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      How the Grammys Bring Rebels Into the Fold

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      The awards show needs to build bridges between generations. That means convincing once-overlooked upstarts to show up as elders.Around midway through the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night, Madonna came out to introduce a performance by Sam Smith and Kim Petras of their theatrically gothic collaboration, “Unholy.”The track, a robust and cheeky song about infidelity with a playfully erotic video, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October, making Smith and Petras the first nonbinary and transgender artist, respectively, to top the chart. (On Sunday, “Unholy” also won best pop duo/group performance.)“Here’s what I’ve learned after four decades in music,” Madonna said dryly, riding crop in hand. “If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative or dangerous, you are definitely onto something.”Madonna would know, of course — the first decade of her career, she was aggressively, provocatively and campily pushing the boundaries of pop feminism, religion and sexuality, becoming one of the signature superstars of the 1980s. The Grammys, naturally, all but ignored her. She didn’t win a trophy for one of her studio albums until “Ray of Light,” in 1999. To this day, she has never claimed a Grammy in one of the major categories.Sam Smith performed “Unholy” after an introduction from Madonna in which she discussed the joys of provocation.Mario Anzuoni/ReutersAnd yet here she was, a revered and often-imitated elder, now fully absorbed into the Grammys ritual of baton passing between icons old and new.The Grammys, more than any of the other major award shows, needs these sorts of intergenerational handoffs to survive. Often it fudges them, by emphasizing and over-celebrating younger artists, like Bruno Mars and H.E.R., who make deeply traditional music.More Coverage of the 2023 GrammysQuestlove’s Hip-Hop Tribute: The Roots drummer and D.J. fit 50 years of rap history into 15 minutes. For once, the awards show gave the genre a fitting spotlight.Welcoming Rebels: The Grammys need to build bridges between generations. That means convincing once-overlooked upstarts to show up as elders, Jon Caramanica writes.Viola Davis’s EGOT: The actress achieved the rare distinction during the Grammys preshow, becoming the 18th person to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.Protest Song: Shervin Hajipour’s “Baraye,” which has become the anthem of the protests in Iran, won in a new special merit category recognizing a song for social change.But the story of pop music is far more often about the mainlining and then mainstreaming of frisky outsider ideas into broad palatability. Innovators and interlopers become the establishment. Those who emerged pushing back fiercely against their elders eventually become elders.For the Grammys to last for decades to come — if it even should, but that’s a debate for a different time — it needs to turn rebels into institutionalists.Nowhere was this more clear Sunday night than in the elaborate and rousing hip-hop history revue that anchored the broadcast — a performance that underscored the Grammys’ often-tortured relationship to newness and rebellion, to say nothing of pop music rebels’ often-tortured relationship to the Grammys.Start at the end, when Lil Uzi Vert stomped out onstage, his hair jelled into spikes, rapping his bizarro viral hit “Just Wanna Rock.” This is how hip-hop works now — an idiosyncratic stylist finds fervor online and builds a cult atop it, a mechanism that couldn’t be further from the Grammys stage.Lil Uzi Vert represented rap’s current generation, performing “Just Wanna Rock.”Kevin Winter/Getty Images For The Recording AAnd yet here he was, anchoring a 12-minute feat of logistics and favor-pulling (orchestrated by Questlove) featuring several titans who had previously never touched the Grammy stage. Rakim, never nominated for a Grammy, with a morsel of “Eric B. Is President.” Too Short, never nominated for a Grammy, plowing through “Blow the Whistle.” The Lox, only nominated for featuring on a Kanye West album, performed “We Gonna Make It,” a song reliably certain to ignite a Hot 97 Summer Jam in New York but not usually the purview of an industry gala.Like all historical surveys, it was both impressively broad and woefully incomplete. Jay-Z was in the audience, not onstage. Drake and West didn’t attend (likely for very different reasons). Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj were M.I.A. The lineup also brought to mind boatloads of other legends who could have taken a star turn — Cam’ron, Lil’ Kim, UGK, KRS-One, E-40, Master P, Big Daddy Kane — to say nothing of the countless rappers who died before seeing the genre reach its 50th birthday.Mostly it underscored the uncharitable ways in which hip-hop has been handled by the Grammys, and the long-running resistance of hip-hop’s biggest stars to the show’s butter-finger approach to handling them. At the 1989 Grammys, the first to honor hip-hop with an award, several of the nominated artists boycotted because the category was not being televised. But some of those original boycotters, Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Jazzy Jeff, appeared during this Sunday’s performance, more evidence of time healing all wounds.In recent years, the Grammys have ever so slightly sped up their relationship to pop music’s evolution. Opening the show this year was Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper-singer whose 2022 release “Un Verano Sin Ti” was last year’s most streamed LP. It was also nominated for album of the year, the first Spanish-language album so honored. The memorial segment included a tribute for Takeoff, the Migos rapper, from his group mate Quavo, a saddening indicator of the Grammys’ growing acceptance of hip-hop. And in her acceptance speech for record of the year, Lizzo framed her unabashedly positive and joyful music as an act of rebellion that paid off.And then there is the matter of Beyoncé, now the most decorated artist in Grammy history while still feeling like something of an outsider. Claiming that record didn’t quite overshadow her losses in the three major categories she was nominated in — to Bonnie Raitt (nice), Lizzo (sure, OK) and Harry Styles (errrr … great rings, beautiful rings).Beyoncé took the Grammys stage once, to accept the award for best dance/electronic music album, which gave her the record for most Grammy wins ever.Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesBeyoncé is a shadow traditionalist, but her short-straw-drawing at the Grammys has fashioned for her something of an outsider lore. She did not perform at this year’s event, and hasn’t for some time, a choice that feels pointed. It’s possible to be the most awarded artist in Grammys history, and still be an anti-Grammys rebel.This goes for her husband as well. Jay-Z boycotted the Grammys in 1999, but has shown up from time to time in the years since, largely to support his wife. He’s won 24 Grammys to Beyoncé’s 32.He was nominated five times this year, but more important, he was the key element in the show-closing performance of “God Did,” a signature DJ Khaled-orchestrated posse cut. What’s notable about this song isn’t that it was a hit — it was not — but that it features a dramatically long, boast-filled, conversation-starting Jay-Z verse.Jay-Z rapped the whole thing, all four minutes of it, seated at the center of a Last Supper-style table, flanked on either side by his longtime business associates Emory Jones and Juan Perez. He looked relaxed, unbothered, rapping like a benevolent uncle from whom you’re lucky to hear old war stories.For someone who’s been vocally skeptical about the Grammys over many years, Jay-Z ended the show wholly on his terms, like the final move in a decades-long chess game. An agitator finally ceded the throne.Whether he — or Beyoncé — will ever deign to sit in it again remains to be seen. More

