Looking Back on the 2022 Grammy Awards

There were huge wins, big performances and many heartfelt moments at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards earlier this month.

After being postponed from Jan. 31 because of COVID-19 risks, music’s biggest night finally took place on April 3.

Silk Sonic, the R&B duo made up of Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak, opened the awards show with a performance of their song “777” as a tribute to the show being hosted in Las Vegas for the first time in its history.

Silk Sonic had a clean sweep of all four of their Grammy nominations for the song “Leave The Door Open.” They received the best record, best song, best R&B song and best R&B performance for the song.

Olivia Rodrigo performed next, giving a heartfelt performance of her hit single “drivers license.” Rodrigo took home three of her seven Grammy nominations, including one of the big four categories, best new artist. She also won best pop solo performance for “drivers license” and best pop vocal album for Sour.

Freshman Katelyn Lutz expresses her feelings surrounding Rodrigo’s multiple Grammy wins.

“I was very surprised [by] how Olivia Rodrigo got so many Grammys because she’s a new artist and just getting into the business but I’m very proud and happy for her,” Lutz said.

Latin Urbano singer J Balvin took the Grammy stage next, performing “Qué Más Pues?” and “In Da Ghetto.” Then, the famous K-pop band BTS put on an engaging James Bond-themed performance of their hit song “Butter.”

Hip-hop and rap singer Lil Naz X performed a medley of his songs “Dead Right Now,” “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and “Industry Baby” followed by alternative pop sensation Billie Eilish’s performance of “Happier Than Ever” with her brother FINNEAS.

Freshman Stella McGraw loved Billie Eilish and FINNEAS’s performance.

“My favorite performance was probably Billie Eilish and FINNEAS. They just looked like they were having the time of their lives, the set was incredible, there was a lot of emotion and overall it was a great performance,” McGraw said.

Brandi Carlile then put on a jaw-dropping folk performance of “Right On Time,” followed by hip-hop rapper Nas performing sections of “I Can,” “Made You Look,” “One Mic” and “Rare.”

In country music, Chris Stapleton had a clean sweep of his three nominations and performed “Cold” on the Grammy stage. Stapleton won the awards for best country song for “Cold,” best country solo performance for “You Should Probably Leave” and best country album for Starting Over.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy then gave a plea for support in his virtual speech during the show and talked about music’s important role of bringing people together. The speech was followed by a moving performance of John Lennon’s new single “Free” with support from Ukrainian performers Mika Newton and Lyuba Yakinchuck.

According to The Recording Academy, Lada Gaga then paid tribute to the newly retired Tony Bennett by performing their collaborative songs “Love For Sale” and “Do I Love You.” The duo was also awarded best traditional pop vocal album for Love For Sale. 

According to OPB, Jon Batiste’s dynamic musical and performance abilities were beautifully displayed through his performance of “Freedom.” Batiste also led the competition with a whopping 11 nominations and took home five of them. He received best album for We Are, best American roots song and performance for “Cry,” tied for best score soundtrack for visual media for “Soul” and best music video for “Freedom.”

Justin Bieber, with support from Giveon and Daniel Caesar, took to the Grammy stage to perform his hit song “Peaches.”

H.E.R. then performed a medley featuring her songs “Damage,” “We Made It” and Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way.” She put on a dynamic show, also performing alongside Lenny Kravitz, Travis Barker, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

H.E.R. also received the award for best traditional R&B performance for her song “Fight For You.”

The two final performances came from Carrie Underwood and Brothers Osborne. Underwood gave a stunning performance of her song “Ghost Story” while Brothers Osborne played out the award ceremony with their song “Dead Man’s Curve.”

Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr. and Rachel Zegler also performed during the in memoriam section of the ceremony as a tribute to Stephen Sondheim and other artists who passed away in the last year.

To watch all the Grammy performances, check out this article on the Grammy website.

Several notable victories include nominations from the rock, R&B, alternative and rap categories.

The Foo Fighters swept up all 3 non-metal rock awards: best rock performance, best rock song and best rock album. 

However, the band cancelled their Grammy performance and did not attend the award show due to the unexpected death of the band’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins, on March 25. There were several tributes to the musician throughout the night, including Billie Eilish wearing a t-shirt of him during the ceremony.

The final rock category, best metal performance, was awarded to Dream Theater for “The Alien.”

The best pop duo/group performance category was awarded to “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat featuring SZA. Doja Cat and SZA’s acceptance speech was very a emotional moment and quickly went viral online.

Lucky Daye and Jazmine Sullivan both won a Grammy in the R&B category. Lucky Daye won best progressive R&B album for Table For Two and Jazmine Sullivan received the best R&B album award for Heaux Tales.

The best alternative music album award was awarded to St. Vincent for Daddy’s Home.

The four rap categories were dispersed among several artists with Kanye West taking the lead at two Grammys. 

He took home awards for best melodic rap performance for “Hurricane” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby and best rap song for “Jail” featuring Jay-Z. 

Best rap performance was awarded to “Family Ties” by Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar. Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, The Creator won best rap album.

However, there were some surprising losses this year. Despite Billie Eilish’s seven and Justin Bieber’s eight Grammy nominations this year, they were among those that had a shutdown, losing all of their nominations.

For a full list of nominees and Grammy winners, check out this article on the Grammys’ website.