Maya Rudolph warned during her opening monologue that she would be wearing lots of wigs and doing impressions on Saturday Night Live, and thankfully for us that meant bringing back her Beyonce impression. The former cast member had hosting duties in its latest episode, and thankfully for us that meant a throwback-feeling segment about a very modern concept: Beyonce appearing on the web show Hot Ones to eat some very spicy chicken wings.
The sketch is a throwback to the era in which Rudolph thrived. It’s an absurd concept to begin with: the most famous musician in the world showing up on a show where you eat spicy wings and promote something while answering softball questions. But it’s a sketch that actually critiques not just the thing it’s parodying — an incredibly popular YouTube show — but Beyonce’s notorious attempts to control her image in the media.
Seeing Beyonce struggle with absurdly-named hot wing sauces and curse out the host, played by Mikey Day, is a departure from anything we’ve seen from the actual singer in years. At one point, Rudolph’s Beyonce is so overcome by the heat of the wings that she asked her stylist to take her wig off, put ice cubes in it and put it back on. Her “publicist” then stepped in to refuse to let that happen on camera.
The joke here is, after years of carefully cultivating her image in the public eye, Beyonce would never do anything like this. Or at least we’d never find out about it. Later, realizing just how many more wings she still needs to endure, she has her manager step in to call the whole thing off, with non-disclosure agreements all around to make sure no evidence of it ever happening.
It was great to see Rudolph play a character that’s not Kamala Harris and be free of the political news cycle that brought her back to the SNL stage at various points over the last year. And it was a strong start to an episode that reminded many viewers of the kind of sketch that was more common when Rudolph was a more permanent member of the show’s cast.
Earlier this month, Beyonce became the most-awarded singer in Grammy history after picking up four wins at the 2021 edition of the music awards. While that was certainly a high moment for her, it occurred around an unfortunate event with the singer’s belongings. On Saturday, TMZ revealed that Beyonce was robbed of more than $1 million worth of property from her storage unit after two heists earlier this month. Law enforcement told the publication that thieves went through multiple storage units in the Los Angeles area that were filled with various items the singer owned.
TMZ added that while the units were rented out by the singer’s production company, Parkwood Entertainment, the missing items from the first heist, which included expensive handbags and dresses, all belonged to Beyonce. Within a week of this first robbery, the thieves returned for a second time and went through three units in the same facility. This time, they took off with handbags, kids toys, and photos that were owned by one of Beyonce’s stylists. The “Black Parade” singer is not the only artist to recently have their things stolen from a storage unit. Earlier this year, Miley Cyrus lost clothes, family photos, and mementos after her storage space was robbed.
While Beyonce set some records of her own at this year’s Grammy Awards, she also had a hand in notable moments with other artists. With “Brown Skin Girl” winning Best Music Video, her daughter Blue Ivy, who appeared in the visual, became one of the youngest Grammy winners in history. Beyonce and Megan Thee Stallion also became the first female winners of the Best Rap Performance award thanks to “Savage.”
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
There were a lot of winners (and losers and surprises) at this year’s Grammys, with two prime examples being Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Swift’s Folklore picked up the trophy for Album Of The Year while Beyonce snagged some awards as well, which helped her get more all-time Grammy wins than any singer ever. Now the pair have gotten in touch and recognized each other for their achievements, as Swift revealed today that this morning, she woke up to flowers from Beyonce.
Swift shared photos of the gift on Instagram today. With the flowers was a note, which reads, “Taylor, Congratulations on your Grammy. It was great seeing you on Sunday night. Thank you for always being so supportive. Sending love to you and your family. B.” Sharing the letter, Swift wrote, “Woke up to flowers from the queen of grace & greatness @beyonce and suddenly it’s the best Friday EVER. Thank you B and congratulations on your epic achievement Sunday night!!”