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      Grammys Celebrate Hip-Hop History, From Grandmaster Flash to Lil Uzi Vert

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      In what could be seen as an elaborate mea culpa to rap music after decades of friction and perceived disrespect, the Grammy Awards dedicated an extended, centerpiece performance on Sunday to the forthcoming 50th anniversary of hip-hop, going from Grandmaster Flash to Lil Uzi Vert in about 15 minutes.Featuring a taste of some two dozen songs from across decades, regions and movements, the medley — curated by Questlove of the Roots and narrated by his bandmate Black Thought, plus LL Cool J and Queen Latifah — included deep cuts, smash hits and fan favorites in a rapid-fire fashion. The performance celebrated the half-centennial of the genre, which many in the industry have dated to Aug. 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc threw a back-to-school party with his sister in the rec room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.Opening with Grandmaster Flash performing his traditional record-scratching and drum-machine techniques, the first of three segments breezed through the late 1970s and 1980s with appearances by Run-DMC, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Salt-N-Pepa, Rakim and Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flava Flav. (Jazzy Jeff — along with the Fresh Prince, a.k.a. Will Smith — and Salt-N-Pepa were among the first-ever Grammy nominees in a rap category, though both groups boycotted the ceremony in 1989 because the award was not being televised.)Representing the next waves, including early gangster rap, Southern hip-hop and 21st-century pop crossovers, were artists like Queen Latifah, Big Boi of Outkast and Missy Elliott, who performed her 2005 hit “Lose Control,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In a showstopping moment, Busta Rhymes transitioned from “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” his 1997 single, to his 2011 verse on Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” a feat of vocal speed, verbal dexterity and breath control.Moving toward the present day in the high-energy third act, Nelly, Too Short and the Lox made way for the current crop of rap stars, including Lil Baby and GloRilla.Concluding the set was Lil Uzi Vert, hitting viral dance moves alongside LL Cool J, to his Jersey club-influenced TikTok hit “Just Wanna Rock,” as clear an example as any of how unpredictably hip-hop has evolved.Here’s the full set list:Grandmaster Flash, “Flash to the Beat”/“The Message”Run-DMC, “King of Rock”LL Cool J and DJ Jazzy Jeff, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”/“Rock the Bells”Salt-N-Pepa, “My Mic Sounds Nice”Rakim, “Eric B. Is President”Chuck D and Flavor Flav, “Rebel Without a Pause”Black Thought and LL Cool J interlude (“Rump Shaker”)Posdnuos of De La Soul, “Buddy”Scarface, “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”Ice-T, “New Jack Hustler (Nino’s Theme)”Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.”Method Man, “Method Man”Big Boi of Outkast, “ATLiens”Busta Rhymes, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”/“Look at Me Now”Missy Elliott, “Lose Control”Nelly, “Hot in Herre”Too Short, “Blow the Whistle”The Lox and Swizz Beatz, “We Gonna Make It”Lil Baby, “Freestyle”GloRilla, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock” More

