A night in music brimming with shocking upsets, historic wins, tributes for artists like the late rapper Takeoff and hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, the 65th Grammys were back in full swing Sunday. Once again, Beyoncé was in the running for the top honor. Once again, the show ended with someone else winning album of the year. This year was widely seen as a chance for the Grammys to honor the superstar with a marquee award, especially on a night where she could have ( and did ) become its most decorated artist. Instead, Harry Styles won, and a line from his acceptance speech stung those who thought Beyoncé should have won. Here’s what happened, how it’s been perceived and who picks the Grammys’ top honors. WHAT’S CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT STYLES’ WIN? Styles won for his third album, “Harry’s House,” and even he seemed surprised when his name was called. The British pop star was competing again other giants in the industry: acts like ABBA, Adele, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé. While accepting the award, he said, “This is really, really kind. I’m so, so grateful... I’m just so — This doesn’t happen to people like me very often. And this is so, so nice. Thank you very, very much.” The line, “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often,” drew criticism in the hours after his win. Styles was born and raised in Northern England and rose to fame in 2010 when he auditioned for the Simon Cowell-led talent competition show “The X Factor.” He placed third with the boyband One Direction. His solo career has earned him several Grammys and Billboard-charting albums and singles. Styles hasn’t said what he meant by his words. Some have interpreted it as him trying to express how far he’d come from his youth. Others, however, see the remark as an example of white privilege. WHY ARE PEOPLE MAD AT STYLES’ WORDS? Many of Beyoncé’s fans are fiercely protective of the singer. They’re called the Beyhive, after all. Despite Beyoncé’s 32 Grammy wins – the most of any artist in history – many are troubled by the fact she has yet to win album of year and that she’s lost to white musicians every time she has been nominated. Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards, in a story headlined “Beyoncé just made Grammy history. Why does it feel like she still lost?” wrote that her historic achievement feels hollow. “Why does that feel like not enough,” Richards asked. “Because for the past 20 years and counting, the Recording Academy has routinely failed to recognize Black artists at their creative peaks — and to her credit, Beyoncé keeps updating that peak with each new album.” Similar criticism was raised in other stories and by online commenters, some of whom noted a Black woman hadn’t won album of the year since Lauryn Hill in the late ‘90s. Ashley Smalls, a Black feminism and pop culture doctoral student at Penn State University criticized Styles’ speech in a tweet: ”‘this doesn’t happen to people like me very often’ when a Black woman hasn’t won that award since 1999 is crazy lol.” WHAT IS BEYONCÉ’S GRAMMYS HISTORY? The artist is tied with her husband, Jay-Z, for most nominations all-time with 88 but she has only won 32 times. Most significantly, Beyoncé has lost album of the year four times to Taylor Swift, Beck, Adele and now Styles. Beyoncé has been nominated in each of the most prestigious categories across her decadeslong career but she has won in these categories just once for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” A Black woman has not won album of the year since Lauryn Hill received the accolade for her breakout album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1999. The last Black person to win the award was Jon Batiste, last year for his album “We Are.” WHO DECIDES ALBUM OF THE YEAR? According to Billboard, the Recording Academy boasts more than 12,000 voting members. The entire membership is allowed to vote in the big four categories — best new artist, record, song and album of the year. Members are also responsible for nominating in their area of expertise, as well as voting on the winners this categories. Numerous artists have criticized how the Grammys nominate artists. The Recording Academy is undergoing a campaign to diversify its membership and has a goal of having 2,500 female members by 2025. WHAT’S NEXT FOR BEYONCÉ AND STYLES? Both are hitting the road for international tours. Styles’ next show is in Thailand next week and he’ll play shows in Asia and Europe into the summer. Beyoncé will be starting her “Renaissance” tour in May in Sweden and will play dates in Europe and the United States.  

