BY ISABELLA BEELER

This last Sunday, February 2nd, the 67th Annual Grammy Awards took place. The show featured all of the traditional awards and nominations but also some thrilling performances and cool tributes. Some awards won were well deserved, and some were still deserved but shocking.

Before the actual Grammys on TV, there was a red carpet and the smaller awards were announced. Some of the awards included “Best Dance/Electronic Album” and “Best Country Solo Performance”. The first award nominees were “BRAT”, “Timeless”, “Telos”, “Hyperdrama”, and “Three”. The winner was “BRAT” by Charli xcx. The second award nominees were “It Takes a Woman”, “I Am Not Okay”, “The Architect”, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, and “16 Carriages”. The winner was “It Takes a Woman” by Chris Stapleton. Another award was “Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song”. The nominees were “In the Room”, “That’s My King”, “In the Name of Jesus”, “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)”, “Praise”, and “Holy Forever (Live)”. The winner was “That’s My King” by CeCe Winans.

At the beginning of the awards ceremony, there was a tribute to LA after the devastating fire. Brittany Howard, Dawes, Sheryl Crow, St Vincent, Brad Paisley, and John Legend sang “We Love La”. Later in the awards ceremony, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars sang “California Dreamin” as another tribute. During commercials they helped LA by airing the business commercials that have been struggling because of the fire. It is so great that the fire is finally out now.

The first award announced at the award show was “Record of the Year”. That award is for the sound of the song. The nominees were “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan, “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, “360” by Charli xcx, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé, “Now and Then” by The Beatles, and “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar. The winner was “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar.

Another award they announced was “Best New Artist”. The nominees were Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Benson Boone, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims, Doechii, RAYE, and Khruangbin. Before it was announced, all of them performed. Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan had big performances. I liked them. The others performed well too. Benson Boone did a backflip. The winner was Chappell Roan. I felt like she really deserved that award, or Benson Boone. “Best Pop Solo Performance” was also announced. The nominees were “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, “Good Luck, Babe” by Chappell Roan, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Apple” by Charli xcx, and “Bodyguard” by Beyoncé. The winner was “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. It was her first Grammy and I think it was well deserved.

The last award that was given was “Album of the Year”. The nominees were “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift, “Chappell Roan The Rise and Fall of the Midwest Princess” by Chappell Roan, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish, “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé, “Djesse Vol. 4” by Jacob Collier, “Brat” by Charli xcx, “Short and Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, and “New Blue Sun” by André 3000. The winner was “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé. I was a little disappointed that Billie and Taylor didn’t win any awards this year. I was really hoping Taylor Swift would win to add to her 4 AOTY record. While that being said, Beyoncé has never won AOTY. I don’t know about this year, but she has definitely deserved it for previous albums. The album was good though, just not all the songs were played a lot.

The Grammys was a great look back for the past year of music. Some of the award results might have been disappointing, but some might have been really well deserved. It was nice that they took time to put business commercials on during the show that are struggling because of the fire. The performances were pretty entertaining.