Last night the biggest stars in the world gathered to celebrate the ‘biggest night in music’ at the 64th annual Grammy Awards. The award show, which was held in the city of Las Vegas for the first time, was hosted by the beloved comedian Trevor Noah for a second consecutive year. The night saw several people of colour winning in the biggest categories of the show, with jazzman Jon Batiste being the overall biggest winner of the night.
The Grammys, an award show which has historically faced criticism for being a platform that gives disproportionate recognition favouring white artists, particularly males, reached a major milestone last night, with four of the major award categories being won by people of colour. The musical phenom, Jon Batiste, dominated the award show and managed take home 5 awards. The 35-year-old African American musician also took home the biggest award of the night, Album of the year, for his critically acclaimed album ‘We Are’.
Bruno Mars, who is of Puerto Rican descent and Anderson Paak, who is biracial – collectively known as the 70’s inspired band Silk Sonic, also won all four of the awards they were nominated for, which included the two major categories Song of The Year and Record of The Year, for their hit-song ‘Leave the Door Open’. The Filipino American pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo also nabbed the awards for Best New artist, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance for her hit-song, ‘Drivers License’.
In addition, our very own South African DJ, Black Coffee, won his first ever Grammy award in the category Best Dance/Electronic Album for his album ‘Subconsciously’. It was truly an amazing night for people of colour in music as it represented notable progress towards fair and equal recognition from the Recording Academy – something they may not have always generously practiced.