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      Jill Biden Shines at the Grammys

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      In silver Oscar de la Renta, the first lady hit the high notes.Jill Biden got the dress code memo.As the first lady walked onstage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles toward the end of the 65th Grammy Awards — one of the few first ladies in modern memory to present at the show — she did so wearing an off-the-shoulder silver column gown made to sparkle all the way to the nosebleed seats, shining like the gleam of Lizzo’s smile.Actually, shining just like the ruched silver minidress Lizzo herself was wearing (after she changed out of her orange Dolce & Gabbana rose cloak). Not to mention the tinsel-spangled silver Gucci jumpsuit Harry Styles wore to perform his number. Or the silver of Beyoncé’s ruffled Gucci corset gown — the one she wore when she made history as the winningest artist at the Grammys, before she changed into black Schiaparelli and, later, velvet Balmain.Harry Styles in spangled Gucci. Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesEven though Dr. Biden’s dress was by Oscar de la Renta, one of the first lady’s go-to designers, and simply a more eye-catching version of the de la Renta navy lace column she had worn to the state dinner in December (the one with hand-embroidered cutouts), it was an unusual choice, given that she generally hews more to the floral and the understated.But it was also a clever one — like the decision to be part of the Grammys. Michelle Obama appeared, in 2019, but her husband had left office by then; Hillary Clinton won, in 1997, for best spoken word or nonmusical album.More Coverage of the 2023 GrammysWelcoming Rebels: The Grammys need to build bridges between generations. That means convincing once-overlooked upstarts to show up as elders, Jon Caramanica writes.Viola Davis’s EGOT: The actress achieved the rare distinction during the Grammys preshow, becoming the 18th person to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.Protest Song: Shervin Hajipour’s “Baraye,” which has become the anthem of the protests in Iran, won in a new special merit category recognizing a song for social change.After all, if you are the soft-power face of an administration whose much-discussed Achilles’ heel is the age of its leader; if you are the partner of a president contemplating running again who was already the oldest person ever to assume the office; if the goal is to get out of establishment Washington and be seen in a different, more … energetic context, the Grammys is not a bad way to do it.Lizzo wore a ruched silver mini. Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesEspecially a Grammys powered by the combined attention of the BeyHive, Swifties and Harries. Especially one recognizing the legacy of 50 years of hip-hop.Especially one in which Dr. Biden was handing out the first Grammy in the category of song for social change, given to Shervin Hajipour, a young Iranian whose song “Baraye” has become an anthem for the women’s rights protests and a way for those around the world to demonstrate solidarity. (Haider Ackermann used it in his recent couture show for Jean Paul Gaultier.)The first lady also gave Bonnie Raitt her surprise Grammy for song of the year, but it was the award to Mr. Halipour, currently in Iran awaiting trial and charged with disseminating propaganda against the regime and inciting violence, that made the political point. Albeit one couched in the glitz and circumstance of an awards telecast.If an administration wanted to underscore exactly what side it was on, that was a pretty slick way to do so.Machine Gun Kelly in silver foil Dolce & Gabbana with a crystal harness. Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesThe first lady knew the constituency she was speaking to, and she fit right in. How often do Dr. Biden and Machine Gun Kelly (in a reflective silver foil Dolce & Gabbana suit) look as if they are in the same universe? Being part of the most dominant fashion trend of the night is a very specific form of outreach, the planting of a visual earwig.It’s like the yin to President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union yang; the pop culture version of the political theater scheduled to take place Tuesday, a mere two days after the Grammys, back in D.C. When it comes to curtain-raisers, you don’t get much better than that. And all the silver meant it was impossible to miss. More

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      Hayley Williams Is Fueled by Teas, Thrifting and Terrifying Films

