The Grammys are an annual tradition and with this award show comes iconic performances, controversial wins, and armies of fans chanting “Scammys!” In case you missed it, here is your all-in-one guide to the 65th Grammy Awards.

Trevor Noah came back for his 3rd year of running the show and made for a charismatic, funny host. The ceremony started out with a performance from Bad Bunny, who was nominated for many awards, with the most notable being Album of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Musica Urbana album, the final of which he won. A stand-out performance also came from Record of the Year winner Lizzo, giving an upbeat performance backed by a gospel choir of her song Special. Steve Lacy performed later in the night, singing his song Bad Habit backed by Thundercat on bass. Lacy’s album Gemini Rights snagged him his first-ever Grammy win for Best Progressive R&B Album. We had acts that ranged from Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ dramatic devil-themed set to a moving tribute performance from Kacey Musgraves, where she played the guitar of the deceased Loretta Lynn. With an all-star roster featuring Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, and even more modern stars like Lil Uzi Vert, the collaboration of artists to celebrate the 50th year of hip-hop takes the cake. The setlist ranged from songs of the 80’s pioneers to the hits that play on the radio now and all-in-all made for a great celebration of an amazing genre. 

Records seemed to be breaking left and right during Sunday’s ceremony with one of the most monumental occurring before the televised event. Viola Davis secured her EGOT status by taking home the trophy for best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording. This makes her the 3rd African American woman to ever hold this title and she acknowledged her new status in her acceptance speech. Beyonce also broke a record during the show as she currently has the most Grammys of any individual. Going into the award show she was the recipient of 38 different Grammy awards and was in second place for most awards. Her first win tied her up, but her three other wins for her album Renaissance pushed her over the top. My personal favorite thing about all of this is that Beyonce was stuck in traffic and late to the ceremony so she wasn’t even there to receive her first trophy. Nonetheless, if Beyonce wasn’t considered the queen of the music industry, she definitely is now and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the title. 

Lots of people tune into the Grammy’s not knowing or caring about most of the awards. However, three awards seem to always catch people’s attention and be a subject of debate every year. Those awards of course being the coveted Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year respectfully. Album of the year had some strong contenders with Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyonce being most people’s top pick for the winner. In the end, Harry Styles won for his album Harry House. Of course, diehard fans of other artists scream about things being rigged but everyone else seems to be okay with this pick. However, an argument has been made that Bad Bunny’s album Un Verano Sin Ti would be a more deserving winner. His album managed to stay on top of the Billboard charts for thirteen weeks straight and was the best-performing album this year. On top of that, it was entirely in Spanish and was the first of its kind to be nominated for Album of the Year. In the opinions of many, Bad Bunny should have taken home the trophy just for the sheer amount of records he broke and how hard it is to top the US charts with an album in an entirely different language. All that said, though, Harry did rule the world this year with an amazing album and incredible tour. Record of the Year goes to a specific recording of a song and recognizes producers and artists that contribute to that recording. Our winner this year was Lizzo with her track About Damn Time and I might be biased in saying this but I agree with this decision. Her vocals are out of this world in general and I thought that song was fun and full of energy. The only disputes I’ve seen over this win were fans saying that the Grammys doesn’t value rap or R&B artists since Steve Lacy and Kendrick Lamar didn’t win. I agree that the Grammys are biased towards more commercial tracks and mostly award artists to give them money. However, bringing up these issues just because your fave didn’t win devalues them. The Grammys have their own problems but I only saw people bringing up how Lacy and Lamar lost Record and (spoilers!) Song of the Year. Both of them won other awards that simply aren’t as talked about as the ones they lost. This discourse along with other complaints about awards proves that some fans don’t celebrate their favorite singer’s achievements but simply use their losses to fight with other fans. And through all of this, I haven’t seen one person talk about how Lizzo is the first black woman to win record of the year since Whitney Houston. The reactions towards Song of the Year recipient Just Like That by Bonnie Raitt, have the same energy as what I have just discussed. Everyone was mad that some random song from someone that they have never heard of won one of the biggest awards of the year. To this I say: aren’t you the same people that say the Grammys just award the most popular artists? Everyone says “Scammys” until a song with excellent songwriting and a touching message wins. I can’t say that I didn’t want other songs to win this category but I can always appreciate good songwriting being rewarded. Feel free to fight each other in the comments about who you think should’ve taken home a trophy at the Grammys. 

You can check out the full list of nominees and winners here:

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grammys-2023-winners-nominees-list