Lizzo wowed in a bright orange Dolce & Gabbana opera coat adorned with flowers and a huge hood as the wild and wacky Grammys red carpet did not disappoint Sunday. Tattered streetwear, T-shirts and denim mixed with blinged-out couture, wild patterns and plenty of skin. Lizzo walked gingerly as she navigated her heavy coat with a long train. After awhile, she dropped the coat to her shoulders to reveal a busty sequin corset gown underneath in a softer orange. The coat was entirely embroidered with handmade silk flowers, and the gown was silk with crystal mesh Swarovski details. She accessorized with crystal embellished heels and sheer fingerless gloves. “Lizzo is a floral garden fantasy in her ruffle orange 3D robe and matching corset dress underneath,” said Holly Katz, a stylist and host of the Fashion Crimes podcast. “And we love to hear her roar!” Taylor Swift, channeling her Midnights era, wore a long two-piece sparkly skirt with a high-neck, long-sleeve crop top, all by Roberto Cavalli. They were, yes, midnight blue. She added statement diamond earrings by Lorraine Schwartz, her hair in an updo. Fashion lover Harry Styles walked the carpet in a rainbow harlequin pattern jumpsuit adorned with Swarovski crystals. He was shirtless underneath. His low-cut, multicolored Egonlab look drew cheers. Egonlab is a young brand out of Paris. “The man seems like he’s having an enormous amount of fun with fashion, and even if that doesn’t mean wearing harlequin overalls for most of us, the end result — the sheer joy of it — is something we should all aim for,” said Esquire's style director, Jonathan Evans. Cardi B., meanwhile, wore a bombshell, sculptural electric blue gown with huge shoulders and a headpiece over one eye. “I'm trying, I'm trying,” she told photographers as she carefully walked down the carpet. Cardi's look was from Gaurav Gupta’s latest collection, "continuing to prove she intrinsically understands the delicate style dynamics of the Grammys carpet. It’s not about being silly, but rather making a statement,” said Bianca Betancourt, digital culture editor for Harper’s Bazaar. To present the award for best rap album, Cardi donned a silver metallic assemblage from the archive of Paco Rabanne. Rabanne died Friday in France at age 88. The top and skirt were done by Julien Dossena in 2021. The matching hood that covered her eyes dates to 2020. Anitta also made a splash in black Versace from 2003. “She went toward a more gothic aesthetic,” Betancourt said. “The flowing gown was sublimely tailored and showed the global star doing red carpet elegance in her own way. It was still sexy, still youthful, but still elevated. It didn’t look obviously vintage, which is a testament to Donatella’s artistry.” Machine Gun Kelly, who often pushes into edgy fashion, was in a silver double-breasted laminated foil suit with a Swarovski crystal harness. It was custom Dolce & Gabbana. He was accompanied by Megan Fox in creamy Zuhair Murad. Her gown had a corset bodice and heart embroidered applique.Sam Smith was in fire engine red. They were accompanied by Kim Petras, and drag queens Violet Chachki and Gottmik in the same color. Smith wore a top hat with a veil. They, too, wore matching gloves, a trend of the night. Monochrome was a major theme, Betancourt said. “It's a great way to experiment with more avant-garde looks while still maintaining a sense of stylistic structure,” she said. “Lizzo and Kacey Musgraves also opted for monochrome and textured looks from Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino.” The marathon carpet kicked off with some notable looks. Doja Cat, always pushing her fashion envelope, showed up in a vinyl, one-shoulder and skintight black gown with long matching gloves from Atelier Versace. Bebe Rexha sizzled in hot pink with twists from head to toe and a va-va-voom halter bodice, proving that Barbiecore is going strong. The look was Moschino by Jeremy Scott. Musgraves, in Valentino, also took the Barbie note with a feathery cape in a lighter pink hue over a catsuit. There were golden crowns (Matt B), glittery mouth bling (Alligator Jesus) and epic tattoos (Alisha Gaddis). And lots of slouchy and roomy looks that spoke to many of the men, as did an embroidered denim shorts ensemble for Benny Blanco. “While there weren’t any giant, unmissable, overwhelmingly popular red-carpet trends on the men’s fashion front, that actually proved to be a positive this year. It gave the smaller trends a little bit more room to shine,” Evans said. His most compelling? The double-breasted suit, or jacket. “It’s not just a 2023 thing, of course, but the popularity of the DB tends to ebb and flow, and it seems like this year could be a very good one for the silhouette. LL Cool J, Jack Harlow, Saint JHN and Scott Evans all wore a version of it. They all looked fantastic, and the really great thing is that men in all walks of life can emulate their outfits and look equally fantastic,” he said. Evans also had thoughts on all that denim. “Miguel was decked out in it. Benny Blanco, too. The looks were seemingly made with the word ‘divisive’ in mind, but