Grammy Awards 2021: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift set new records with historic wins

The Grammys are drunk in love with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift: the singers both made history at the 2021 show. Swift, 31, became the first woman to win album of the year three times. “We just want to thank the fans,” said Swift, who won the top prize with folklore. Swift previously won album of the year with her albums Fearless and 1989. Beyoncé made history by surpassing Alison Krauss to become the most decorated female act in Grammy history. Beyoncé earned her 28th Grammy on Sunday, picking up honours like best R&B performance for Black Parade, best music video for ‘Brown Skin Girl’ as well as best rap performance and best rap song for ‘Savage’, with Megan Thee Stallion. “As an artist, I believe it’s my job, and all of our jobs, to reflect time and it’s been such a difficult time,” Beyoncé said onstage as she won best R&B performance for Black Parade’, which was released on Juneteenth. She went on to say she created the song to honour the “beautiful Black kings and queens” in the world. She added: “I have been working my whole life … This is such a magical night.” Beyoncé is now tied with producer and multi-instrumentalist Quincy Jones for the second most Grammy wins. The late conductor Georg Solti is the most decorated Grammy winner with 31 wins. The royal family of music all won honours Sunday: Jay-Z shared the best rap song win since he co-wrote ‘Savage’ and nine-year-old Blue Ivy Carter — who won best music video alongside her mother — became the second-youngest act to win a Grammy in show’s 63-year history. Leah Peasall was 8 when The Peasall Sisters won album of the year at the 2002 show for their appearance on the T Bone Burnett-produced ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ soundtrack. Megan Thee Stallion, who won three honours, also made history and became the first female rapper to the best rap song. She’s also the fifth rap-based act to win best new artist. Beyoncé was the night’s top contender with nine nominations, and she’s still up for record of the year, where she’s a double nominee thanks to ‘Black Parade’ and ‘Savage.’ Beyoncé didn’t perform but Swift did. She sang ‘cardigan’ and ‘august’ from folklore, as well as ‘willow’ from ’evermore’, and was joined by the collaborators who helped her make the albums, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who both won album of the year with Swift. Silk Sonic, aka Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, also performed, bringing a throwback R&B vibe to the show with their smooth new single, ‘Leave the Door Open’. Dua Lipa, who won best pop vocal album, proved her pop star status with a performance of her hits ‘Don’t Start Now’ and ‘Levitating,’ where she was joined by the DaBaby, who was an all-star during his own performance of his guitar-tinged rap hit ‘Rockstar’, flipping the song for an exceptional live rendition featuring R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, a skilled violinist and background singers. And country singer Mickey Guyton – the first Black female nominated for best country solo performance – gave an impressive performance of her song ‘Black Like Me.’ Other performers included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Harry Styles, who won the best pop solo performance for the hit ‘Watermelon Sugar.’ “To everyone who made this record with me, thank you so much,” said Styles, the first member of One Direction to win a Grammy. Host Trevor Noah kicked off the show telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020. He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables. R&B singer H.E.R. won two honours, including song of the year for her protest anthem ‘I Can’t Breathe’, becoming one of the rare R&B songs to win the top prize. Another track about the Black experience – Anderson Paak’s ‘Lockdown,’ released on Juneteenth – also won a Grammy, picking up best melodic rap performance. Other double winners include Fiona Apple, Kaytranada and late performers John Prine and Chick Corea.