Grammys 2022

A Song From A 26-Year-Old ‘Kirby’ Game Is Now The First Nintendo Track To Ever Win A Grammy

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Every year, there are always at least a couple Grammy nominations that stick out. This year, one of those was in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella category: Nominated was an arrangement of “Meta Knight’s Revenge,” a song from the 1996 Super Nintendo game Kirby Super Star, as arranged by Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman and performed by The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher (Silverman’s performing name).

Video game songs aren’t nominated that often so what happened last night was big: “Meta Knight’s Revenge” (which appears on The 8-Bit Big Band’s 2021 album Backwards Compatible) actually won the award.

This is a huge moment in Nintendo history and in video game history more broadly; Eurogamer notes this is only the second time a song originally from a video game has taken home a Grammy, following Christopher Tin’s 2010 win for Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocalist(s), for a song composed for Civilization 4. Previously, Journey composer Austin Wintory got a nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media category in 2013 but didn’t win.

So, that means this Kirby win is the first time a song from a Nintendo game has ever won a Grammy. This news arrives with especially good timing, as it quickly follows the March 25 release of the latest Kirby game, Kirby And The Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch.

Rosen shared an excited reaction on the social media pages for The 8-Bit Big Band, posting a photo of himself and Silverman with their trophies and writing, “HOLY SH*T WE WON THE GRAMMY!!LONG LIVE VIDEO GAME MUSIC!! Thank you to everybody who’s ever listened to [The 8-Bit Big Band], the 100s of artists who have contributed their time/talent/musicianship, and of course HUGE thanks to my co-arranger on Meta Knights Revenge the one and only [Jake Silverman] !! MUCH LOVE, [Charlie Rosen].”

Rosen also posted this pretty terrific Kirby graphic a few days ago:

Watch The 8-Bit Big Band and Button Masher perform “Meta Knight’s Revenge” above. Also check out where Kirby Super Star (and another SNES Kirby game) ranks on our list of the 100 best Super Nintendo games (according to over 200,000 players) here.

Olivia Rodrigo Already Broke One Of The Three Grammy Statues She Won At The 2022 Awards

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Olivia Rodrigo didn’t break any Grammy records at last night’s awards show (at least none that I’m aware of), but she did literally break a Grammy. A red-carpet photo from after the ceremony shows the aftermath of Rodrigo apparently dropping one of her three Grammy trophies, which was left worse for wear after the impact it sustained.

The photo at the top of this post shows Rodrigo’s reaction to dropping and breaking the Grammy, which is one of pure shock as her mouth is agape and her eyes are full of astonishment. For formatting purposes, we had to crop the image, so you can’t see the broken trophy in shambles. So, here’s the original photo, which shows the trophy on the floor, the gramophone horn snapped off from the rest of the statue:

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Ultimately, it’s probably no big deal, as this is something the Recording Academy has likely dealt with before and they’ll presumably get a replacement trophy for Rodrigo. This could also actually be a bit of a humblebrag for Rodrigo: She had so many Grammys that she had a hard time holding them all.

What is a big deal, though, is that she won three Grammys in the first place. She had seven nominations and ended up winning a trio of awards: Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Drivers License”), and Best Pop Vocal Album (for Sour).

Find the full list of 2022 Grammy winners and nominees here.

Silk Sonic’s ‘Leave The Door Open’ Wins The 2022 Grammy Award For Record Of The Year: ‘We Gettin Drunk!’

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Just as H.E.R. and Lenny Kravitz cleared the Grammys stage following an electrifying performance, Keith Urban grabbed the mic to announce the winner of the biggest yearly prize awarded to a single song. And yes, this is when we have to explain each year, that Record Of The Year awards the recording of the song (artists, producers, engineers), whereas Song Of The Year is about the song’s composition (songwriters). After Childish Gambino took home the prize in 2019 for “This Is America,” Billie Eilish won the award the past two years for “Everything I Wanted” and “Bad Guy.” But it wasn’t a three-peat for Eilish tonight.

Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open” took home the 2022 award for Record Of The Year and the duo of Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars were over the moon. “We’re really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point. But in the industry, we call that a clean sweep!” .Paak told the audience, after the duo won Song Of The Year AND Record Of The Year, as well as the Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song Awards. “Drinks is on Silk Sonic tonight! We gettin drunk!” .Paak added. Silk Sonic also performed “777” earlier in the evening for the opening performance of the Grammy Awards show.

The Record Of The Year nominees included ABBA for “I Still Have Faith In You,” Jon Batiste for “Freedom,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for “I Get A Kick Out Of You, ” Justin Bieber for “Peaches” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon, Brandi Carlile for “Right On Time,” Doja Cat for “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA, Billie Eilish for “Happier Than Ever,” Lil Nas X for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and Olivia Rodrigo for “Drivers License.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jon Batiste Pulls Off A Major Upset As ‘We Are’ Is Crowned Album Of The Year At The 2022 Grammys

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Winning any Grammy Award is a big deal, but there’s something extra special about picking up an honor in one of the four major categories. Now, one of this year’s big winners has been revealed and it was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night: Taking home the Grammy for Album Of The Year is Jon Batiste’s We Are.

