Of all the awards the Recording Academy awards at the Grammys, one of the most coveted is for Song Of The Year. This year, they’ve given the sought-after Grammy to HER for her outstanding protest track “I Can’t Breathe.”
While HER’s “I Can’t Breathe” is the official Grammy winner for Song Of The Year, she was facing some major competition in the category. Beyonce was nominated for “Black Parade,” Roddy Ricch for “The Box,” Taylor Swift for “Cardigan,” Post Malone for “Circles,” Dua Lipa for “Don’t Start Now,” Billie Eilish for “Everything I Wanted,” and JP Saxe and Julia Michaels for “If The World Was Ending.”
HER released “I Can’t Breathe” during the Black Lives Matter protests last June. At the time, HER said she wanted to track to promote equality and peace:
“I really want to recognize all of the people across various communities that are promoting justice and equality and peace and passion. We need that unity right now, so this first song is called ‘I Can’t Breathe.’ Just by the title, you know that it means something very painful and very revealing, and I think it’s necessary. These lyrics were kind of easy to write because it came from a conversation of what’s happening right now, what’s been happening, and the change that we need to see. I think music is powerful when it comes to change and when it comes to healing, and that’s why I wrote this song, to make a mark in history. And I hope this song does that.”
Of course, last year’s Song Of The Year Grammy was awarded to Billie Eilish after her track “Bad Guy.” The song had gone No. 1 shortly after it release and knocked Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” off the top spot after it had been there for a record-breaking 19 weeks straight.
Find the full list of this year’s Grammy winners and nominees here.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.