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      As Paramore releases its sixth album, “This Is Why,” the singer and songwriter chats about playing in a maturing band — and the music, mushrooms and tinctures that have aided that journey.Hayley Williams is only 34, but she is already two decades into her career as the dynamic frontwoman for the pop-punk band Paramore. “I was just saying to the guys, we’re too young to be old, but too old to be young,” she said with a laugh last month, referring to her bandmates, the guitarist Taylor York and the drummer Zac Farro. “There’s people that think of us the way I think of artists that have been doing this way longer than us. Part of me feels 85, and the other part feels like I have no answers to life.”Aside from the fiery hues of her signature hair, Williams is a very different person from the teenager who formed Paramore in 2004. She has survived a painful divorce, the acrimonious exits of several band members (including Farro, who quit in 2010 but returned in 2017), and delved into deeply personal material on two solo albums released in 2020 and 2021.Likewise, Paramore’s sixth album, “This Is Why” (out Friday), bears little resemblance to the howling emo of its youth, reveling in the spiky new wave and funkier syncopations of its 2017 LP “After Laughter,” all topped by Williams’s lush, versatile voice. The group’s latest single, the hyper “C’est Comme Ça,” nods to its maturity: “I hate to admit getting better is boring/But the high cost of chaos?/Who can afford it?”“We’re much better friends to each other,” Williams said. “I remember calling my manager two Christmases ago and being like, ‘I didn’t get you a gift other than to say that we finally figured out how to talk through our problems.’”As she prepared for “This Is Why,” Paramore’s first album in six years, Williams credited her first solo album, “Petals for Armor,” with building confidence in her own musical prowess. It also empowered her to look outward as she grappled with the trauma of the pandemic and processed racial injustice near her Nashville home during lockdown. “Mostly, the lyrics are a disdain for resistance to progress,” she said. “We went through all this, and people are still absolute [expletive] to each other.”From Farro’s rental studio in Nashville, where Williams’s goldendoodle, Alf, hunted for crumbs, the singer and songwriter shared what has inspired and comforted her as her band revved up once again. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. Mushrooms I feel like something happened when [the film] “Fantastic Fungi” came out. It opened up a lot of people’s minds to all the ways mushrooms can be used. [The chef and writer] Sophia Roe has this amazing Instagram account and a new show called “Counter Space,” and she uses mushrooms a lot for plant-based cooking. Mentally, too, the effects that they can have on someone — I’m not speaking from experience here, but I’m very excited to do a guided session and see how it affects my journey with depression and PTSD. And “The Last of Us” is blowing my mind; I love that mushrooms have become such a thing that now the zombies on a TV show have mushroom faces. Taylor and I were watching it the other night, and I was like, I’m the first person to turn. I take this coffee alternative called Everyday Dose, and it has all these cordyceps. I’m definitely a goner.2. Starface Zit Stickers When I would break out in my early 20s, I was petrified for any show or photo shoot. We opened up for No Doubt, and I remember trying to ask Gwen Stefani, like, “Did you ever have acne?” She was like, “Oh, I think I struggled when we toured in the van.” I wasn’t a big makeup-wearer so I didn’t know what to do. I love that there’s this new generation of skin care that’s like: Celebrate it. Decorate your face. Connect the dots.3. Jonah Hill’s “Stutz” We watched this documentary in the front lounge of our bus on this last run, which was our first tour in a very long time. I was having anxiety around not being home. It was so meaningful. I love that Jonah Hill is a very well-respected actor, a great filmmaker and he’s like: I’m going to take care of myself before I worry about being a product. That’s why we took four years off. We’ve never gotten to experience the world through any other filter than Paramore, and that’s privilege. People might say, “Yeah, well, you already had success.” But it’s very hard to walk away from opportunities. I’ve done some pretty intense therapy.4. A24 Horror Films I grew up with my grandfather taking me to Blockbuster. We would rent “Pet Sematary” or whatever, and we would run around the woods behind his apartment and search for ghosts. What I love most is when the genre takes on social issues, like “The Babadook” or Jordan Peele movies. And Ari Aster’s films for A24 are some of my favorites: “Hereditary,” obviously, and “Midsommar.” A24 feels so artistic. I was even into “Lamb.”5. Rozi Plain’s “Prize” Basically, this is the first record that I’ve had on repeat since SZA’s album came out last year. Taylor introduced me to her music. It’s got such warmth to it. I listened to all of Jessica Pratt’s records throughout the pandemic, which was so comforting, and Rozi Plain feels like that.6. Pique Tea I love herbal tea. My favorite is rooibos. I attended a Moroccan tea ceremony right before the pandemic hit, and I wanted to learn more about what tea means in different cultures. So I ordered a few things from Tea Huntress here in Nashville. But Pique Tea is great. There’s all this science and ritualization that goes into it that I found really helpful.7. DYEposit I’m a little horrified because it’s a product that my hair dye company, Good Dye Young, released last year, but I genuinely use this once a week. [The actress] Jane Asher was the poster on the walls of my mind as we were planning looks for this tour — a little bit strawberry blonde. I use copper DYEposit, and it keeps me from having to re-dye my hair all the time.8. Alexis Smart Flower Remedies It’s kind of like Bach Rescue Remedy. You can go on her website and pick these tinctures based on where you’re at, not where you want to be. I purchased a few for social anxiety, as we’re getting ready to be around people again, and for any time I feel impostor syndrome. I wish I’d known about this for “Petals for Armor” because I would have been like, “Yo, can we make a blend?”9. Pre-Owned Clothes Growing up, the guys and I shopped at thrift stores almost exclusively. In high school, everyone wanted to look like, I don’t know, Phantom Planet. I didn’t have money, and it was cool. Now it’s for the planet. I hate buying something without any thought and then getting rid of it two months later. I collect vintage T-shirts. I made a decision that when I buy for my personal closet, I will go to Depop or B.Real. It’s a way into sustainability for people that really love fashion.10. “Play Time” Solange just composed this beautiful music for a ballet called “Play Time” that was choreographed by Gianna Reisen. I’m going to take my mom to New York in May before we get busy on the U.S. tour. My mom was a ballerina and was injured early on. Later, she worked for the National Dance Institute under Jacques d’Amboise. My 10,000 hours has obviously gone in a different direction, but ballet resonates so much with me. More