That show-ending win capped off an amazing night for the Late Show bandleader, who came into the evening with a whopping 11 eleven nominations, which was one shy of the all-time record for a single year. He picked up four wins before the proper televised ceremony even started, and when it came time for the show, he pretty much dominated the evening. He gave a vibrant and energetic performance of “Freedom,” which ended up being one of the musical highlights of the show.

The category was crowded this year, as also nominated for the award were Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s Love For Sale, Justin Bieber’s Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe), Doja Cat’s Planet Her (Deluxe), Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, HER’s Back Of My Mind, Lil Nas X’s Montero, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, Taylor Swift’s Evermore, and Kanye West’s Donda.

Find the full list of this year’s Grammy nominees and winners here.

HER Absolutely Ripped A Rocking Medley In Her Star-Studded 2022 Grammys Performance With Lenny Kravitz

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HER, the multitalented R&B revivalist, has become a fixture at the Grammys over the past few years. In 2019, she played her song “Hard Place,” and then in 2020, she performed “Sometimes.” While she took 2021 off from performing, she still made an appearance to pick up her golden gramophone for “I Can’t Breathe.”

This year she returned to perform once again (as well as possibly also taking home more hardware), and with so much Grammys experience under her belt, just one song wouldn’t be enough. Her performance turned out to be a medley featuring “Damage,” “We Made It” and a cover of Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” (a song she’s been playing on tour since last year). She was joined onstage by a who’s-who of heavy hitters that included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Travis Barker, and Kravitz himself. Her elegant, stripped-down set saw her change wardrobe, take to her drum set, and of course, play a wailing solo on her guitar with Lenny accompanying her and Travis tripping out on drums.

This year, HER tied with Doja Cat and Justin Bieber for second-most Grammy nominations with eight apiece after Jon Batiste with 11. The 24-year-old singer is nominated for Album Of The Year for her debut album Back Of My Mind, Song Of The Year for her song “Fight For You” from the Judas And The Black Messiah soundtrack, Best R&B Performance for her Back Of My Mind single “Damage,” Best R&B Song for “Damage,” Best R&B Album, Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Hold Us Together” (Hope Mix) with Tauren Wells, and Best Song Written For Visual Media for “Fight For You.”

Last year, the formerly mysterious Bay Area singer secured Song Of The Year for her protest anthem “I Can’t Breathe,” as well as Best R&B Song alongside Robert Glasper for her appearance on “Better Than I Imagine” with Meshell Ndegeocello. The wins prompted her to proclaim her intention to eventually be an EGOT winner (winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award). With her win at last year’s Oscars for “Fight For You,” she’s halfway there, and at just 24 years old, she’s still got plenty of time — and the talent — to grab the rest.

Watch HER’s 2022 Grammys performance above.

Tyler The Creator Trolls DJ Khaled (Again) On A Livestream From His Tour After Winning Best Rap Album

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Tyler The Creator is now a two-time Grammy Award winner for Best Rap Album after picking up his second award prior to this year’s ceremony for his 2021 album, Call Me If You Get Lost (and this time it was an actual… y’know… rap album). While he wasn’t at the ceremony to accept the award in person — due to the fact that he’s currently on the way to Portland, Oregon for his next Call Me If You Get Lost Tour stop — he did check in with fans to celebrate via Instagram Live. He also took the opportunity to once again troll his old rival DJ Khaled, flexing on him once again with both the Grammy win and the sold-out status of his current arena tour.

“First off, I’m hyped,” Tyler said. “Thank you to [Call Me If You Get Lost producer] DJ Drama. You are f*cking so important to rap music… Thank you to all of my friends for being my cheerleaders. Thank you to my whole team, the whole squad… and [thank you to DJ Khaled]. I know you’re seething and angry and [saying], ‘Ugh, no one listens to that album!’ These arena tours that are selling out say different, and if you put that much energy into something, maybe everyone will be proud of you too.”

Of course, the issue between the two stems from the shared release week of their albums in 2019. A rant that DJ Khaled gave on Snapchat defending his album from Twitter trolls was interpreted as a slanted attack on Tyler’s album Igor, prompting Tyler’s ongoing petty. With this win, it looks like he’s now up 4-0 on his rival, even if their rivalry is pretty one-sided. Lil Nas X may be the current reigning rap troll, but Tyler set the standard, and clearly, he hasn’t lost his touch.

