Awards season was off to a rough start with last month’s disastrous Golden Globes and its toe-curling opening monologue by Jo Koy. But the Grammys restored some of the sparkle to the entertainment industry’s post-Christmas victory parade, thanks to an assured hosting job by Trevor Noah and an evening studded with memorable acceptance speeches, heartfelt performances and even a newsflash from Taylor Swift.
Noah’s introduction was a masterclass in engaging the viewer while not annoying the celebrities in attendance. The South African comic had to be quick on his feet: no sooner had he started than Swift and Meryl Streep could be seen dashing to their seats over his shoulder. (Rain in Los Angeles had played havoc with everyone’s schedules.)
“Are you seeing what happens right now? As Taylor Swift walks through the room, the local economy around those tables improves,” he quipped, in an improvised reference to the economic impact of Swift’s Eras tour. He added that Lionel Richie was now “Lionel Wealthy’. Shocking: a genuinely funny awards-season monologue.
It wasn’t so much that Noah was pulling his punches, more than he was thinking about who he was taking a swing at. He defended Taylor Swift from the absurd conspiracy-theories to which she and her American football-player boyfriend Travis Kelce have been subjected – and made a pointed comment about American sports-broadcasters’ enthusiasm for cutting the cameras to Swift whenever she attends an NFL game. Swift laughed – job done.
“Let her live. In fact, tonight, on behalf of Taylor, I’m gonna give her a break. Every time they mention Taylor Swift, I’m gonna get revenge. I’m going to cut to someone who played football,” Noah said — as the Grammy cameras cut to former NFL player Terry Crews.
But if Noah spared Swift, he didn’t hold back when addressing ongoing hostilities between TikTok and Universal Music Group, which has pulled its artists (including the Eras star) from the platform, amid disagreements over payments. “The TikTok CEO is eating ice cream crying – he said, “Shame on you, TikTok, for ripping off all these artists. How dare you do that? That’s Spotify’s job.”
After Noah’s spiky intro, the ceremony lived up to expectations too. Swift swept the board – winning album of the year for Midnights, along with the accolade for “Best Pop Vocal Album”. (The Grammys’ arcane categories are a thing unto themselves.)
She gave as good as she got too, by revealing in her acceptance speech that she has recorded a new album, to be released in April. It will be titled The Tortured Poets Department, and while that sounds more like a Wes Anderson movie than a pop record, Swifties online were exultant.
Other memorable acceptance speeches included Miley Cyrus having a fan-girl moment when Mariah Carey handed her the gong for best pop solo performance. “This MC is going to stand next to this MC because it’s just too iconic,” said Cyrus.
There was also a unexpected cameo by Celine Dion, who has had to give up live performance as she battles the rare neurological disorder, Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). “When I say that I’m happy to be here. I really mean it,” she said. However, her appearance was tangled up in controversy as she handed the Album of the Year award to Taylor Swift – whom some viewers felt “snubbed” Dion by not thanking her (in fact, Swift appeared to have become distracted by all the well-wishers crowding in).
A rare sour note came from Jay-Z. Receiving the Dr Dre Global Impact Award and flanked by daughter Blue Ivy, he picked out his wife Beyoncé in the crowd. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady,” Jay-Z said, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that.” (The evening’s most unpleasant moment, on the other hand, came off-screen, when rapper Killer Mike, having won three awards before the televised ceremony, was arrested by the LAPD after a “physical altercation”, and taken to a police station downtown.)
The musical performances were memorable, too. Belting out her new single Houdini, Dua Lipa showed that, should the hits ever dry up, she could probably get a job on a building site. Hanging off a scaffold, she was held aloft by half a dozen shirtless men – while hardly working up a sweat.
But however eye-popping that moment was, it was the turns by veteran stars that brought out the goosebumps. Tracy Chapman disinterred her evergreen song Fast Car with accompaniment by a visibly overwhelmed Luke Combs. Annie Lennox battled tears covering the late Sinéad O’Connor’s version of Nothing Compares 2 U during an in-memoriam section. Most moving of all was the sight of 80-year-old Joni Mitchell negotiating her heart-rending ballad Both Sides Now. Her voice was more whisper than roar, but it was full of emotion, and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
The Golden Globes debacle was enough to put the sensitive viewer off awards shows for life. But the Grammys will have repaired some of that damage – and next month’s Oscars will be doing well to deliver half as much oomph.
