By: Hillary Simmons
Truck Editor

It is that time of year again: awards show season. On  March 14, 2021, the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards aired on CBS & Paramount+ at 8 p.m.. This year’sGrammys were, as many events over the past year, nontraditional due to the pandemic. In addition to being postponed by almost two months, production was “millions and millions of dollars” extra this year, Recording Academy interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told Variety Magazine. It wound up being a mostly virtual affair, featuring a number of pre-recorded segments.

Despite restrictions, the Grammys were still filled with performances from the year’s top artists, including (but not limited to) Harry Styles, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and new duo Silk Sonic. The Grammys was the debut for Silk Sonic, R&B/Soul duo featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, performing their new single Leave the Door Open. Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B also came together for their first televised performance of WAP, the notorious single that took Tik Tok by storm last August.

Women made history on Saturday, winning all four major awards of the night. Taylor Swift won Album of the Year with Folklore and Billie Eilish took Record of the Year. Megan Thee Stallion became the first female artist to win Best Rap Song for the remix of Savage (Remix), featuring Beyonce. Beyonce herself also made Grammy history, receiving the most nominations this year, amassing nine nominations and taking home four. Beyonce now has 79 Grammy nominations and 28 Grammys, the most of any female artist.

 Senior Jimmia Robinson is a big Megan fan who particularly liked this year’s Grammy lineup.

“One of my favorite Tik Tok trends was definitely the Savage dance. It just goes to show how powerful Tik Tok can be, it basically helped propel Megan to her fame,” Robinson said. 

Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla was also among a handful of artists to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award on the Grammys Saturday. The Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to “performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording,” according to Grammy.com. 

Both the performances and the winners reflected the events of this year, featuring artists who made political statements with their work. H.E.R.’s I Can’t Breathe won Song of the Year and is a true embodiment of summer 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests. The worldwide surge of attention on racial disparities was also represented through works like Lil Baby’s The Bigger Picture, which he performed with Black Lives Matter activists Tamika Mallory and Killer Mike. Beyonce’s 28th Grammy was presented for the single Black Parade, a celebration of Blackness released on Juneteenth 2020.

“I think it’s really cool that [Beyonce] is using her large platform and influential status to raise awareness about the issues that really matter,” Robinson said.