2022 Grammy Awards: Key Moments From the 2022 Grammys: Jon Batiste, Silk Sonic and Olivia Rodrigo Triumph (Published 2022) (2024)

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Delayed by Virus, Grammy Awards Celebrate Music Industry’s Return

“Leave the Door Open” also won record of the year, as well as best R&B song. Silk Sonic also tied Jazmine Sullivan for best R&B performance.

“We are really trying to remain humble at this point,” said Anderson .Paak, born Brandon Paak Anderson, while accepting record of the year. “But in the industry we call that a clean sweep.” (The record of the year prize is for a single recording, while song of the year recognizes songwriters.)

Silk Sonic and Batiste’s wins kept Rodrigo — a 19-year-old Disney television star who burst on the music scene with smashing success and critical respect — from making her own sweep of the four top categories. But she did take best new artist.

“This is my biggest dream come true,” Rodrigo said as she accepted that prize. She also took home best pop vocal album for “Sour” and pop solo performance for “Drivers License,” which she performed on a set like a suburban street, her voice swelling to emotional peaks and then breaking as it fell.

Jon Batiste, the bandleader of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” took album of the year for “We Are,” which had virtually no commercial impact but was supported strongly by the membership of the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys. Batiste was up a total of 11 awards, more than any other artist, and won five.

“I believe this to my core,” Batiste said, taking album of the year. “There is no best musician, best artist, best dancer, best actor. The creative arts are subjective and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most.”

The Grammys ceremony, initially planned for Jan. 31 in Los Angeles, had been delayed nine weeks by the Omicron variant, and moved to Las Vegas for the first time. “Better late than never,” the host, Trevor Noah, said as the CBS telecast opened at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“We’re in Vegas,” he said. “Look at this. You know, people are doing shots. I mean, last year, people were doing shots, but it was more Moderna and Pfizer.”

President Zelensky had pressed the producers of the Academy Awards to speak last week, but was turned down. Invited to speak at the Grammys, he made an impassioned plea for his country, saying in a hoarse voice that Ukrainian musicians “wear body armor instead of tuxedos” and urging American music fans to “tell the truth about the war” on social media and “support us in any way you can.”

John Legend then led a somber performance of his song “Free,” featuring Ukrainian artists like the singer Mika Newton and the poet Lyuba Yakimchuk.

The night was also a complementary balance of vital young stars — Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X — giving powerful, fizzy performances that showed them fully in command of their art, and older acts being lauded for decades of work. Tony Bennett, the 95-year-old lion of the American songbook, won best traditional pop vocal album for the 14th time for “Love for Sale,” his Cole Porter project with Lady Gaga, who sang solo from that album. (Bennett, who has Alzheimer’s disease and has retired from performing, did not attend the ceremony, but briefly introduced Lady Gaga by video.)

Women delivered some of the most memorable messages. Sullivan, who won best R&B album for “Heaux Tales,” said her project “ended up being a safe space for Black women to tell our stories, for us to learn from each other, laugh with each other and not be exploited at the same time.”

Doja Cat, a spitfire rapper and internet provocateur, won pop duo/group performance for her hit “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA. Taking the stage, she joked about racing back from the restroom just in time. Then she teared up. “It’s a big deal,” she said.

Lil Nas X, the rapper, singer and meme master, performed a high-concept medley of his songs “Dead Right Now,” “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and “Industry Baby,” featuring Jack Harlow, interspersed with a montage of overheated media commentators. In other performances, the K-pop stars BTS began their song “Butter” looking like “Oceans 11” characters, and the Latin pop superstar J Balvin sang with Maria Becerra.

There were several nods to the controversy that marred last week’s Academy Awards, when the actor Will Smith slapped the comedian Chris Rock onstage. During a nontelevised ceremony before the telecast, one presenter, Nate Bargatze, introduced the classical field while wearing a thick helmet. “This is what comedians at awards shows have to wear now,” Bargatze said.

