Mon 15 March 2021:
Beyoncé won Best R&B Performance for “BLACK PARADE” at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. It is her fourth GRAMMY win of the evening, and a historic one, as she became the performing artist with the most career GRAMMY wins ever, totalling 28. Her iconic daughter Blue Ivy also won as a collaborator.
Female performers dominated contemporary music’s top awards on Sunday night as Beyonce and Taylor Swift made Grammys history and 19-year-old Billie Eilish took home the record of the year award.
Beyonce broke the record for the most wins by a female artist, while Swift’s surprise lockdown record folklore was named album of the year and Eilish’s Everything I Wanted won record of the year. Sunday’s win made Swift, 31, the first woman to take home album of the year three times.
BEYONCÉ REACTION 😭 pic.twitter.com/25UlneEfaJ
— 𝔹.𝕂☁️ (@Rumiyoncee) March 15, 2021
“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 honor 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 now ties producer and multi-instrumentalist Quincy Jones as the acts with 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 honors 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 the show’s 63-year history.
The writers of I Can’t Breathe by R&B artist H.E.R won the song of the year, which recognises songwriters rather than performers and was penned to mark last year’s Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.
“I didn’t imagine that my fear and that my pain would turn into impact,” the 23-year-old musician said in accepting the trophy. “That fight we had in us, the summer of 2020, keep that same energy.
Other performers included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Harry Styles, who won 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.
The ceremony, hosted by Trevor Noah who anchors The Daily Show, took place a year after COVID-19 grounded tours and forced performance venues to close and is part of an effort by the music world to try to move past a crushing 2020.
“We’re hoping that this is all about what 2021 can be, full of joy, new beginnings and coming together. Never forgetting what happened in 2020 but full of hope for what is to come,” Noah said.
