Month: February 2023

The week leading up to the Grammys is one of the most exciting in music, just for the sheer fun of speculating who will win and wondering what the performances will look like. But that still pales in comparison to actually watching the performances, when the nominated acts pull out all the stops. This year, in addition to a tribute to 50 years of hip-hop, the ceremony included a rare appearance by Jay-Z, who joined his collaborator DJ Khaled for a breathless performance of the song “God Did” from Khaled’s album of the same name.

Joined by Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend, and Giveon, the group performed outside the Staples Center — sorry, Crypto.com arena — at an opulently-laid dinner table.

They didn’t only perform the song; they were also nominated for Song Of The Year, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song, putting Jay in a tie for most-nominated artist of all time. His only competition? Why, his wife Beyoncé, of course. They both had 88 nominations total, although Beyoncé had more nominations this year with nine — and the opportunity to become the most-awarded artist ever. She accomplished it thanks to winning won Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “Break My Soul” and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Plastic Off The Sofa” ahead of the televised ceremony and Best Electronic/Dance Album.

You can see the full list of winners here.

The most coveted of the “big four” Grammy Awards — Album Of The Year, New Artist Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year — is pretty unanimously the award for Album Of The Year. This year, the field faced some pretty staunch competition, with selections from a wide variety of genres and both contemporary and legacy artists vying for the prestige that comes with a win.

The nominees included ABBA, nominated for their new album Voyage; Adele, nominated for 30, won with her last release, 25, in 2015; Bad Bunny, who has the first Spanish-language album ever to be nominated for the award in Un Verano Sin Ti; Beyoncé for Renaissance, whose album Lemonade was nominated alongside 25; Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres; Harry Styles, whose third album Harry’s House marks his first-ever Album Of The Year nomination; Kendrick Lamar, nominated for his comeback album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers; Lizzo’s Special; and Mary J. Blige, whose album Good Morning Gorgeous garnered the R&B mainstay’s first nomination since 2014 (and second overall).

And while all are worthwhile entries, only one can win. So, the 2023 Album Of The Year is Harry’s House by Harry Styles.

You can see the full list of winners for the evening here.

Taking the stage for his first-ever Grammys performance tonight was Steve Lacy. During his performance, he sang his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, “Bad Habit.”

On stage, Lacy was joined by Thundercat, who supplemented the poignant love song with a seductive, groovy guitar bridge.

Throughout the performance, several of Lacy’s fellow musicians were seen singing and dancing along to the song, including Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, and the queen herself, Beyoncé.

While this may be his first time performing at The Grammys, Lacy is certainly no novice. Last week, Lacy spoke with CBS Mornings about receiving his first Grammy nomination when he was 17 years old, for his work on The Internet’s Ego Death album.

When asked what the nomination meant to him at the time, Lacy replied “It meant that my mom could get off my ass about going to college.”

Fortunately, this nomination was no flash in the pan for Lacy. In 2020, he was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album for his solo debut album, Apollo XXI.

Earlier in the night, Lacy won the Best Progressive R&B Album Grammy for his 2022 album, Gemini Rights. “Bad Habit” is also up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.

In the meantime, you can check out the performance of “Bad Habit” above.

The 2023 Grammy Awards are happening now, and the winner of Best New Artist was just revealed. Anitta, Domi & JD Beck, Latto, Måneskin, Molly Tuttle, Muni Long, Omar Apollo, Samara Joy, Tobe Nwigwe, and Wet Leg were nominated for the award, but it was Joy who came away with the win.

Joy had two nominations this year and won them both: Before Best New Artist, her album Linger Awhile won Best Jazz Vocal Album.

While Joy ended up winning, all of the nominees had strong cases. Joy already has a Best New Artist award under her belt, as Jazz Times gave her that honor in 2021. Anitta’s “Envolver” was a global hit that was the first song by a Brazilian artist to rank No. 1 on the daily Spotify Global Chart. Domi & JD Beck signed to Anderson .Paak’s label Apesh*t Inc. and quickly announced Not Tight, a debut album that featured .Paak, Thundercat, Mac DeMarco, Herbie Hancock, Snoop Dogg, and others. Latto had a major hit with “Big Energy” in 2021 and has only upped her clout since then.

Måneskin got a Eurovision Song Contest 2021 victory and rode the momentum to international stardom. Molly Tuttle released Crooked Tree, her first album on Nonesuch, and it earned a Best Bluegrass Album nomination at this year’s Grammys. Omar Apollo had a TikTok hit with “Evergreen,” from the well-received debut album Ivory. Tobe Nwigwe has been consistently productive in recent years and found himself performing on The Tonight Show earlier this year. Finally, we have Wet Leg, “Chaise Longue” is one of the most beloved rock songs in recent years, and it’s found a fan in Dave Grohl.