they smacked of a sort of youth-culture cool that embraces that word instead of shying away from it. Love ‘em or hate ’em, those outfits seem like a bellwether of a more denim-forward world in the near future, so take note,” he said. But back to Doja Cat's vinyl. “Who can’t stop talking about Doja Cat donning 30,000 red Swarovski crystals for Paris Fashion Week? Well, she certainly doesn’t disappoint at the Grammys as she totally channeled the queen of darkness," Katz said. “The Mia Farrow 60′s haircut was a perfect match for this look.” Betancourt was also a Doja fan. “The look was gritty, sexy and much like Doja herself, forward-thinking. Her makeup also deserves a notable mention. It was an exquisite cat eye (pun intended) by Ernesto Casillas with a juicy metallic glossed lip that echoed the early aughts, but done without the kitsch most 2000s-inspired looks often perpetuate," she said. Viola Davis, meanwhile, completed her EGOT by winning a Grammy at the Grammys pre-telecast ceremony in a Naeem Kahn red, silver and blue tiered sequin short-sleeved gown. Shania Twain isn’t up for a Grammy. That, she said, freed her to have fun with fashion. Twain’s hair was red and her Harris Reed wide-belled pantsuit was adorned with huge black polka dots against white. She topped it off with a towering, matching wide-brim hat. “Here I am with all my new fun things to wear,” she said. Reed is a young British American designer she wanted to support. Her goal: “I just wanted to add some pop and cheer.” Twain, said Katz, “definitely scored in the avant-garde category but does sort of look like she just stepped out of Alice in Wonderland.” Laverne Cox WAS “Wakanda Forever” in her custom strapless leather Kim Kassas embellished warrior figure dress and African-inspired jewelry, Katz said. “Paying homage to the African culture through fashion is always in style.” Cox’s leather dress by Kim Kassas honors the vision of the late fashion editor Andre Leon Talley. There was another vibe on her mind: “Egyptian/Cleopatra.” Prabal Gurung whipped up a custom sunny yellow chiffon look for Kelsea Ballerini with light-as-air back pieces she unfurled on the carpet. Amanda Gorman was in a top color of the night: black. Gorman, wearing Prada, twirled her long, sheer overlay worn over a mini-dress on the red carpet.Ballerini's look, Katz said, was “so ethereal and dreamy on the red carpet.”  

Jazmine Sullivan has won her second Grammy, and she gets this one all to herself. Sullivan won best R&B album at the Grammy Awards on Sunday for “Heaux Tales.” “I think I wrote this album to deal with my own shame around some of the decisions I made in my 20s,” the 34-year-old Sullivan said as she accepted the award. “What it ended up being was a safe space for black women to tell their stories.” Read More: John Legend honored at Grammys' Black Music Collective event Earlier Sunday, Sullivan won her first Grammy, for best R&B performance, for “Pick Up Your Feelings.” The win was a tie with Silk Sonic. Earlier, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared in a video message at the Grammy Awards to ask for support in telling the story of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia. During the message that aired on the show Sunday, he likened the invasion to a deadly silence threatening to extinguish the dreams and lives of the Ukrainian people, including children. “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them,” he said. “But the music will break through anyway.” Read More: Will Smith resigns from film academy over Chris Rock slap  

The Grammy Awards have changed its tune and voted to remove its anonymous nomination review committees — groups that determined the contenders for key awards at the coveted music show. The Recording Academy made the announcement Friday after the board of trustees met and approved the change. The decision came hours after The Associated Press reported that the academy was planning to discuss its nomination review committees and whether it was time to eliminate them. “It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I’m immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our awards process,” Harvey Mason Jr., the academy’s interim president and CEO, said in a statement Friday. Also read: BTS on 1st Grammy nod: 'It’s hard to express in words' “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community. While change and progress are key drivers of our actions, one thing will always remain — the Grammy Award is the only peer-driven and peer-voted recognition in music,” he continued. “We are honored to work alongside the music community year-round to further refine and protect the integrity of the awards process.” The Weeknd blasted the Grammys and its nomination review committees, calling them “corrupt" after he earned zero nominations for the 2021 show. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/) The major change comes months after The Weeknd blasted the Grammys and called them “corrupt” after he earned zero nominations for the 2021 show despite having the year’s biggest single with “Blinding Lights.” Nominees will now be based purely on votes made by the academy’s 11,000+ voting members, and the academy said that “more than 90 percent of its members will have gone through the requalification process by the end of this year, ensuring that the voting body is actively engaged in music creation.” For the Grammys’ top four awards — album, song and record of the year, along with best new artist — a nomination review committee of at least 20 music generalists in past years selected the top eight nominees from those voted into the top 20. The majority of the 80-plus Grammy categories were voted by nomination review committees, which were intended to safeguard a specific genre’s integrity and to serve as additional checks and balances. While nominees for some categories like best pop vocal album and best pop solo performance were based purely on votes, a number of genre categories had nomination review committees. Those included the rap, rock, R&B, country, dance/electronic music, American Roots, Latin, jazz and gospel/Christian music fields. Nomination review committees for those groups consisted of 13 to 17 voting members who selected five nominees from the top 15. But questions have loomed for years around the nominations process with music industry players calling for more transparency because the selection of finalists happens behind closed doors. Others have claimed that members of key nominating committees promote projects they worked on or projects they favor based on personal relationships. Last year the academy announced that musicians invited to participate in a nomination review committee would have to agree to the terms of a conflict of interest disclosure form and reveal if they would benefit from an artist’s nomination for that category, whether the ties are financial, familial or creative. That seemed like a response to former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan, who was fired only months into her job and days before the 2020 Grammys. Dugan had said the awards show was rigged and muddled with conflicts of interest. The Grammys have been criticized over the diversity in its top prizes, which rarely go to rap and contemporary R&B stars, including Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Kanye West. Those acts are mostly restricted to winning rap and R&B Grammys, not the major ones. Doubts about the Grammys voting process reached greater heights when The Weeknd — who topped the charts with “Blinding Lights” and “Heartless,” launched an uber-successful album with “After Hours” and even performed at the Super Bowl — was severely snubbed at this year’s show, held last month. The Grammys contrasted most of the other music awards shows, where The Weeknd was a key nominee (he earned 16 Billboard Music Award nominations Thursday), and he vowed to boycott the show. Also read: Grammy-winning duo Daft Punk break up after 28 years Change has been a center of conversation at the Grammys for years. The organization has been criticized over the diversity in its top prizes, which rarely go to rap and contemporary R&B stars, including heavyweights like Beyoncé, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Drake, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey and John Legend. While those acts have won in the rap and R&B categories, when it comes to major prizes such as album, song and record of the year, the winners tend to be in the pop, rock, jazz or country genres. The organization has also been targeted for its lack of female winners in the top categories. Three years after Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won three rap Grammys in 2014 over Kendrick Lamar, a decision that was heavily criticized, a nomination review committee was added to the rap field to help prevent similar problems from occurring. (Photo by Dan Steinberg) While there is some negativity linked to nomination review committees, some members preferred them so they can protect who is allowed to be part of a specific genre. For instance, the rap field at the Grammys added a nomination review committee three years after Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won three rap Grammys in 2014 over Kendrick Lamar, a decision that was heavily criticized by the music community and public, and even Macklemore himself. Other changes announced Friday include limiting how many genre categories voters can vote in, which has been reduced from 15 to 10. The academy said that “those 10 categories must be within no more than three (genre) fields.” All voters can vote for the top four awards. The academy also introduced two new awards, bringing its total to 86: best global music performance and best música urbana album. The 64th annual Grammy Awards will air live on January 31, 2022. Nominees will be announced later this year, and eligible songs and albums must be released between Sept. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021.

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift had a historic night at the Grammys, where the top four awards were won by female acts.

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