Music stars pay tribute to legend
Host Alicia Keys led performance in honor of Kobe Bryant.
LOS ANGELES — The edgy, avant-pop album that siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas created in a small bedroom made a big splash at the 2020 Grammy Awards, winning 11 honors for the musical family.
“When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” — created in the musicians’ Los Angeles home — helped Eilish win the top four honors, including album, song and record of the year, along with best new artist. The 18-year-old is the youngest artist to achieve the feat.
Finneas, who co-wrote, produced and engineered the album, walked away as Sunday’s top winner with six. Eilish won five honors.
Together, they also won best pop vocal album, while Finneas’ individual honors included producer of the year (non-classical) and best engineered album (non-classical).
“This is my first Grammys. I never thought this would happen in my whole life,” Eilish said. “I genuinely wanna say I am so grateful, and I only wanna say that I am so grateful.”
Finneas added that they “just make music in a bedroom together and we still do that.”
“This is to all the kids who are making music in the bedroom today — you’re going to get one of these,” Finneas said.
The bedroom where they created magic was brought to life when they hit the stage and performed “When the Party’s Over,” which featured Finneas on keys and Eilish singing in a soft, pitch-perfect tone.
Los Angeles, where the show was held, had a central theme: Local icons Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle were honored and celebrated at the show.
The Grammys kicked off with a performance in
honor of Bryant, who died hours before the awards began. And later in the show, Hussle’s collaborators and friends, including DJ Khaled, John Legend, Meek Mill, Kirk Franklin, Roddy Ricch and YG, gave an all-star tribute to the man who died last year.
Hussle also posthumously won his first pair of Grammys.
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay introduced the performance, which featured band players, background dancers and Legend wearing traditional Ethiopian
and Eritrean clothing in honor of Hussle’s African roots. Mill performed a new song called “Letter to Nipsey” while others joined together for “Higher,” which won best rap/sung performance.
“This is for Nipsey Hussle. This is for hip-hop,” said DJ Khaled, who collaborated on the song with Legend and Hussle, whose family stood onstage.
“We all love him. We all miss him. It’s terrible that we had to lose him so early,” Legend said.
During the pre-ceremony, Hussle’s “Racks in the Middle” picked up best rap performance.
The show — which took place at the Staples Center, Bryant’s stomping ground — kicked off with a touching, emotional and a cappella performance of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” by host Alicia Keys and Boyz II Men.
“Here we are together on music’s biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best, but to be honest with you, we are all feeling crazy sadness right now,” Keys said as she entered the stage, adding that “Los Angeles, America and the world-wide world lost a hero.”
She said the audience was “heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.”
Before the show officially honored Bryant, Lizzo performed the songs “Truth Hurts” and “Cuz I Love You,” saying at the top of the show: “Tonight is for Kobe.”
Lizzo won three honors Sunday, including best pop solo performance for “Truth Hurts” and two R&B awards.
Lizzo was among the mix of newcomers and well-known acts who reached their goals of winning their first-ever Grammy Awards on Sunday, which also included Tanya Tucker, J. Cole, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Michelle Obama, Sara Bareilles, Rosalia, 21 Savage and Tyler, the Creator.
“To my mother, you did a great job raising this guy,” Tyler, who won best rap album, said to his mom, who was onstage and crying by side.