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      Beyoncé Has The Most Grammys Ever After Winning 32nd Award

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      Move over, Sir Georg Solti — Beyoncé reigns at the Grammy Awards.After 88 career nominations, the R&B singer and pop superstar won her 32nd Grammy on Sunday, for best dance/electronic music album, giving her the record for most Grammy victories. Solti, a Hungarian-born conductor who was the previous leader, won his last award in 1998, the year after his death.Beyoncé’s fourth win of the night — after taking home best R&B song for “Cuff It” and two awards at the preshow ceremony — came in a category that showed the breadth of her two-decade career: “Renaissance,” her tribute to Black and queer dance music, beat work by Bonobo, Diplo, Odesza and Rüfüs du Sol. Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win in the dance album category, which has been awarded since 2005.Earlier, her No. 1 single “Break My Soul” had won in best dance/electronic recording, while “Plastic Off the Sofa,” from the same genre-spanning album, won best traditional R&B performance.After the winner for dance/electronic album was announced by James Corden — “This is an honor, because we are witnessing history tonight!” — Beyoncé, who had not yet arrived at the ceremony when she won her first televised award of the night, took the stage to a standing ovation.“I’m trying not to be too emotional,” she said, “and I’m trying to just receive this night.” (Already, a post had been uploaded to Beyoncé’s official Instagram celebrating her wins so far: “We won 3 y’all,” the caption read, alongside a photo of the singer with a trio of trophies. “‘Plastic Off the Sofa’ is my favorite song on ‘Renaissance’ most days. It’s hard to pick though. Haaa.”)Beyoncé went on to thank her “Uncle Jonny,” whose battle with H.I.V. she has cited as an influence on her turn to dance music, with its historical ties to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.“I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre,” the singer said.Nominated nine times overall on Sunday, mostly for “Renaissance” and its songs, Beyoncé will have a chance to add to her total with the top categories still to come: song, record and album of the year, a prize she has never won despite three previous chances. Of the singer’s 32 trophies, just her song of the year victory in 2010, for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” came in one of the Grammys’ major, all-genre fields.Beyoncé’s status as both a perennial, now-unmatched Grammy favorite and also a high-profile loser under the ceremony’s brightest lights — including album losses to both Adele and Taylor Swift, each of whom has won the category multiple times — has underlined the show’s complex relationship with contemporary Black music.While the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys, has in recent years emphasized its commitment to showcasing hip-hop and R&B on the telecast, and to broadening its voter base, critics have contended that Black music has too often been overlooked in the top categories.Beyoncé had entered the night already the most awarded woman in Grammy history, and tied with the producer Quincy Jones, who has 28 wins, for second most overall trophies. Alison Krauss, the bluegrass singer and violinist who was nominated twice on Sunday but lost both awards, has 27, as does Chick Corea.Here’s Beyoncé’s entire speech:“I’m trying not to be too emotional, and I’m trying to just receive this night. I want to thank God for protecting me. Thank you, God. I’d like to thank my Uncle Jonny, who’s not here, but he’s here in spirit. I’d like to thank my parents — my father, my mother — for loving me and pushing me. I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children, who are at home watching. I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre. God bless you. Thank you so much to the Grammys. Thank you.” More

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      Kim Petras, A Transgender Woman, Wins Grammy for Best Pop Duo Performance

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      Accepting an award with Sam Smith for “Unholy,” the German pop singer Kim Petras announced that she was the first transgender woman to win a Grammy in the best pop duo and group performance category.“Unholy,” featured on Smith’s album “Gloria,” became the British musician’s first No. 1 hit in the United States and captured listeners with “a campy, devilish romp,” as the New York Times critic Lindsay Zoladz put it. Smith stood back and let Petras do the talking, as she thanked Madonna for her fight for L.G.B.T.Q. rights, “the incredible transgender legends before me” and her mother.“My mother — I grew up next to a highway in nowhere, Germany, and my mother believed me that I was a girl, and I wouldn’t be here without her and her support,” Petras said.Petras also thanked Sophie, a transgender Scottish producer who died in 2021 at age 34. Sophie received a Grammy nomination in 2018 for “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides” in the best dance electronic/album category.“Sophie, especially, my friend who passed away two years ago, who told me this would happen and always believed in me,” Petras said. “Thank you so much for your inspiration, Sophie. I adore you and your inspiration will forever be in my music.”Other nominees included “Don’t Shut Me Down,” by Abba; “Bam Bam,” by Camila Cabello featuring Ed Sheeran; “My Universe,” by Coldplay and BTS; and “I Like You (A Happier Song)” by Post Malone and Doja Cat. More

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      ‘Baraye,’ the Anthem of Iran’s Protest Movement, Is Honored With a Grammy

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      He was a relatively unknown young pop singer who had been eliminated in the final round of Iran’s version of “American Idol.” Then he wrote a protest song. On Sunday, he won a Grammy Award.Shervin Hajipour, 25, won in a new special merit category recognizing a song for social change for his hit “Baraye.” The song has become the anthem of protests that have swept through Iran in recent months, evoking grief, anger, hope and a yearning for change.The first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, introduced the award. “A song can unite, inspire and ultimately change the world,” she said. “Baraye,” she added, was “a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights” that continues to resonate across the world.And as Hajipour’s image and song played on two screens, she reiterated the bedrock slogan of Iran’s uprising: “For Women, Life, Freedom.”“Congratulations Shervin, and thank you for your song,” she said. Hajipour lives in Iran and did not respond to a request for comment. “We won,” he posted on Instagram after the award was given. A video circulated on social media that seemed to capture the moment when Mr. Hajipour, surrounded by friends and watching the ceremony on television, heard his name announced as the winner. He appeared stunned as friends screamed, cheered and hugged him. “My God, my God, I can’t believe it,” said one of his friends, according to the video.He was arrested by the intelligence ministry shortly after his song went viral in September, generating some 40 million views — close to 87 million people live in Iran — in 48 hours. He is currently out on bail and awaiting trial, and has made only one short video message since his release.“I wrote this song in solidarity with the people who are critical of the situation like many of our artists who reacted,” said Hajipour in the video message, from early October.In late September, protests erupted across Iran as tens of thousands of people, led by women and girls, demanded liberation from the Islamic Republic’s theocracy. The protests were set off by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who had been in the custody of the morality police on the allegation of violating hijab rules.Iranians tweeted their reasons for protesting using the hashtag #baraye (or “#for”). Hajipour wove those tweets into lyrics, naming his song after the hashtag. He composed and recorded the song from his bedroom in his parents’ house in the coastal city of Babolsar.As Iranians shared the reasons they were protesting via tweets, Hajipour wove some of them into his verses:“For embarrassment due to being penniless; For yearning for an ordinary life; For the child laborer and his dreams; For this dictatorial economy; For this polluted air; For this forced paradise; For jailed intellectuals; For all the empty slogans”For the past five months, everywhere Iranians congregated inside and outside the country, be it protests, funerals, celebrations, hikes, concerts, malls, cafes, university campuses, high schools or traffic jams, they blasted the song and sang the lyrics in unison:“For the feeling of peace; For the sunrise after long dark nights; For the stress and insomnia pills; For man, motherland, prosperity; For the girl who wished she was born a boy; For woman, life, freedom…For Freedom.”The Grammy will raise the song’s profile even more.“‘Baraye’ winning a Grammy sends the message to Iranians that the world has heard them and is acknowledging their freedom struggle,” said Nahid Siamdoust, the author of “Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran.” “It is awarding their protest anthem with the highest musical honor.”Siamdoust, who is also an assistant professor of media and Middle East studies at the University of Texas at Austin, said that while music has played an important political role in Iran since the constitutional revolution a century ago, no song compared to “Baraye” in terms of reach and impact. “Music can travel and traverse homes and communities and spread sentiment in a way that few other means can achieve,” she said.In a 2019 documentary short about his musical journey that recently aired on BBC Persian, Mr. Hajipour said that he began training as a classical violinist at the age of 8, started composing music at 12. He also said he has a college degree in economics but works as a professional musician, composing music for clients and recording his own songs.He said that his passion was creating music that broke form and that he drew inspiration from the pain and suffering he experienced and witnessed.“My biggest pain and my biggest problems have turned into my best work. And they will do so in the future as well,” he said in the documentary in what turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.While Hajipour was in detention, “Baraye” disappeared from his Instagram page. Iranians mobilized, posting and reposting the song. “For Shervin” trended on Twitter with demands of his release.“Shervin is an extremely talented, innocent and shy young man,” said a prominent Iranian singer, Mohammad Esfahani, who had met him when he was a contestant on the television show.The Recording Academy said it was “deeply moved” by the overwhelming number of submissions for “Baraye,” which received over 95,000 of the 115,000 submissions for the new category. The award was proposed by academy members and determined by the Grammys’ blue ribbon committee, a panel of music experts, and ratified by the Recording Academy’s board of trustees.“Baraye” became the vehicle through which people around the world displayed their solidarity to Iranians. Scores of musicians have covered the song, including Coldplay and Jon Batiste. The German electronic artist Jan Blomqvist remixed it as a dance tune. The designer Jean Paul Gaultier used it as a soundtrack as models walked the runway last month at his show during Paris fashion week, and Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, played it in the background in a message to the girls and women of Iran.The lyrics have been translated and performed in various genres: jazz and opera in English, metal in Germany, choir by French school children and pop in Swedish among others. It has also inspired a number of dance performances, including in Israel. Some artists around the world have covered it verbatim in Persian, including one in Ukraine who said she sang it to highlight the plight of the Iranian people.Hajipour’s Grammy win stirred pride among many Iranians online after the award was announced.“God, I am crying from joy,” a Twitter user named Melody posted about Hajipour’s victory.“A song about the most basic rights of a human, the most simple wishes of an Iranian,” an Iranian journalist, Farzad Nikghadam, tweeted. “A nation crying for gender equality and freedom.”In the documentary, Hajipour spoke about the importance of music. “The biggest miracle in my life has been music,” he said. “I would like to be successful and to be able to make a living with music that comes from my heart.” More

