Silk Sonic and Jon Batiste triumph, Zelensky appears at a classy Grammy Awards
CBC
This year's Grammy Awards saw big wins by new artists, a handful of top-notch, well-produced performances and heartfelt tributes to artists who died this year — plus a surprise message from Ukraine's president.
And host Trevor Noah limited himself to a single Will Smith joke.
Here is CBC News' roundup of the highlights.
Trevor Noah kicked off the night with a nod to last week's Oscars debacle between Will Smith and Chris Rock. During his opening monologue, the comedian said, "we're going to listening to some music, we're going to be dancing, we're going to be singing, we're going to be keeping people's names out of our mouths."
Music, singing, dancing, check. And several names remained quite popular throughout the show.
Silk Sonic, a funk superduo comprising Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, were one of the night's clear winners. The group took home four statues for record of the year, song of the year, best R&B performance and best R&B song.
This is the first year that Mars and .Paak have competed at the Grammys under the Silk Sonic moniker since announcing their self-titled album in early 2021. After winning record of the year, .Paak took the stage, joking, "We are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point. But in the industry we call that a clean sweep!"
Jon Batiste, a multi-instrumentalist who rose to fame as bandleader of the group Stay Human and has served as musical director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, had his moment tonight. The artist adds five trophies to his collection, including album of the year for We Are and best music video for Freedom.
Olivia Rodrigo took home a healthy three awards this year, holding her own against Grammy heavyweights like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Mars in multiple categories. The 19-year old singer became pop's sweetheart last year with the release of her album Sour and its top single, Driver's License. Rodrigo was crowned best new artist and received trophies for best pop vocal album and best pop solo performance.
Some truly inspired performances – all of different scale and style – punctuated the evening of award-giving. From Lil Nas X to BTS, high-octane musical sets were backdropped by intricate set design.
Moody pop diva Billie Eilish performed her song Happy Endings, first appearing in a living room-like scene with furniture hanging from the ceiling and water flooding the floors. She then moved to the set's "rooftop," joining her brother and producer Finneas as he shredded on the guitar, rain pouring onto the stage.
Rap provocateur Lil Nas X gave a high-energy medley of songs from his debut studio album Montero, wowing with athletic choreography and a giant bust of his head on stage behind him and a swarm of dancers. He was briefly joined by rapper Jack Harlow to perform their hit song Industry Baby.
But K-pop group BTS brought the house down with their performance of Butter, which began with members sitting in the audience: V was seen chatting Olivia Rodrigo up, while fan favourite Jung-kook descended from the rafters. They put on a tech-heavy, spy thriller-inspired performance of their song Butter, expertly navigating laser trip wires to deliver a memorable show.
In one sobering moment, Ukraine president Vlodimir Zolensky appeared in a pre-recorded message to the Grammy audience, trying to bolster support for the nation as it endures a war with Russia. The Grammys partnered with Global Citizen for its "Stand Up for Ukraine campaign," dedicating a segment of the show to the country.