We Watched The Grammy Awards So You Don’t Have To
A by-the-minute recount of last night’s broadcast ICYMI
The 2024 Grammys were awash in tabloid fodder.
Killer Mike gets arrested after sweeping the Rap category. Taylor Swift seemingly snubs Celine Dion upon accepting her fourth Album of the Year trophy for Midnights, a new Grammy record. A backstage embrace tells a different story. Joni made everyone cry! Billy Joel got to play two songs!
But in between all the Monday Morning quarterbacking going on across the Internet following the CBS broadcast last night, it’s easy to forget the moments in between the sensationalism that transpired on this evening.
Here’s our by-the-minute recount of the broadcast, as we saw it in real time.
8:00 – Dua Lipa kicks off the Grammy broadcast with new single “Training Season,” featuring jungle gym / scaffolding and dancers who will not be able to get a post-show bite due to most restaurants’ “No shirt, No shoes, No service” policy.
8:04 – She’s switched to “Houdini,” continuing the disco pop she does quite well. There are more shirts and shoes.
VIDEO: Trevor Noah opens the 66th annual Grammy Awards
8:06 – Host Trevor Noah called Ed Sheeran “one of the greatest live performers of all time.” He will later be praising mayonnaise as “the greatest spicy condiment ever.”
8:09– Noah gushing about musicians as “the best ever,” making Jimmy Fallon seem hard-hitting by comparison.
8:10 – “Jack Antonoff, everybody.” Antonoff, I believe, is legally required to produce everyone in that building at some point.
8:16 — The Grammy for Best Pop Solo performance goes to Miley Cyrus, who apparently just spent several minutes in a wind tunnel, for “Flowers,” a predictable choice, but not the best one.
8:20 — Tracy Chapman kicks off Luke Combs’ performance of his “Fast Car” cover, as well she should. She still sounds good. I really hope the success of his version’s led to folks unfamiliar with her work discovering how good she is. She owned the stage.
8:24 – Audience shots of Brandi Carlile and her wife crying, Jelly Roll enthusiastically singing along. Chapman hasn’t toured for almost 15 years, so her appearance is welcome on multiple levels.
8:31 — Karol G wins for Best Musica Urbana album. Cue a good chunk of my Facebook feed saying, “Who?” Someone who plays stadiums here, boys.
8:35 — SZA, whose SOS is one of the best albums of the last few years, does a bit of “Snooze” leading into the dark, infectious “Kill Bill.”
8:36 — Disclaimer: No probably about it, killing your ex is a bad idea.
8:47 — Billie Eilish, with Finneas, doing the moving ballad “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie soundtrack. Yes, there was a beating heart inside that movie.
8:57 — Miley Cyrus seems more impressed with “Flowers” than anybody in the audience could be. Give me Kylie singing “Padam Padam” over this.
9:03 — Lainey Wilson wins for Best Country Album. They had a 60-percent chance of getting it right and they did. I like the cut of her jib quite a bit.
9:08 — Getting word that Drake is whining about losing out on a Grammy tonight. At least, we think that’s what it is. It’s difficult to make out what he’s mumbling.
9:12 — Best R&B song goes to SZA for “Snooze.” She adorably had to sprint to accept the award. That is not easy in heels.
9:18– There’s a reason Rock and Roll Globe had Olivia Rodrigo’s album atop our 2023 list (and I had it high on my personal one). “Vampire” is pretty damn undeniable, even with the annoying network-required change of “fame fucker” to “dream crusher.”
9:26 — A lot of quick cuts for this clip of U2 doing “Atomic City” at The Sphere in Vegas. So many quick cuts. How did they not warn photosensitive viewers before this?
9:27 – Reminder that U2’s last Grammy was, contrary to public belief, not for Best Malware for Songs of Innocence.
9:30 — Best Pop Vocal Album goes to Taylor Swift, who uncorks a phony “surprised” face. For the love of God, stop with that face. Rodrigo, who made a better album, applauds politely.
9:30 — Swift treats it as promo, announcing a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, coming out in April. So shy and afraid of promotion, our dear Taylor.
9:39 — The In Memoriam segment, Stevie Wonder “duets” with Tony Bennett footage on a Vegas lounge version of “For Once In My Life.” Someone started the montage early, because Jimmy Buffett’s face was onscreen early, then no one else.
