It was She power on display at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish took the top prizes at the Grammys but Beyonce was the big winner on a history making night marked by multiple wins for women.
Beyonce’s four Grammys on Sunday— two of them shared with best new artist winner Megan Thee Stallion — took her total career wins to 28, surpassing the previous Grammy record for a female artist set by bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, according to Reuters.
Swift’s surprise record ‘Folklore’, recorded during coronavirus lockdowns, was named album of the year and made Swift, 31, the first woman to take home that prize three times.
In a socially distanced ceremony of live and pre-recorded performances, the writers of ‘I Can’t Breathe’by R&B artist H.E.R won song of the year.
It was written in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that roiled the United States last summer following the police killing of George Floyd.
Black culture was also celebrated in Beyonce’s single ‘Black Parade’, which was named best R&B performance. “It has been such a difficult time,” said Beyonce, reflecting on the cultural reckoning about racism in the United States, adding, “I wanted to uplift, encourage, celebrate all the beautiful Black queens and kings that continue to inspire me and inspire the whole world.”
Megan Thee Stallion, 26, known for promoting women’s empowerment, came away with two more wins for her single “Savage” featuring Beyonce.
Eilish’s ballad “Everything I Wanted” won record of the year, and the 19-year-old also won for her theme song for the upcoming James Bond movie “No Time to Die.”
K-Pop band BTS lost in the best pop duo or group performance against Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for their single “Rain on Me” but performed their hit English-language single “Dynamite” from South Korea at the close of the show.
The seven-member band from South Korea had been hoping to be the first K-Pop act to win a Grammy after a breakthrough year in the United States for the genre.