And early on in the telecast Noah promised that “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,” alluding to Smith’s expletive-filled demand that Rock stop talking about his wife.

A series of complications in recent days had challenged Grammy producers as the show came together. Kanye West was barred from performing and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, which had been scheduled to play, died while on tour. Two members of BTS, the K-pop phenomenon, announced that they had tested positive for the coronavirus, leaving fans to guess whether their performance would go on.

As the multibillion-dollar touring industry tries to return to full capacity, some of music’s biggest stars gathered for a celebration of the art — and business — of performance. In a series of segments, behind-the-scenes crew members introduced those stars, telling of the hard work and close bonds that develop on the road. Nicole Massey, the production manager for Billie Eilish, introduced the woman she called “the best 20-year-old boss in the world.”

Foo Fighters won all three awards they were nominated for: rock performance (“Making a Fire”), rock song (“Waiting on a War”) and rock album (“Medicine at Midnight”). Voting by Recording Academy members ended in January, long before Hawkins’s death.

Chris Stapleton won three country awards: solo performance (“You Should Probably Leave”), country album (“Starting Over”) and country song (“Cold,” with Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure and Derek Mixon). The jazz keyboardist Chick Corea, who died last year, won two.

Joni Mitchell won best historical album for her “Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967),” sharing the award with Patrick Mulligan, her fellow compilation producer. In a rare televised appearance, Mitchell gave a brief introduction for a performance by Brandi Carlile, whom she called “my brilliant friend and ambassador.”

The 64th Grammy ceremony honored music released during a 13-month period, from Sept. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Winners were chosen by more than 11,000 voting members of the Recording Academy, who qualify by gaining recommendations from fellow music professionals.

Speeches from early winners highlighted personal triumphs, social ills and the power of music to serve as a balm in troubled times.

Accepting the award for best country duo/group performance, T.J. Osborne, of the group Brothers Osborne, said their song “Younger Me” was written about his coming out as gay — a risk given Nashville’s largely conservative music business.

“I never thought that I’d be able to do this professionally because of my sexuality,” he said, “and I certainly never thought I would be here on this stage accepting a Grammy after having done something I felt like was going to be life-changing, potentially in a very negative way.”

The comedian Louis C.K., who has admitted to sexual misconduct, won for best comedy album (“Sincerely Louis C.K.”).

The first award of the day, for best musical theater album — a prize that in the past has gone to Broadway smashes like “Hamilton” and “The Book of Mormon” — went to “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” a D.I.Y. project by Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow, who created the music as fans, while spurred on by comments from viewers online who watched them work.

“A year ago, when I asked the internet, what if ‘Bridgerton’ was a musical,” said Barlow, “I could not have imagined I would be holding a Grammy in my hands.”

Jon Batiste caps five wins with album of the year.

He added, in closing: “This is for real artists, real musicians — let’s just keep going. Be you.”

Batiste, a New Orleans native and musical fixture of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which like the Grammys airs on CBS, had 11 nominations in all, the most of any artist. In winning album of the year — his fifth victory of the night, following four genre awards announced at the preshow ceremony — he beat pop stars like Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Doja Cat.

Mars’s win for record of the year was his third in the category since 2016, when “Uptown Funk” took the prize. His album’s title track, “24K Magic,” won in 2018, when he was also recognized for album of the year and song of the year (“That’s What I Like”), plus three other awards. Earlier, Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” won song of the year, as well.

“We are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point,” Anderson .Paak said after record of the year was announced. “But in the industry we call that a clean sweep.”

Mars, in celebration, lit a cigarette onstage.

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A last-minute change expanded the top Grammys categories.

But with a preliminary list including only eight nominees already circulating among media outlets, those who benefited raised some eyebrows. As recently as the 2018 Grammys, there were only five nominees in the top categories.

Among those added were stars like Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Abba and Lil Nas X, most of whom were already represented in other categories. In song of the year, Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time” was a last-minute addition despite the fact that she was already nominated for another song in the same category.