Reflecting on the Grammys after the fact, Swift collaborator Aaron Dessner had only kind things to say about Swift, as he wrote in an extensive message, “I am constantly humbled by and grateful for our friendship and collaboration. It’s such a strange thought that this time last year, we hadn’t even begun our journey together, since you are now such a big part of my life. You have restored my faith in music and the ways in which it can help me and others. In a year of such uncertainty and fear, I’m eternally grateful for the music we made. You generously shared your songwriting genius with me and others on these records — and made everyone involved feel appreciated and confident in their work. I can’t say enough positive things about you as an artist and a person.”
It’s deeper than just music for legendary singer Beyoncé. During her acceptance speech at the 63rd Grammys last night after her Best R&B Performance win for “Black Parade,” she took major time to show love to her 9-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, who also took home an award that evening. Beyoncé Is The Proudest Mom Now […]
At every Grammy Awards ceremony, there are winners and losers.
Here, though, “loser” is a relative term. If you’re an artist who is doing so well that you’re at the Grammys at all, it’s hard to imagine that you’re anything but a winner. That said, if you’re particularly confrontational, “loser” might be what you call somebody who was nominated for an award and did not win that award. On the flip side, you could say that some artists didn’t lose: they won the right to keep their title of nominee (at the cost of not getting promoted to winner).
Then there are cases where you don’t need to glass-half-full the truth to declare somebody was a winner, whether they went home with a trophy or two or otherwise excelled during music’s biggest night. Last night’s Grammys ceremony was full of people who had different levels of success, so let’s get into who thrived and who didn’t quite do that, as well as who offered some of the evening’s biggest surprises.
Winner: Megan Thee Stallion
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Meg had one of the best winning percentages of the night, taking home three of the four Grammys for which she was nominated — she won Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song (both for “Savage”), and Best New Artist, but didn’t claim Record Of The Year.
Outside of the awards themselves, Meg was notary-like with how she put her stamp on the evening. She and Cardi B made more modest-minded music admirers mad with a performance of “WAP” (more on that in a second). Even the Grammy Meg didn’t win, she kind of did win it. While Billie Eilish accepted the Record Of The Year trophy, she got behind the podium and mostly spoke about how Meg should have won it instead of her.
Loser: The structural integrity of “WAP”
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It’s true that “WAP” was probably the biggest song of 2020. It’s also true that it wasn’t made for TV (or for any audible medium at all, according to Ben Shapiro). So, when it was revealed that Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion would be performing the hit during the Grammys broadcast, fans were ready to see a non-insignificant portion of the song left on the cutting room floor. That was true to the extreme. The lyric sheet for this version of the track looked like a brand new Madlibs book. I’m sure Cardi and Meg did all they could to bring “WAP” to the Grammys and they still delivered an entertaining few minutes of television, but the performance came across like they didn’t secure the rights to the song, so they got as close to actually performing it as they could without getting into legal trouble.
Loser: Jhené Aiko
As is tradition, the Grammys took a very long time. Even before the actual ceremony, there was the also-lengthy Grammy premiere ceremony, which the Recording Academy roped Aiko into hosting. Between that and the actual show, it was a long, grueling day for Aiko and she didn’t even end up winning any of the three Grammys for which she was nominated.
Thankfully, Aiko is an optimist. The hosting gig was a personal triumph for Aiko, as she wrote on Twitter, “i conquered a major fear of public speaking today by hosting the freaking Grammy Premiere Ceremony!!” She was even cool with not taking home a trophy, as she tweeted, “i know what its like to lose… do u? do u?! lol,” later adding, “what a crazy day! but its all good. love you all so much.”