9:41– “The Best is Yet to Come.” Not the best choice for a memorial montage. Rather odd, in fact.
9:43 — Annie Lennox doing an emotional version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” with Wendy & Lisa. If people weren’t crying over Tracy Chapman earlier, they’re crying now. I know I am.
9:49 — Jon Batiste’s segment on In Memoriam, but he’s performing it like he thinks he’s appearing at a Super Bowl Halftime show.
9:51 — Seeing Gordon Lightfoot in the montage and wishing we’d have had someone singing “If You Could Read My Mind,” still one of the most heartrending breakup songs ever.
9:55– Fantasia Barrino doing the Tina Turner tribute as if she were doing a tribute to the Broadway musical Tina, rather than the actual Tina. Sweat and grit not included.
10:10- Jay-Z’s speech was strong, although considering the cultural cache and success Beyoncé has achieved in her career, she doesn’t actually need a Best Album Grammy. Not that she didn’t deserve one for Lemonade. She totally did.
VIDEO: Jay-Z accepts Dr. Dre Global Impact Award
10:14 — Trevor Noah does a promo bit with Ziggy Marley for the upcoming Bob Marley biopic. Noah is where laughs go to die tonight.
10:15 — Lionel Richie, announcing Song of the Year. I will remind you that the Commodores belonged in the Rock Hall before Lionel solo.
10:16 – Billie Eilish and Finneas are the Song of the Year winners for “What Was I Made For?” Her surprise is not faked.
10:18 — “I’m shocked out of my balls.”
10:22– All those years and cigarettes in Joni Mitchell’s voice, but she still has the phrasing and still commands attention. There’s a vulnerability in an 80-year-old Mitchell singing “Both Sides Now” that wasn’t there when she first performed it at 22. Absolutely moving.
10:37 — Travis Scott and the robot voice. Someone needs to overuse vocoders on a show like this since Kanye deservedly became persona non grata with his Nazi fixation.
10:39 — Please. For the love of God, let the vocoder break so that Travis Scott has to sing with his actual voice.
10:59 — If you stick your head out the window, you can hear a rockist cry “Who’s this?” over Burna Boy’s appearance. Again, he books arenas.
11:04 — The Grammy winner for Best New Artist is Victoria Monét, who actually counts as new, since her first album came out in 2023.
11:14 — Meryl Streep and Mark Ronson, apparently having won earlier for painfully unfunny banter.
11:15 — The winner for Record of the Year is predictable. So predictable. So, so predictable. So, so, so predictable. Miley Cyrus for “Flowers.” I don’t hate the song. There’s nothing wrong with it, but give me “Not Strong Enough” any day, please.
VIDEO: Miley Cyrus wins Record of the Year
11:20– Billy Joel appears to do his comeback/one-off single “Turn the Lights Back On.” Is it classic Joel? Maybe not. But he’s not embarrassing himself. It does nothing to tarnish the legacy. And I’ll say it, if it lights a fire under him to do one more album, it served a greater purpose.
11:25 — Speaking of another album? Stevie Wonder, please. We beg of you.
11:26– More tears, not for music, but for Celine Dion, who’s battling health problems, making an appearance to present Album of the Year.
11:29 – I’m waiting for a Moonlight/La La Land moment and to find out that boygenius wins for best album instead of Taylor Swift.
11:31 — No such luck. It’s Midnights, a perfectly fine album. Swift somehow restrained herself from once again plugging her upcoming album — Another Damn Taylor Swift Album, er, The Tortured Poets Department.
11:32– Billy Joel ends the evening with an oldie not the one I would have expected –“You May Be Right.”
11:32 — The line “I even walked through Bedford-Stuy alone” lands differently, given the gentrification. He could be walking alone to a luxe condo there now.
11:37 – Local news on now. The older legacy artists were the strength of the show – particularly Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell. SZA was great. A real shame they couldn’t fit a boygenius performance in there, but a good reason to watch the pre-broadcast afternoon award ceremony on YouTube.
VIDEO: 66th Annual Grammy Awards highlights
- Here Today: The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ at 60 - May 16, 2026
- Manifest Density: Local H’s ‘As Good As Dead’ Turns 30 - April 30, 2026
- Nowhere Men: The Beatles’ Rubber Soul at 60 - December 6, 2025
You May Also Like
-
February 2, 2024 -
April 6, 2021 -
February 13, 2020
