Swift, women shine at Grammy Awards
After weeks where Taylor Swift attracted endless attention for her football star boyfriend and a mystifying rightwing campaign against her, the Grammy Awards put the focus squarely back on her art. “Midnights” earned Swift her fourth career Grammy for album of the year Sunday, an achievement no one has matched.
It breaks a tie with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, who each won the honor three times.
“For me, the award is the work,” she said. “All I want to do is keep doing it.”
Swift was the last example during an action-packed show where women earned the biggest honors and had the majority of memorable performances. Miley Cyrus belted “Flowers,” which won record of the year. Billie Eilish’s ballad from “Barbie,” “What Was I Made For?” was song of the year for her and co-writer Finneas O’Connell, her brother. Singer-songwriter Victoria Monét was named best new artist.
There were so many riches that rock supergroup boygenius, with Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, won three Grammys and didn’t even make it onto the CBS portion of the show.
Making the best pop vocal solo performance the televised show’s first award — where all five nominees were women — was a savvy hint to what was coming.
TRACY’S TURN
Bringing the reclusive Tracy Chapman on to duet with country singer Luke Combs, who had a massive hit covering her “Fast Car” this past summer, was spine-tingling. In a pre-taped segment leading into it, Combs eloquently described what the song meant to him growing up. Clearly moved, Chapman’s eyes glistened when the crowd roared as she played the 1988 song’s unforgettable guitar riff. She has kept to the background as Combs brought the song to a new generation and chose a wise place to reemerge.
SOME FLOWERS FOR MILEY
Not to diss more elaborately staged affairs, but there was a certain power to Cyrus’ performance of “Flowers.” It was just her and the song, essentially. There was no question she could carry it, and she even inserted a couple of ad-libs: “I just won my first Grammy!” Her acceptance speeches were packed with personality. “I don’t think I’ve forgotten anyone,” she said, after a requisite list of thank-yous, “but I may have forgotten underwear.”
JAY-Z NEVER FORGETS
In accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Jay-Z proved he has a long memory. He recalled the times that rap artists were outspoken about not getting enough attention from the Grammys commensurate with music sales, even boycotting a show — although “they went to a hotel to watch the Grammys,” he said. “It wasn’t a great boycott.” Jay-Z considers it an injustice that his wife, Beyoncé, has never won album of the year despite her astonishing haul of 32 Grammys. “When I get nervous,” he said, “I tell the truth.”
JONI’S RETURN
Joni Mitchell’s return to the stage earned her a Grammy, and her performance Sunday was another emotional highlight. Surrounded by musical friends like Brandi Carlile, the 80-year-old Mitchell sat in an easy chair that resembled a throne, tapping her cane as she sang “Both Sides Now.” Her voice, which she had to recover after suffering a brain aneurysm, brought a richness and perspective to the song that could only be hinted at in the original. Like Chapman, she was visibly moved by the audience’s reception, betrayed by laughter after she finished.
TOUCHING TRIBUTES
Let’s be honest, those “in memoriam” tributes to people who died in the past year usually signal that it’s time for a bathroom break. Not so here. Stevie Wonder honored Tony Bennett on a chilling “duet” with a filmed Bennett on Wonder’s “For Once in My Life,” then sang Bennett’s “The Best is Yet to Come.” Annie Lennox, saluting Sinead O’Connor, sang “Nothing Compares 2 U,” with two of the late songwriter Prince’s accompanists. And Fantasia Barrino shook the walls with “Proud Mary” to honor Tina Turner.
LATE ‘LIGHTS’
The Grammys no doubt intended Billy Joel’s performance of his first new song in 30 years, “Turn the Lights Back On,” to be a big showcapper. But the Grammys’ previous three hours were a hard act to top.