Beyonce won the top prize at music’s Grammy Awards on Sunday, taking album of the year for the first time in her career with her country record “Cowboy Carter,” at a ceremony that delivered a love letter to wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles.
The superstar singer triumphed over Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and others to claim the trophy that had eluded her even as she collected more lifetime Grammys than any other artist.
“I just feel very full and very honored. It’s been many, many years,” Beyonce said on stage, standing next to her daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
Beyonce’s win came on her fifth nomination in the album category. She earned three trophies in total on Sunday, bringing her career haul to 35.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar claimed record and song of the year for “Not Like Us,” a diss track in his feud with Canadian rapper and singer Drake. Lamar, who swept the five categories he was nominated for, dedicated his wins to Los Angeles, where the ceremony was held.
“This is my neck of the woods that’s held me down since I was a young pup,” he said, adding “we are going to restore the city.”
“Pink Pony Club” singer Chappell Roan was named best new artist and used her time on stage to urge record labels to pay musicians a living wage with healthcare benefits. She recalled a time when she felt “dehumanized” to not have health insurance. “Labels – we got you, but do you got us?” she said.
Swift, who has won album of the year a record four times and was nominated for “The Tortured Poets Department,” was shut out this time. She took the stage once to present the Grammy for best country album, an honour that went to Beyonce.
Celebrating Los Angeles
The Grammy festivities were revamped to be part awards show and part fundraiser for people affected by the wildfires, which were contained on Friday after killing 29 people and displacing thousands including many musicians.
Broadcast live on CBS, the show opened with an all-star rendition “I Love LA” featuring Altadena-based band Dawes backed by John Legend, Brad Paisley, St. Vincent and Brittany Howard.
“Tonight, we decided we are not just celebrating our favorite music. We are also celebrating the city that brought us so much of that music,” said host Trevor Noah, who directed viewers to donation options. At least $7 million was raised during the broadcast, Noah said.
In other tributes to Los Angeles, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars sang “California Dreamin’.” Firefighters handed out the album prize and received a standing ovation. In between awards, the show wove in vignettes about a florist, a skate shop and other small businesses working to recover from the fires.
The Grammys also remembered influential music producer Quincy Jones, who died in November. Stevie Wonder led the crowd in singing the famine relief anthem “We Are the World” with a choir of students from schools destroyed in the wildfires, and Janelle Monae performed Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough.”
Canadian singer The Weeknd ended his boycott of the Grammys, showing up midway for a surprise performance. He had criticized Grammy voters for what he called a lack of transparency and a failure to properly recognize hip-hop and R&B artists.
“We have listened, we have acted and we have changed,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said on stage. The Grammys voting body is now younger and 40% are people of color, he said.
Grammy winners are chosen by the 13,000 singers, songwriters, producers, engineers and others who make up the Recording Academy.