Find the full list of this year’s Grammy nominees and winners here.

Music’s biggest night is currently in full swing as the 2023 Grammy Awards air. Fans across the globe tuned in to see if their faves took home an award — especially the major four categories. Thankfully, some music lovers are getting their wish. Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” won for Record Of The Year.

During her winning speech, she dedicated it to the late Prince, who inspired her to want to make the world a better place. “I’m just so proud to be apart of it,” she said. “Not only can people do good, but we are good.” She also shouted out Beyoncé and broke down in tears over how she changed her life in the fifth grade.

The award honors the entire recording package of a release instead of just the song and goes “to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s), if other than the artist,” per the Recording Academy’s website.

In total, there were ten nominees for the Record Of The Year award running. Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Harry Styles‘ “As It Was,” and Adele’s “Easy On Me” were among the inclusions.

Throughout this evening, other nominees for ROTY, including Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Steve Lacy, and the previously mentioned Lizzo and Styles, performed their respective songs.

Rounding out the Record Of The Year category was Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Pt. 5,” ABBA’s “Don’t Shut Me Down,” and Doja Cat’s “Woman.”

Watch Lizzo’s touching Record Of The Year acceptance speech above.

Find the full list of this year’s Grammy nominees and winners here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

While the last year boasted several incredible earworms, only one can take home the coveted Grammy for Song Of The Year. This year, in a shocking upset, the award went to “Just Like That” by Bonnie Raitt

In Raitt’s acceptance speech, she thanked the Academy, though, she admitted that just like all of us, she was surprised.

“This is just an unreal moment.” she said.

Earlier in the night, Raitt won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song, also with “Just Like That,” and the Best Americana Performance Grammy for her song, “Made Up Mind.”

Among the other Song Of The Year nominees were Gayle’s “abcdefu,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Adele’s “Easy On Me” DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” which featured Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, JAY-Z, John Legend, and Fridayy, and Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5

With her latest Song Of The Year award, Raitt now has 14 Grammys to her name.

You can see Raitt’s reaction to her surprising win above.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

With hip-hop’s official 50th birthday just months away, the 2023 Grammy Awards helped kick off the year-long festivities with the maximalist tribute performance encompassing (most of) the past 50 years of rap music.

Introduced by LL Cool J, curated by Questlove, and narrated by Black Thought, the performance started with foundational favorites like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” and zoomed through the ’80s, ’90s, and (some of) the 2000s. Along the way, a slew of hip-hop titans put in appearances, including De La Soul, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ice-T, Method Man, Missy Elliott, Nelly, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Too $hort, and more.

The performance was one of three hip-hop-focused performances for the night. The others were DJ Khaled and Jay-Z performing “God Did” and Quavo performing “Without You” in tribute to Takeoff during the In Memoriam segment.

You can see the full list of songs from the 50 Years Of Hip-Hop performance below.

Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, [Rahiem]], Melle Mel and Scorpio/Ethiopian King — “Flash to the Beat” & “The Message”
Run-DMC — “King of Rock”
LL Cool J — “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” & “Rock the Bells”
Rakim — “My Mic Sounds Nice” & “Eric B. Is President”
Chuck D and Flavor Flav — “Rebel Without a Pause”
De La Soul — “Buddy”

List of performers at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards
Artist(s) Song(s)
Bad Bunny “El Apagón”
“Después de la Playa”[14]
Brandi Carlile “Broken Horses”[14]
Stevie Wonder
WanMor
Smokey Robinson
Chris Stapleton Tribute to Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson
“The Way You Do the Things You Do”
“The Tears of a Clown”
“Higher Ground”[14]
Lizzo “About Damn Time”
“Special”[14]
Harry Styles “As It Was”[14]
Kacey Musgraves
Quavo
Maverick City Music
Sheryl Crow
Mick Fleetwood
Bonnie Raitt In Memoriam
“Coal Miner’s Daughter”
(tribute to Loretta Lynn)
“Without You”
“See You Again”
(tribute to Takeoff)
“Songbird”
(tribute to Christine McVie)[14]
Sam Smith and Kim Petras “Unholy”[14]
Mary J. Blige “Good Morning Gorgeous”[14]
The Roots
Black Thought
Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, [Rahiem]], Melle Mel and Scorpio/Ethiopian King
Run-DMC
LL Cool J
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Salt-N-Pepa
Rakim
Chuck D and Flavor Flav
De La Soul
Scarface — “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”
Ice-T — “New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)”
Queen Latifah — “U.N.I.T.Y.”
Method Man — “Method Man”
Big Boi — “ATLiens”
Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star — “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” & “Look at Me Now”
Missy Elliott — “Lose Control”
Nelly and City Spud — “Hot in Herre”
Too $hort — “Blow the Whistle”
Swizz Beatz and The Lox — “We Gonna Make It”
Lil Baby — “Freestyle”
GloRilla — “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”
Lil Uzi Vert — “Just Wanna Rock”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A few years ago, back in time; some kids thought up some MC rhymes.

