Beyonce wins top country album award at Grammys
LOS ANGELES: Beyonce won the Grammy for the year’s best country album for “Cowboy Carter,” a record that served as an indictment of the industry long accused of sidelining Black artists.
“I really was not expecting this,” said Beyonce onstage, her voice audibly shaking. “Sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists.”
“I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about and to stay persistent,” she told the crowd packed with A-listers, with husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy applauding from the audience. I still am in shock. Thank you so much for this honor.”
Rapper Kendrick Lamar and pop singer Charli XCX each won three prizes during a pre-show where dozens of golden gramophones were handed out.
The coveted prize for Best New Artist went to Chappell Roan, capping a meteoric year for the Midwestern artist who went from struggling singer to music’s It girl seemingly overnight.
In her acceptance speech, she recounted how she was dropped from her label during the pandemic and struggled to find work.
“I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” she said.
“It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized,” she said. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Last year’s winner Victoria Monet presented that trophy after a rollicking medley from some of Roan’s fellow nominees including Doechii, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, Shaboozey and Raye.
Sabrina Carpenter won the prize for best pop vocal album, her second award of the night that followed a slapstick, Old Hollywood-inspired performance of her nominated hits “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.”
Doechii meanwhile gave a moving speech to accept the prize for best rap album, holding back tears as Cardi B who has also won the prize handed it to her.
Hip-hop poet laureate Lamar scored three Grammys as did club diva Charli XCX and they are both among the contenders for the night’s top prizes.
Top Grammy nominee Billie Eilish sang her hit “Birds of a Feather” in an LA Dodgers baseball cap on a stage with imagery capturing the mountains and valleys of the city on a clear, sunny day. “I love you LA,” she said after her performance.