For album of the year, the two added to the ballot were Swift’s “Evermore” and West’s “Donda,” joining releases from Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X and Jon Batiste. In record of the year, Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and Abba’s “I Still Have Faith in You” entered the race. The song category also added Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” while best new artist grew to include the rapper Baby Keem and the Pakistani American composer and vocalist Arooj Aftab.

Mason said the artists added to the list were simply the ninth and 10th most voted by the academy’s members, and that the booking of the Grammys’ telecast was not a factor. “A thousand percent no,” he said at the time. “That was not a consideration.”

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The Grammys pays tribute to Taylor Hawkins, Stephen Sondheim and other music luminaries.

Earlier in the night, Billie Eilish paid tribute to Hawkins when she performed in a T-shirt with the drummer’s image on it while singing her song “Happier Than Ever.”

After the tribute to Hawkins, a quartet of musical-theater performers honored other musical luminaries who have died over the past year, including Stephen Sondheim, the iconic Broadway composer and lyricist who died in November. Singing a compilation of Sondheim songs, including “Send In the Clowns” and “Somewhere” were Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rachel Zegler, who played Maria in the recent Steven Spielberg-directed film adaptation of “West Side Story.”

Those honored included Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones drummer; Wanda Young, one of the lead singers of the Motown group the Marvelettes; DMX, the top-selling rapper; Meat Loaf, the “Bat Out of Hell” singer; and Biz Markie, the rapper and producer.

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And then, minutes later, “Freedom” appeared in ... a Gap commercial! Talk about synergy.

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Jon Batiste, the show’s most nominated artist, takes center stage.

The composer and bandleader may be best known for his work as musical director on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” For some, he became a more familiar face during the early months of the pandemic, as Black Lives Matter protests spread in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. In the summer of 2020, he played a slew of open-air jazz concerts and led what he called “Music Marches” through the streets of New York, guiding tubas and trumpets through Washington Square Park and leading thousands of protesters through renditions of “We Shall Overcome.”

Originally from New Orleans, Batiste grew up inspired by the history of protest music in his hometown and the organizing efforts of his grandfather, who led a postal workers union. His music meshes jazz, R&B and soul. “​​I’ve always made an effort to show that the genres are all connected, just like people in all of our lineages are connected,” he told The Times in November.

Batiste has won four Grammys so far; two of his competitions — album and record of the year — are yet to come.

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Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to Grammys audience in a prerecorded video.

The leader’s aides had lobbied for an appearance at the Academy Awards last week, but organizers did not commit to it, drawing some backlash.

In his brief address, Zelensky, an actor turned wartime leader, emphasized that many of the musicians in his country were fighting in the battle against the Russian invasion.

“Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” he said. “They sing to the wounded in hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them.”

“Support us in any way you can,” he added. “Any, but not silence.”

After Zelensky’s address, John Legend performed his song “Free,” featuring a Ukrainian singer, Mika Newton, and a poet, Lyuba Yakimchuk, who fled the country days ago.

Here is Zelensky’s full speech:

The war. What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. And we’ll never see them drawing. Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning in bomb shelters. But alive. Our loved ones don’t know if we will be together again. The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway. We defend our freedom to live, to love, to sound on our land. We are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs. The dead silence. Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can. Any — but not silence. And then peace will come. To all our cities the war is destroying — Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Volnovakha, Mariupol and others — they are legends already. But I have a dream of them living and free. Free like you on the Grammy stage.

Many in the music industry have made public statements opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and showing support for the Ukrainian people. On Sunday night at the Grammys, the Recording Academy teamed up with Global Citizen to highlight its “Stand Up for Ukraine” initiative.

The three major record conglomerates — Sony, Warner Music and Universal Music — have all suspended operations in Russia in response to the war, along with the touring behemoth Live Nation, which released a statement saying the company will “cease work with any and all Russian-based suppliers.” Spotify suspended its streaming service in Russia and closed its office in Moscow.