Actually, it was just about 50 years ago that Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc, and his sister Cindy threw a party in the recreation room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue — widely accepted as the birthplace of hip-hop. With the 50th anniversary of that party swiftly approaching, 2023 has become a year of celebrations of the world-changing genre and culture called hip-hop, and the Grammys are no exception.

The 2023 Grammy Awards honored the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a tribute hosted by none other than LL Cool J, who has become the de facto torchbearer for the Golden Era of the ’80s and early ’90s when hip-hop went from being a regional fad to a global phenomenon.

The performance included contributions from across the hip-hop landscape, with old-schoolers like Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Rakim, RUN-DMC, and Salt-N-Pepa mashing up with newjacks like Future, GloRilla, and Lil Baby. All-timers like Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Missy Elliott, Method Man, Nelly, and Too Short bridged the gaps, all conducted by Questlove of The Roots and his bandmate Black Thought, who provided narration.

“The Message,” “The King Of Rock,” “Radio,” “Rock The Bells,” “My Mic Sounds Nice,” “My Melody,” “BUDDY,” “Mind Playing Tricks On Me,” “UNITY,” and more foundational hits set things off but the performance ran the gamut from “ATLiens,” “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Where My Eyes Could See,” and “Outta Control” to “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Just Wanna Rock.” Oddly, though, the performance skipped straight from The LOX performing “We Gonna Make It” to Lil Baby playing “Freestyle,” leaving just about a whole decade and a half on the table.

You can check out clips from the performance above and see the full list of Grammy winners here.

Mary J. Blige returned to the Grammy stage tonight for a powerful performance of the title track from her Grammy-nominated album, Good Morning Gorgeous.

On stage, Mary stood in an activation resembling a morning sky, surrounded by clouds, and displaying a wide range of vocals that have aged like fine wine. Joined by cellists, she dived deep into her range, reminding the audience — and most importantly — herself

Good Morning Gorgeous pulled in six nominations for this year’s awards, as its title track is up for Record Of The Year,
Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song. Her Anderson .Paak collaboration “Here With Me” is nominated for Best R&B Performance, and the album itself is up for Best R&B Album and the highly coveted Album Of The Year.

But even with all of these nominations, as well as her nine past wins, Mary revealed to People last month that she still makes time to center and ground herself. She does so with her morning ritual, by reciting “Good morning, gorgeous” to herself in the mirror.

“I do it in my prayer time. There’s no makeup, no nominations for an award,” she said. “It’s just me and God. And the beauty of being able to say, “I appreciate my life.” To look in the mirror, my eyes are half closed, and say something to myself that I never even believed.”

You can check out the performance of “Good Morning Gorgeous” above.

Mary J. Blige is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When it comes to hip-hop artists, the Grammys are far from the only award show to get themselves into hot water with an ill-timed omission. But they have been uniquely consistent in overlooking artists whose contributions to rap feel as crucial as their omissions have been glaring. Unfortunately, this year proved no different as the In Memoriam segment left out one of Southern Rap’s true pioneers: Gangsta Boo, who passed at 43 on New Year’s Day.

Rap fans were rightfully miffed when they didn’t see Gangsta Boo’s name during the segment. Gangsta Boo, who was a founding member of Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia before embarking on a respected and successful solo career of her own, has been honored by many of her peers, collaborators, and fans in the month since her death was announced. Unfortunately, for the Grammys to overlook her contributions constitutes an oversight far too familiar to the female pioneers of hip-hop.

That said, there are a lot of other ways the Grammys could have whiffed that it avoided. During ABC’s 2022 retrospective special, a photo of Quavo was used during a tribute to Takeoff, prompting the familiar outcry that “not all Black people look alike.” During the Grammys, Quavo offered a tribute of his own to Takeoff, performing his song “Without You” backed by a gospel choir.

The Grammys continue to announce this year’s winners; you can follow along here.