i conquered a major fear of public speaking today by hosting the freaking Grammy Premiere Ceremony!! thank you @RecordingAcad for having me!! see u at the show after i take this lil cat nap
In some ways, the Grammys are a popularity contest: If some no-name (not Noname) from the middle of nowhere made one of the year’s best songs, they’re probably not going to win a Grammy for it. The Recording Academy further proved that with their pick for Song Of The Year, as HER took home the prize over people like Beyonce, Roddy Ricch, Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish. While HER is certainly a successful artist and “I Can’t Breathe” is an impactful song built on meaningful social justice themes, she’s not exactly a household name and her victory certainly left many viewers feeling like Michael Bluth:
Winners: Fans of normalcy
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Over the past year-plus, pretty much every aspect has been entirely different than it was pre-pandemic. That includes The Grammys, but the fact that the ceremony even happened at all is a grounding force. Yes, the show wasn’t really like previous broadcasts in any way, but it was also as close to normal as any sort of live music event has been since early 2020. Considering the circumstances, the Recording Academy excelled with their broadcast. Delayed ceremony aside, one thing music fans have been able to count on towards the start of the year is finding out what music and artists the Recording Academy “secret commitees” deserve to be honored, for better or worse.
Losers: Fans of normalcy
That said, the whole thing was a bit weird, right? During performances, there were probably too many cuts to Trevor Noah and other artists in the room to forcefully drive home the point that everybody was actually there IRL. Those shots just hit different when it’s just one or two people side-stage instead of a big seated audience. Then, when the performances were done, the golf-level applause didn’t make the Grammys seem as epic as they usually do. Going the NBA route and piping in artificial fan noise wouldn’t have been a bad move.
The Recording Academy faced an impossible problem, but they still managed to put on a functional and entertaining show that offered plenty of highlights and made you forget this is an atypical Grammy year. Ultimately, though, it often felt less than grand, which, again, is really nobody’s fault.
Winner: Performance aesthetics
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Sure, let’s flip this topic of Grammy normalcy around one more time. Usually, artists and their crews only have a few minutes to get an elaborate performance set-up onto the singular Grammy stage at the Staples Center. This year, though, the set-up made things different, arguably better. The multiple stages on-site allowed for performers to get their own look going in their own space, all with minimal time between performances. In an aesthetic highlight, Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner were all able to take to a mini cabin in a mystical-looking forest, for example, it feels like that something that gorgeous may not have been possible in a traditional Grammy year. Lil Baby’s cinematic performance that addressed police brutality definitely wouldn’t have been an eighth as impactful on a traditional stage.
Surprise: Jojo Rabbit
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Taika Waititi himself would agree with this pick, as it seemed like he didn’t really expect the Jojo Rabbit soundtrack to win Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media over films like Frozen 2 and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga. Waititi offered a simple “Lol wtfffff” on Twitter in reaction to the news, and during his acceptance speech, he noted, “I guess they’re just giving Grammys to anyone now! I’ll take it, thank you.” He went on, “It was so long ago, I can barely remember anything about making that movie — but it seems like it’s never going to go away, and I’m happy about that.”
So, if you don’t remember the Jojo Rabbit soundtrack, it’s OK because Waititi probably doesn’t either.
Winner/Loser: Masks
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Whether this is a winner or loser is a matter of perspective. Audience shots at awards shows are usually the most fruitful vine from which to pluck plump, dank memes of celebrities who didn’t expect the camera to be on them at a share-worthy moment. In that regard, music fans and internet jokesters lose. Masks could be seen as a major victory for artists who didn’t pick up a trophy, though, considering a wearable specifically made to cover the lower half of your face makes it a heck of a lot easier to hide your disappointment when you come away from a category empty-handed. Frustrated cursing no longer has to be under your breath!
Winner: The entire Carter family
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The Beyhive would never let me hear the end of it if I declared Beyonce a loser, so thankfully, she had an amazing night. For years, she has been climbing up the all-time Grammy wins list, and she made history this year by picking up more trophies to become the woman and singer with the most Grammy victories.
That would have been enough to get her on this list, but that was just one aspect of a multi-pronged night for Bey. She and Megan Thee Stallion became the first women to win Best Rap Performance with “Savage,” and on top of that, her daughter Blue Ivy managed to become one of the youngest Grammy winners ever. Jay-Z was the only member of his immediate family to not directly win a Grammy this year, except even that’s not quite true since he has a writing credit on the “Savage” remix.
