a party; a reputation he carried while even opening the ceremony. The colourful, festive performance was intended as a tribute to his home country.
Performing a medley of his hits El Apagon and Despues De La Playa, the 28-year-old got the hall dancing with even Taylor Swift joining the fiesta. With dancers scattered all over the stage and even among the audiences, Bunny definitely made for one of the most memorable Grammy openers in recent history.
READ MORE: Bad Bunny kisses female and male dancers at the VMAs, celebrating his label-less sexuality
If he would have won Album of the Year, he would have made history as Un Verano Sin Ti would have been the first all-Spanish album to have picked up this honour. Alas, Harry Styles won in this category with Harry’s House and Bad Bunny had to settle for Best Musica Urbana Album (a category exclusively for Latin urban albums).
Kendrick wins big in rap categories: In one of Grammy’s most “L moments”, the awards were mocked for favouring Macklemore and his album The Heist in 2014 when Kendrick Lamar was also nominated in several categories for his iconic Good kid, M.A.A.D City. While he went home Grammy-less that year, the awards have been much more generous to the Compton rapper ever since.
Today, Lamar’s Mr Morale and the Big Steppers took home Best Rap Album while his pre-album prologue The Heart Part 5 won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance.
Viola Davis is now an EGOT! Recently seen in The Woman King, actress Viola Davis is also a Grammy winner now with the audiobook version of her memoir Finding Me winning Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording.
- This is quite an honourable Grammy category, with previous winners including Martin Luther King Jr, Ben Kingsley, and Barack and Michelle Obama.
With this win, Davis has achieved the prestigious EGOT status (Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony) winning top awards in TV, music, film, and theatre categories. The 57-year-old joins an elite list of 17 other artists who have managed to win these awards.
Indian noms and Ricky Kej’s win: The Global Music Album was expectedly dominated by Indian-origin voices such as Grammy favourite Anoushka Shankar getting a nomination for the live rendition of her sitar album Between Us and the music troupe Berklee Indian Ensemble also making it in for Shuruaat. However, Japanese musician Masa Takumi ended up picking the top honour with the album Sakura.
- However, Ricky Kej still managed to be lucky, with the Bengaluru-based composer winning his third Grammy with Divine Tides winning Best Immersive Audio Album.
- Previously, Kej had won Best New Age Album (Winds of Samsara) in 2015.
- Last year, he picked up the trophy in the same category for Divine Tides.
Given that Kej received his third Grammy for the same album a year later, there might have been some deadline mix-ups among these categories although this still remains unverified at the moment.
Divine Tides was a collaborative win between Kej and rock & roll legend Steven Copeland who had previously served as the drummer for British rock band The Police. Showing up in a cream-coloured bandhgala, Kej is now the only Indian to hold three Grammy awards.
Harry Styles, Lizzo, and Adele among other top winners: While Harry Styles took Album of the Year with Harry’s House, Lizzo’s About Damn Time won Record of the Year.
- Meanwhile, Adele won Best Pop Solo Performance with Easy On Me.
- While Taylor Swift couldn’t rake in many wins despite multiple noms, she still managed to bag Best Music Video with All Too Well, the short film starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink that she had directed.