Grammys 2019: nominees, winners, news, and biggest moments

When Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman showed up to last summer’s ESPY Awards, he wore a harness. When male ingenue Timothée Chalamet arrived at the Golden Globes, he did the same. So did singer Kris Wu at Paris Fashion Week, as well as Boseman’s Black Panther co-star Michael B. Jordan at the SAG Awards.

It isn’t really all that surprising. Harnesses worn by men, while a longtime staple of the gay leather scene, have popped up not infrequently on red carpets within the past year, beginning around the time Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon wore a Moschino version to last year’s Oscars.

Sunday night during the Grammys, awards were handed out. But during the commercial breaks, Wiz Khalifa ate Oreos with his son, Serena Williams drove a fancy car, and Ariana Grande’s disembodied head sang “7 rings,” the song that Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich supposedly barred her from performing onstage, in a new commercial for Apple’s Memoji feature.

“Look at my neck!” the cartoon Ariana Grande ordered, despite not having a neck. Similar commercials were made featuring the Grammy-nominated country duo Florida Georgia Line and 2018 Best New Artist nominee Khalid. The real Ariana Grande won best pop vocal album for Sweetener, and wore a Cinderella ball gown to sit on the floor of her own house.

Ariana Grande, arguably the world’s biggest pop star right now, wasn’t at the event that refers to itself as “music’s biggest night.” It wasn’t because she got snubbed — Sweetener actually picked up an award for Best Pop Vocal Album, netting her first ever Grammy, and “thank u, next” wasn’t eligible this year — it was because she’d sparred with the event’s producers on her performance.

But it didn’t matter, because Grande stole the night anyway.

Cardi B briefly struggled to walk when she appeared on the 2019 Grammys red carpet. But it was okay, because the outfit was worth it — a vintage couture dress recalling Botticelli’s Birth of Venus that made Cardi appear to be a gorgeous, glam human oyster.

For the Grammys, though, an exciting red carpet is nothing new. In contrast, it’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone showing up to, say, the Oscars in a full-on “Make America Great Again” gown, or alternatively, a jacket with the word “Impeach” on the back. Who would dare show up to the Academy Awards wearing a tropical print dress with a neckline that dropped below the bellybutton, or full-on papal cosplay?

“Shallow,” the Grammy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated song from A Star Is Born, has reinvented the endlessly amorphous career of Lady Gaga yet again.

The uber-earnest, swooning ballad has capped off her reign as a chanteuse of traditional pop, a reign designed to make those who might have written her off as a weirdo pop star — one who blended wild gyrations with the aesthetic of a performing arts high school student given an unlimited budget — realize just how much talent she possessed. It even helped her get nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. (Yeah, she’s great throughout A Star Is Born, but the moment when she first sings “Shallow” cements her performance as one to watch.)

The 2019 Grammys hosted some of the biggest names in music, but the biggest celebrity guest of the night wasn’t a musician — it was Michelle Obama.

Obama appeared during host Alicia Keys’s opening monologue, along with Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Jada Pinkett Smith to extol the power of music. The women took a moment to talk about the ways that music has helped them become their truest selves, including Obama.

Although he wasn’t actually in the house at the 2019 Grammys, Donald Glover brought the house down when his alter ego Childish Gambino won Song of the Year for “This Is America” during Sunday’s ceremony — becoming the first rap song in Grammys history to win the award.

Later in the evening, he also picked up the Grammy for Record of the Year, which honors the production of a single song, as well as the Grammy for Best Music Video.

The Grammy Awards are the biggest night in music and arguably the flashiest of all awards shows. The 61st annual ceremony was held February 10, 2019, and featured a feast of strong performances, which included tributes to Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, and the music of Motown.

Country artist Kacey Musgraves took home four Grammys, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album for Golden Hour. Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” took home three Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year — making it the first hip-hop song to ever win those awards. Dua Lipa won two Grammys, including Best New Artist. And Lady Gaga won three Grammys, including two for the song “Shallow,” the lead single from the soundtrack for A Star Is Born that is also nominated for “Best Original Song” at the 2019 Oscars.

Like all award shows, the Grammys are needlessly long, bloated, and self-congratulatory. But they have one thing going for them that gives them a leg up on their peers in Oscar and Emmy land: a solid half of the show is made up of live music performances. And every year, there are a few performances at the Grammys that are worth sticking around all night for.

That’s why we rounded up the best performances of the night, so you can happily live your life without seeing any award show banter whatsoever and feel confident that you didn’t miss anything.

The Grammys have a history of inciting controversy, but on Sunday night it wasn’t an award winner or a snub that earned the Recording Academy some heat, but rather the choice to have Jennifer Lopez perform a tribute to Motown with Smokey Robinson and Ne-Yo.

Lopez performed a medley of Motown hits like “Dancing in the Street” and “Please Mr. Postman,” complete with energetic choreography and beautiful, beautiful costumes.

The Grammys are the most unpredictable of the major awards shows. Depending on the year, they might be a raucous, fun party or a horrible snooze — or they might land anywhere in between those two poles.

After the 2018 Grammys were among the worst ceremonies in recent memory, it was tempting to expect this year’s awards would be, at best, only a slight improvement. Instead, they were sprightly and fun, zipping along from big moment to big moment.

Drake tossed some subtle shade at the Recording Academy during the 2019 Grammys, while accepting his trophy for Best Rap Song for “God’s Plan.”

The award, which went to Drake and his fellow songwriters for the hit single from Drake’s 2018 album Scorpion, doesn’t typically make for one of the evening’s major moments. But Drake took the opportunity to pay respect to his fellow nominees and remind everyone that there’s more to success than winning a Grammy.

It’s time for the 2019 Grammy Awards, the biggest night in music and arguably the flashiest of all awards shows. The 61st annual ceremony will be held on February 10 at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific, airing live on CBS.

This year, 15-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys takes over the hosting reins from James Corden, who helmed the show in the previous two years. And it’s going to be a long night, bursting with performances from a glittering array of musicians, including Janelle Monáe, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, H.E.R., Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Dan + Shay, Post Malone, Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson, Dua Lipa, St. Vincent, Chloe x Halle, Travis Scott, and more.

The 2019 Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 10, with the Recording Academy giving out trophies in more than 80 categories. Most of these categories are divided by genre (rock, country, rap, etc.), but four of them — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist — are open to music from every genre.

The nominees were announced on December 7. Kendrick Lamar leads the pack, with a total of eight nominations, including Album of the Year for the Black Panther soundtrack.