The Grammy Awards ceremony this year was held in the Los Angeles Convention Center on March 14, 2021 and hosted by Trevor Noah. It was originally scheduled for January 31, 2021, but was postponed due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Photos from Grammy.com
According to the Grammy website, history was made this year. Beyonce became the most-awarded woman in Grammy history, Taylor Swift became the first woman to win a third album of the year, and Megan Thee Stallion “acted as an empowering avatar for the female-led pop vanguard.”
As usual, the Grammys were not free from controversy this year. According to The New York Times, “the industry is waging a war for the soul of the Grammys after years of accusations of bias and complaints over the opaque voting system that critics say is unfair and out of touch.” The Times went on to say that the biggest controversy this year involves The Weeknd.
Rolling Stone wrote, “‘After Hours,’ released in March, was one of 2020’s biggest commercial success stories, with 1.8 billion streams to date, according to Alpha Data. Its second single, ‘Blinding Lights,’ became a blockbuster with help from a popular TikTok dance trend, with 882 million streams. Despite those metrics…the Weeknd received zero nominations for the 2021 Grammys.”
This came as a shock to fans and especially to The Weeknd himself, who has been complaining for years about the Grammys and the way that the voting and nominations take place. The Grammys have long received criticism from what some say is bias towards artists of color, and The Weeknd being snubbed definitely did not help with the Grammys’ image.
This ceremony, though, was not void of amazing performances or nominations. Billboard helps to break down some of the major performances. Harry Styles opened the night with “Watermelon Sugar,” Post Malone sang “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” using a choir that looked like it came out of a movie, Silk Sonic performed “Leave the Door Open,” and BTS performed “Dynamite.”
Some of the major winners were Billie Elish’s “Everything I Wanted” for Record of the Year, Taylor Swift’s “folklore” for Album of the Year, Megan Thee Stallion for Best New Artist, and Harry Styles’s “Watermelon Sugar” for Best Pop Solo Performance.