By Jonathan Landrum Jr. – Entertainment writer for The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Olivia Rodrigo won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards, joining esteemed formers including Carly Simon, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Tom Jones, The Beatles and Billie Eilish.
Rodrygo, a veteran of the “High School Musical” series, became the blockbuster star of 2021, topping out with her viral hit “Driver’s License” and following it with her hit album “Sur” and the single “Good 4 You.”
So far, “Driving License” has earned her the trophy for Best Pop Solo Performance, a record for the year, while “Sour” is the best album of the year. Rodrygo came to the night being nominated for the night’s first four awards – Best New Artist, Album, Recording, and Song of the Year – but lost out for Best Original Song for Silk Sonic.
“This is my biggest dream come true,” she said. Earlier on the show, she performed the heart-breaking “Drivers License” in a ruffled white dress and black shoes.
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Tonight’s celebrations turned grim when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the crowd with an update on the war, his numbers included children injured and killed. “Our musicians wear jackets instead of tuxedos,” he said. We are fighting Russia, which brings terrible silence with its bombs. dead silence. Fill the silence with your music.”
He concluded: “Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can, but not silence. Then peace will come to all our cities.”
John Legend then performed “Free” with Ukrainian exiles including singer and actress Mika Newton and poet Lyuba Yakimchuk.
Silk Sonic – The All-Star Federation between Bruno Mars and Anderson opened. Paak – Amorous in Las Vegas with high energy and an infectious treatment of retro and funk by performing “777.” They returned to the stage shortly afterwards to take home the award for “Leave The Door Open”.
Winning helps Mars set the record for most winning songs of the year. He had previously won the “24K Magic” award.
Mars and Buck both jumped out of their seat, raised their hands and danced to their song.
March told Buck. “We’ll sing this song together for the rest of our lives.”
Host Trevor Noah gave the duo’s opening performance by saying that they singled out the ’70s, “which may explain the inflation.”
By the time the show premiered on CBS, John Baptiste had already won four Grammy Awards, including his first ever. Batiste won Best American Roots Performance, Best American Roots Song, and Best Music Video and tied with Carlos Rafael Rivera for Best Soundtrack for Visual Media. His song “Freedom” in the music video category beat many tough competitors, including Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, and Eilish. All honors were handed out during a pre-television ceremony.
“I am so grateful for the gifts God has given me and the ability to share that for the love of mankind,” Battisti said. “We just wanted everyone to see it. Any depression, any bondage, or any life-long darkness was completely removed through the love and joy of the video.”
It’s the first match since 2019 when Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future and James Blake tied Anderson, Buck to win Best Rap Performance.
Batiste entered the Grammy Award as the lead nominee with 11 nominations. The losses stopped the multi-talented performer from making history for the most wins in a single night.
It was a family affair of their cousins Baby Kim and Kendrick Lamar, who won Best Rap Performance for their song “Family Ties”. Lamar won his 14th Grammy and his first for Kim, who said “nothing could prepare me for this moment” after taking to the stage to claim his trophy.
Chris Stapleton won his third Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance for “You Should Probably Leave”. He extended his record for the most wins.
Dressed in all black, BTS took to the stage with a hilarious moment between V and Rodrigo before the group performed their single “Butter”. It emerged after a member tested positive for COVID-19. The seven members – Jin, Jimin, V, RM, J-Hope, Suga, and Jungkook – acted as if they were secret agents with neon blue lasers, dancing with a smooth choreography before moving on to a short rap portion of the song.
The Foo Fighters won three awards Sunday, but weren’t present for their trophies following the recent death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The rock band cemented their record for Best Rock Album by winning five awards for “Medicine at Midnight”. The group’s song “Making a Fire” won Best Rock Performance and “Waiting on a War” beat other nominees for Best Rock Song.
During Eilish’s performance, she paid tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins by wearing a black T-shirt with his picture. She went on stage in an upside-down house with her brother Phineas before stepping into the rain to perform “Happier Than Ever”.
TJ Osbourne, who came out as gay last year, fought back tears when he and his brother accepted a Grammy for the Osborne brothers’ song “Younger Me”. He noted that the song was inspired by his release.
“I never thought I’d be able to play music professionally because of my sexuality. I definitely never thought I’d be here on stage accepting a Grammy after I did something that I felt was going to change my life and maybe in a very negative way,” Osbourne said.
“And here I am tonight, not only to accept this Grammy award with my brother, whom I love so much, but I am here with a man I love and who loves me again. … I don’t know what I was so lucky.”
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won his sixth Grammy Award for Best Musical with “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Can Not Be TV.”) His documentary also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film last weekend.
Both Cheek Correa and Vicente Fernandez won Grammy Awards posthumously. Joni Mitchell won Best Historical Album for “Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967). “
“Thanks to the Academy for this nomination and this win, I wasn’t expecting this,” she said.
Eilish could become the first artist ever to win Record of the Year three times in a row, and the only artist with Paul Simon to win the award three times. She is in a position to join Adele as the only artist to have won three major categories – Recording, Song and Album of the Year – twice. She previously won “Bad Guy” and “Everything I Wanted”.
The concert moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas due to a spike in COVID-19 cases and the omicron variant in January, with organizers citing “too many risks” to host the packed show at the time.
Artists competing with Eilish for Album of the Year include Rodrigo, Batiste, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Doga Cat, Hair, Taylor Swift, Lil’ Nas X, and Kanye West.
Bennett cemented his record as an artist with a more traditional pop acoustic album with 14 wins with “Love for Sale”, a duet with Lady Gaga.
Associated Press writer Mark Kennedy contributed to this story.
To learn more about this year’s Grammy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards
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