Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Although no single artist had a full sweep at the 66th Grammy Awards last night, there was a clear winner: women. Only one male artist, Jon Batiste, was nominated in any of the top three categories (album, song and artist of the year). Billie Eilish, SZA and Miley Cyrus all went home with major gongs while Taylor Swift became the first artist to win Album Of The Year four times. The LA audience was also treated to Tracey Chapman duetting her 1988 hit Fast Car with Luke Combs in her first live performance since 2009 (Fast Car is now number 1 in the US). And 80 year-old Joni Mitchell gave her debut Grammy performance as she won best folk album. The awards have come a long way since 2018, when former Grammys CEO Neil Portnow told reporters women needed “to step up” if they wanted to win. In November, he was sued by a woman who claimed he drugged and raped her in a New York Hotel in 2018. Phoebe Bridgers, who picked up four awards last night, said of Portnow “I’d like to say I know you’re not dead yet, but when you are, rot in piss”.