Awards Season is well underway and on Sunday 26th January, the biggest night in music, the Grammy Awards, took place. The ceremony was full of surprises and broke several records, largely down to the night’s big winner: Billie Eilish.
Eilish, alongside her brother Finneas, won all of the ‘big four’ awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year (‘Bad Guy’), Song of the Year (also for ‘Bad Guy’), and Album of the Year (When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?). She is only the second artist ever to have done this all in one night, and the first female to do so; Christopher Cross was previously the only person to have achieved this, for his eponymous debut album back in 1981. At 18 years old, she is now the youngest artist ever to have won Album of the Year, taking this title from Taylor Swift who won for Fearless at the age of 20. Finneas also picked up Producer of the Year for his work on his sister’s album, which won Best Pop Vocal Album. This meant that both Billie and Finneas walked away with five awards each.
She faced tough competition in all categories, such as Lizzo (who was also nominated in all four categories), Lil Nas X and H.E.R.. Lizzo was the most-nominated artist this year, and walked away with three of the eight awards she was up for. She won Best Pop Solo Performance for ‘Truth Hurts’, Best Traditional R&B Performance for ‘Jerome’, and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Cuz I Love You (Deluxe). Meanwhile, despite her five nominations, Ariana Grande walked away empty-handed, a move fans deemed the biggest snub of the evening. Even Billie herself conveyed her surprise that thank u, next had not won Album of the Year.
Arguably, however, the night was overshadowed by the tragic news of the deaths of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. The legendary basketball star and his daughter had been killed earlier in the day in a helicopter crash alongside seven other people. The ceremony was opened by Lizzo, who introduced her performance by dedicating the entire evening to Kobe. Alicia Keys, who hosted the awards, sang a special tribute of ‘It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye’ with Boys II Men. She also addressed him in her opening speech, saying: ‘Right now, Kobe and his family and all of those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirits, in our hearts, in our prayers, they’re in this building. I would like everybody to take a moment and hold them inside of you and share our strength and our support with their families.’
Read the full list of nominees and winners here.
Watch Billie Eilish’s performance of ‘when the party’s over’ from the Grammys:
