The 63 Annual Grammy Awards was held Sunday, March 14 and hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. Beyoncé received nine nominations, the most out of all nominees, and won four, the most won of the night. She made history by surpassing country singer Alison Krauss for most awarded-woman in Grammy history with 28 awards total.

Taylor Swift made history as well. Her album Folklore won Album the Year, making Swift the first woman to win this category three times.

Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with their collaboration “Rain on Me,” beating out BTS’ “Dynamite,” the group’s only English song. Gaga and Grande’s win irked many BTS fans who wanted the group to win.

Billie Eilish won Record of the Year with “Everything I Wanted.” However, throughout her acceptance speech, she expressed her opinion that Megan Thee Stallion should have won instead. Stallion did win three Grammys this year, including Best New Artist.

Harry Styles won his first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance for “Watermelon Sugar.” Styles performed his Grammy-winning song during the main ceremony, and Swift performed a medley of songs from her winning album. Following Doja Cat’s “Say So,” BTS performed their Grammy nominated song “Dynamite.” Preceded by Trevor Noah’s comedic warning, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B performed a censored version of their controversial song “WAP.” Despite their attempts, the performance received lots of backlash for not being family friendly. 

With the shutdown of theaters, concert venues and other related stages of the arts, the ceremony honored theaters and clubs that have impacted the music scene, such as Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which Billy Mitchell spoke from. 

Even though records were broken at this year’s Grammys, the ceremony still faced controversy. The Weeknd and other artists are calling for people to boycott the Grammys for not recognizing artists of color. Beyoncé declined to perform because of her own experiences with a lack of results. She has been nominated 79 times over the past 20 years but has only won one major award for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” 

Compared to last year’s Grammys, ratings fell 53% but had 83% more live streams than 2020. However, many still had positive reviews and enjoyed the line-up even with the controversies surrounding it.