This past Sunday the Grammys, the most glamorous and prestigious night in musical awards, took place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Talented artists like Alicia Keys, Chappell Roan, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Beyonce, and Sabrina Carpenter, attended the famed awards ceremony. Earlier in the school year, Pace students were asked by the newspaper to make predictions on who they thought would win each award. Now that the top nine awards were presented during the live show, it is time to see if the Pace polls were right and recap the night.
At music’s premiere ceremony, five and a half hours before the televised portions of the award show aired, 85 Grammy awards were handed out. The non-televised award genres ranged from best Christian Folk album, all the way to best music notes. Some highlights included both Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX receiving their first Grammy, as well as Kendrick Lamar’s immense success in sweeping every category in which he was nominated with his hit song “Not Like Us.”
The award for Best Rap Album was the first of the presentations to be voted on by Pace students. While the majority of the student’s voted for Future and Metro Boomin’s album, “We Don’t Trust You,” the award instead went to Doechii’s,“Alligator Bites Never Heal.” Doechii winning this award solidified her talented reputation while also making her the third woman to win in this category alongside Cardi B and Lauryn Hill.
Next, Pace students were spot on in predicting the winner for Record of the Year and Pop Duo/Group Performance. As guessed, Kendrick Lamar won record of the year. In addition, Lamar had an incredibly successful night taking home four other Grammys, including Song of the Year, an award which Pace students anticipated Billie Eilish would win. Despite this, Pace students were correct in predicting that Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga would win Pop Duo/Group Performance. In addition to their win, this power duo performed an homage to fire damaged California by covering the song, “California Dreaming” by The Mamas & The Papas.
Next up was the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Pace students again predicted that this award would go to Billie Elisish for her album “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” Instead, it was awarded to Sabrina Carpenter for her album “Short ‘n Sweet.” Surprisingly, Billie Elishe did not receive any awards at the Grammys for her latest project despite critic’s acclaim and broad support from the Knights. In a treat for the audience, Sabrina Carpenter accepted this award shortly after performing her two biggest hits of the summer “Espresso” and “Please Please Please”.
The award for Best New Artist followed the performances of all of the nominated artists. While the school survey concluded that Sabrina Carpenter should take home the award, it instead went to the our runner up, Chappell Roan, who also had a successful year after opening for Olivia Rodrigo and releasing “Good Luck, Babe!” The competition, as reflected in our poll results, was very competitive. All of the nominated artists are extremely talented and successful, and the viewers were fortunate to watch during their performances.
Finally, the most anticipated award of the night “Album of the Year” was announced and went to Beyonce for her album “Cowboy Carter.” Beyonce currently holds the record for most Grammys, but this award was especially significant to her career as it was her first win for Album of the Year. This, however, meant that the award did not go to Billie Eilish as students had once again hoped.