So, in what was perhaps the least surprising takeaway from the evening (or from any day, really), the Carter family is doing quite well.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Pretty classic surprise expressions, right there. For her part, Megan didn’t even know Beyonce was present at the ceremony, so got another big surprise when she saw Bey walking up to the stage to help accept the trophy:
But before they could even get off the stage, tonight’s host Trevor Noah stopped the pair to let them know with the addition of two more Grammys tonight, Beyonce has now tied the record for most awards any female artist has received. That doesn’t mean we’re not still mad Lemonade was snubbed, but it does help a little.
When the Recording Academy unveiled their list of nominations for 2021, Beyonce led the pack at nine nominations. This made her the most Grammy-nominated female artist, with 79 nods to her name. But after Sunday’s ceremony, the singer boasts an exciting victory: Beyonce officially broke the record for the most Grammy Awards given to any singer, male or female, ever.
Beyonce was awarded four 2021 Grammys, bringing her Grammy win total to 28. This means that Beyonce has the most Grammys out of any singer. She was awarded for Best Music Video for her song “Brown Skin Girl,” Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for her verse on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage (Remix),” and finally, Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade.” In her speech accepting the Best R&B Performance Grammy, Beyonce thanked all the “Black kings and queens” that inspire her artistry:
“As an artist, I believe it’s my job, and all our jobs, to reflect the times. It’s been such a difficult time, so I wanted to uplift, encourage, and celebrate all of the beautiful Black kings and queens that continue to inspire me and inspire the whole world. This is so overwhelming. I’ve been working my whole life, since I was nine years old. I can’t believe this happened, it’s such a magical night. I know my daughter is watching, Blue, congratulations. She won a Grammy tonight, I’m so proud of you and I’m so honored to be your mommy — all your mommies. Y’all are my babies.”
Watch Beyonce’s acceptance speech below and check out the full list of 2021 Grammy winners here.
HISTORY MADE: Beyonce wins 28th Grammy Award, passes Alison Krauss to become the most decorated woman in Grammys history. pic.twitter.com/h0F483lADC
Megan Thee Stallion has achieved a long list of things in her short career and thanks to this year’s Grammy Awards, she can add a special accomplishment to her resume. The Houston rapper and Beyonce became the first women to win in the Best Rap Performance category thanks to their “Savage” collaboration. The song originally appeared on Megan’s Suga project as a solo effort, but shortly after its release, Beyonce hopped on it for a sizzling remix, which helped boost the track to the No. 1 position on the singles chart.
It should be noted that the Best Rap Performance award was created back at the 1989 Grammy Awards, but after the 1990 show, it was split into the Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group categories. It remained this way until 2012 when they were recombined into the Best Rap Performance award after the Grammys reconstructed their categories. Prior to this year’s show, it had only been men who won in the Best Rap Performance category in the 11 years that it was presented at the Grammys.
The Best Rap Performance win is Megan’s first Grammy award. She is also nominated in three other categories including Record Of The Year and Best New Artist. As for Beyonce, the win is the 25th Grammy of her career. The “Black Parade” singer also won in the Best Music Video category for “Brown Skin Girl.” Here’s Meg’s delightful reaction to winning:
At just the young age of nine-years-old, Blue Ivy continues to land impressive achievements in the music world. Thanks to her appearance in Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” video with Wizkid and Saint Jhn, Ivy is one of the youngest Grammy winners in history after the video took home the win in the Best Music Video category. She was just eight-years-old when she stood beside her mom in the video.
It’s also not the first award that the Carters have won for the song. They previously won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration back in February, and prior to that, they took home the Video Of The Year award at November’s Soul Train Awards. The youngest Grammy nominee and winner is Leah Peasall of The Peasall Sisters who won the Album Of The Year in 2001 as a credited artist on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Leah was just eight-years-old at the time.
Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” beat out Future and Drake’s “Life Is Good,” Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown,” Harry Styles’ “Adore You” and Woodkid’s “Goliath” to take home the award. The Best Music Video also gives the Lemonade singer the 24th Grammy award of her career. She could take home additional awards at this year’s Grammys as she’s nominated in eight other categories that include Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best R&B Performance.
love you all so much 