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      Beyoncé Makes History at a Star-Powered Grammy Ceremony

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      LOS ANGELES — Beyoncé made Grammy history on Sunday night, setting a record at the awards’ 65th annual ceremony for the most career wins by any artist, after picking up a string of trophies for “Renaissance,” her hit album that mined decades of dance music.But she was once again shut out of the major categories, winning all four of her prizes for the night in down-ballot genre categories. Harry Styles took album of the year for “Harry’s House,” Lizzo won record of the year for her retro dance anthem “About Damn Time,” and song of the year went to Bonnie Raitt for “Just Like That.” It was Beyoncé’s fourth career loss for album of the year.Styles seemed at a loss for words as he accepted his Grammy, opening his remarks with a stunned profanity.Still, Beyoncé’s accomplishment resonated throughout the evening. Accepting her 32nd career award, Beyoncé thanked God and her family, and honored her “Uncle Jonny,” a gay relative whom she has described in the past as her “godmother” and as the person who exposed her to L.G.B.T.Q. culture.“I’d like thank the queer community for your love, and for inventing the genre,” she said to roars of applause from the crowd at the Crypto.com Arena as she won best dance/electronic music album for “Renaissance,” which was widely seen as a love letter to gay culture. (Even so, Beyoncé faced a backlash recently when she performed a private concert in Dubai, in United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is illegal.)With her latest wins, Beyoncé surpassed Georg Solti, the Hungarian-born classical conductor who died in 1997 and had long held the title of the most career wins by any artist.Even Beyoncé’s competitors cheered her on. Accepting record of the year, Lizzo told a story of being inspired by seeing Beyoncé in concert (while skipping school).“You clearly are the artist of our lives!” she shouted. (In 2017, when Adele beat Beyoncé for album of the year, she said almost the same thing.)Beyoncé also won best dance/electronic recording (“Break My Soul”), traditional R&B performance (“Plastic Off the Sofa”) and best R&B song (“Cuff It”). She had been the most nominated artist of the evening, with nine nods.Gender freedom was a theme running through the night. Not long before Beyoncé’s win, Sam Smith, a nonbinary singer, and Kim Petras, a trans woman, won the award for pop/duo group performance for “Unholy,” and Petras drew cheers when she said she was “the first transgender woman to win this award.”“I hope that there’s a future where gender and identity and all these labels don’t matter that much,” Petras told reporters backstage. “Where people can just be themselves, and not get judged so hard and not be labeled so hard.”Gender freedom was a theme running through this year’s Grammys, as Kim Petras, a trans woman, and Sam Smith, a nonbinary singer, were among the night’s winners. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyAfter two years of shows that were disrupted and delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual Grammy ceremony returned in full swing to its home court in Los Angeles (Crypto.com is the renamed Staples Center), bringing the music world together for glitz, competition and, behind the scenes, plenty of business schmoozing.“We made it!” exclaimed its host, Trevor Noah. “We’re back!”The power of stardom was another of the night’s major underlying themes. The show opened with a blast of brass and the hip-swaying rhythms of Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar who represents the music industry’s hopes — he is a young celebrity with global appeal and massive numbers, both on streaming services and on the road.Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar who opened the show on Sunday night, represents the music industry’s hopes: a young celebrity with global appeal and the numbers to match.Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated PressWalking through the aisles of the arena flanked by dancers in festive dress, he played two songs from his blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” bringing both social commentary and party vibes, and getting stars like Taylor Swift dancing amid the bistro-style seating in front of the stage.Accepting the award for best música urbana album for “Un Verano,” Bad Bunny gave his speech in Spanish and English.“I just made this album with love and passion,” he said. “When you do things with love and passion, everything is easier.”Old-fashioned song craft remains a key touchstone for Grammy voters. Raitt, 73, was the surprise winner of song of the year — beating Adele, Beyoncé, Swift, Lizzo and Styles, whose songs were huge hits — for “Just Like That,” a tender meditation about an organ donation that had only modest commercial success. She accepted it as a recognition of the job of songwriting itself, and thanked other writers for providing her with material throughout her career.