Musicians have also pledged solidarity with Ukraine, canceling shows and speaking out on social media. Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Björk, the Killers, AJR, Iggy Pop and others pulled out of shows in the region. Pink Floyd and David Gilmour yanked some of their music off digital providers in Russia and Belarus, writing in a statement on Twitter that the move was an effort “to stand with the world in strongly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

And artists have hosted benefit concerts across the globe. Arcade Fire held a last-minute benefit show in New Orleans in March, donating all proceeds of the pay-what-you-can event to a relief fund for citizens in Ukraine. Days later, the band said it raised over $100,000 after donating the proceeds from additional shows in New York. Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Nile Rodgers and others played a benefit concert in England last week. At a New York fund-raiser where she performed alongside Gogol Bordello, a band with Ukrainian roots, Patti Smith announced a $50,000 donation to Doctors Without Borders on behalf of Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon.

Rachel Sherman contributed reporting.

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Last year’s rock categories featured female nominees. This time, not so much.

The only woman up for any rock award this year was Ilsey Juber, who contributed to Weezer’s “All My Favorite Songs,” a contender for best rock song. (That award also went to Foo Fighters.) Best alternative music album, which is not part of the rock field, included Halsey, Japanese Breakfast and St. Vincent. (St. Vincent took home the trophy.)

What changed? Most Grammy watchers point to the increased diversity of last year’s rock field as one of the positive signs of the otherwise maligned nominations review committees — panels of anonymous experts who determine the final ballot.

Those committees were largely eliminated last year, after coming under harsh criticism as an unaccountable system that could skew the wishes of the Recording Academy’s thousands of voting members. But maybe when it came to genres like rock, they sometimes did some good?

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Tony Bennett’s long history at the Grammys.

The following year, the Recording Academy, the organization behind the awards, began using special screening committees to review the nominations in the top categories, whittling down the initial choices from the academy’s thousands of voters to come up with a final ballot. In theory, it was meant to protect the integrity of the awards and weed out inappropriate candidates.

But the fairness of the committee process was long debated behind the scenes, and the issue blew up in recent years, condemned by major artists like the Weeknd who blamed the committees when they did not receive the nominations they felt they deserved. Last year, the Academy eliminated the committees in all but the so-called craft categories, like production, engineering and packaging.

When the latest nominations were announced, in November, Grammy watchers scoured the list for signs of a post-committee new (old?) order, and many zeroed in on one title: “Love for Sale.”

Bennett’s first album with Lady Gaga, “,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard’s Top 200 pop and rock chart in 2014. The duo performed two concerts in New York last summer that were billed as his last. In February 2021, Bennett’s wife, Susan, revealed that Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. Earlier on Sunday, “Love for Sale” won best traditional pop vocal album as well as best engineered album, non-classical.

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A spotlight for the people who power the live-music industry.

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Joni Mitchell makes a rare appearance on the Grammy stage.

The last year or two has brought a wave of recognition for Mitchell. Her 1971 album “Blue,” which had little commercial impact upon its release but was long a connoisseur’s favorite, was widely celebrated last year, upon its 50th anniversary. In December, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor, and a sampling of her songs, like “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Both Sides Now,” were performed by Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard and Norah Jones.

In a speech during the White House reception for the event, she addressed her health, saying, “I’m hobbling along but I’m doing all right.” She even joked in an on-camera interview on the red carpet, “I’m old enough to have been honored before.”

On Friday, Mitchell was the honoree in a gala for MusiCares, a Grammy-affiliated charity that helps needy musicians. Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Stills, Herbie Hanco*ck, Jon Batiste, Sara Bareilles, Beck, Brandi Carlile and others performed her music.

Other presenters at the Grammys this year include Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Questlove, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Porter, Avril Lavigne and Ludacris, as well as Jared Leto, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Anthony Mackie.

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Meet the 10 competitors for best new artist.