“I would not be up here tonight,” Raitt said, “if it wasn’t for the great soul-digging, hard-working people that put these songs and ideas to music.”Samara Joy, a singer who brought fresh interpretations to jazz classics, and began her career posting them online, won best new artist.In classic Grammy fashion, the ceremony also included some loving nods to the past.Stevie Wonder led a Motown revue that included Smokey Robinson and the country songwriter Chris Stapleton. One of the highlights of the night was a 12-minute celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — the genre’s origin is tied to a birthday party in the Bronx in 1973 — that featured LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Salt-N-Pepa, Method Man, Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy, Missy Elliott, Future, Grandmaster Flash and many others.A somber, multipart “In Memoriam” segment included the country singer Kacey Musgraves singing Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” barefoot in a blood-red dress; a tribute to Takeoff of the Atlanta rap trio Migos led by his bandmate Quavo; and Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Mick Fleetwood singing “Songbird,” one of the signature compositions by Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, with Fleetwood tapping a drum like it was a gently beating heart.Kacey Musgraves singing Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” as part of a somber “In Memoriam” segment.Mario Anzuoni/ReutersStyles performed his bubbly, pensive hit “As It Was” in a silvery sequined suit with tassels that shook as he danced. “Harry’s House” also won Styles the award for pop vocal album.Kendrick Lamar won three rap prizes: best performance and best song, for “The Heart Part 5,” and best album, for “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.” Accepting the album award, he thanked his family “for giving me the courage and giving me the vulnerability to share my truth and share these stories.”Brandi Carlile, a Grammy darling in recent years, won best rock performance and best rock song for “Broken Horses,” as well as best Americana album for “In These Silent Days.”The 89-year-old Willie Nelson, who was not present, won for best country album for “A Beautiful Time,” and best country solo performance for the song “Live Forever.”Swift ended the night with one victory, best music video for “All Too Well: The Short Film,” but lost her three other nods — including her sixth career loss in song of the year for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” an extended remake of a song she first released in 2012.The first lady, Jill Biden, announced the winner of a new award, best song for social change, which went to the 25-year-old Iranian songwriter Shervin Hajipour, whose song “Baraye” became an anthem for the women’s rights protests there last year. The prize was chosen by what the academy described as a “blue-ribbon committee.”For an industry that has lately gotten worried about the difficulty minting stars amid the fire hose of content in the age of streaming and social media, this year’s list of nominations was about as good as it gets. It guaranteed plenty of star power and some drama over winners and losers. On Grammy night, drama is a good thing.As much as the Recording Academy, the nonprofit institution behind the Grammys, promotes its mission of celebrating artistic excellence and being a supportive home for creators year-round, the Grammys is also a television show that needs to attract a large audience.As they have for all major awards shows, ratings for the Grammys have been slipping for years. But the past two years have been brutal. In 2021, when the Grammys put on an outdoor show with no audience, its viewership fell to 8.8 million, the lowest ever; last year, when the show was delayed by the spread of the Omicron variant and held for the first time in Las Vegas, the number was only marginally better, at 8.9 million.This year’s awards recognized music released between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022, and were selected by the 11,000-member voting body of the Recording Academy, which includes artists, songwriters, producers and other music professionals.Of the 91 awards this year, all but a dozen were given out in a nontelevised ceremony on Sunday afternoon.Viola Davis’s Grammy win makes her the newest EGOT — the coveted acronym for the winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyThe actress Viola Davis won best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording for her memoir “Finding Me,” making her the newest EGOT — the coveted acronym for the winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.Among the new categories this year was songwriter of the year (non-classical), intended to recognize the writers who work behind the scenes. It was won by Tobias Jesso Jr., who has written songs for Adele, Styles and others. Stephanie Economou was the first winner for best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media for her work on the game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok.Below the superstar level, the Grammys have the power to transform artists’ careers. The Tennessee State University Marching Band was the first college marching band ever nominated for best roots gospel album, and it won with “The Urban Hymnal.”Accepting that award, Sir the Baptist, one of the album’s producers, addressed the straitened finances of historically Black colleges and universities. “HBCUs are so grossly underfunded to where I had to put my last dime in order to get us across the line,” he said. “We’re here with our pockets empty but our hands aren’t.” More