Jon Batiste Was Full Of Life During His Vibrant Performance Of ‘Freedom’ At The 2022 Grammy Awards

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This year’s Grammys are a big one for Jon Batiste. The New Orleans star was nominated in eleven categories including Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best R&B Album, and more. His total of eleven nominations for the 2022 Grammys makes for the second-most ever in the award show’s history and, in large part, Batiste’s recognition at the Grammys comes as a result of his eighth album We Are. He described the project as “a representation of genreless music that’s just about the story” and “a culmination of my life to this point.”

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Now we get to see a piece of We Are live on display through his performance of “Freedom” from the album. His performance of the song was quite the vibrant effort as the stage was flanked in bright colors and Batiste himself was also full of life during his set as he danced and pranced from every corner of the stage. Out of his eleven nominations, Batiste has won in four categories so far. He won in the Best Americana Roots Song Performance and Best American Roots Song categories for “Cry.” He was also honored with wins for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media and Best Music Video.

After the nominations for the Grammys were revealed, Batiste shared a very excited reaction to his eleven nominations. “WOW!! Thank you God!! I love EVERYBODY!” he wrote on Twitter. “I’m so grateful to my collaborators and to my ancestors [crying emojis] 11!”

You can watch Jon Batiste’s Grammy performance in the video above.

Jack Harlow’s Grammy Performance Made Up For Him Not Dancing In Lil Nas X’s ‘Industry Baby’ Video

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Aside from the chaos that the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video caused, another big moment for Lil Nas X as he prepared for his Montero debut album came with the release of “Industry Baby.” He released the song with Jack Harlow and the song became his third chart-topping song after “Old Town Road” and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Lil Nas’ collaboration with Harlow also came with a great music video that showed off some of Lil Nas’ dance moves during multiple scenes at the fictional Montero County Jail.

However, some people hoped to see Harlow show off some of his own moves in that video. After hearing from a good amount of disappointed fans, Harlow took to Twitter to clear the air. “Nas wrote the whole treatment for this video and I followed his lead every step of the way,” he wrote. ” If he had asked me to be in that shower scene I woulda been in that shower scene. I just let the mastermind cook. Honored to be apart of it.” Lil Nas himself jokingly chimed in and tweeted, “To the lgbtq+ community i sincerely apologize. i have failed you. i am embarrassed. i am ashamed. and i will learn from my mistakes.”

Well, it seems like Lil Nas did learn from his “mistakes” as he made sure to include Harlow in some portions of his dance routine during their 2022 Grammy performance of “Industry Baby.” Harlow leaned and swayed with Lil Nas and his backup dancers as he started performing his guest verse, and by the time he was done, Harlow got into the full swing of the routine before walking off the stage.

You can watch Lil Nas and Harlow’s performance of “Industry Baby” above and move up to 3:26 to see Harlow’s entrance.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Cardi B Once Again Deletes Her Twitter Account After Taking Fan Abuse For Skipping The Grammys

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Cardi B has deactivated her Twitter account again after some fans got a little too rambunctious in her mentions over skipping the Grammys. According to Rolling Stone, Cardi addressed the abuse before deleting her account. “I’m deleting my Twitter but on god I hate this f*ckin dumbass fan base,” she wrote. “You got the slow dumbasses dragging my kids all cause y’all [thought] I was going to the grammys and I didnt the f*ck ? When the f*ck I hinted I was going ? just f*vkin stupid I can’t I needs to protect myself.”

Rolling Stone listed some of the replies that made Cardi take her latest break. “I bet yo son wouldnt like for you to be on your ass while teasing us fans and not ever dropping music,” one read. When Cardi responded (and maybe overreacted) “I hope your moms die,” another person taunted, “do you kiss your @utistic child with that mouth?”

Cardi most recently disabled her account in the spring of 2021, which some speculated was for her to have time to finish her upcoming sophomore album. While that album still has yet to materialize, she has since had a second child, and her health and family should absolutely take priority over her work. Before that, she deleted the account when fans harassed her husband Offset in 2020. Cardi has spoken about the dark side of social media in the past, so it’s possible she could return but it certainly makes sense why she would want to take a break from it once in a while.

John Legend’s Moving Ukraine Tribute Performance Of ‘Free’ Was Introduced By Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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John Legend is a veteran at the Grammy awards. He’s taken home 12 awards and he’s been nominated on 33 occasions throughout his career. This year, Legend wasn’t nominated in any categories, but it hasn’t been too long since he was nominated at the show. In 2020 and 2021, he won in the Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best R&B Album categories respectively, and in 2019, he was nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album category. While Legend won’t leave with a trophy this year, he did make an appearance at this year’s Grammys, and with it came a Ukrainian tribute performance of his new song “Free.”

The track is one that Legend just released today, and it sees him pleading for freedom and an unrestricted life backed by the soft presence of the piano, stirring strings, and a powerful choir. His performance was introduced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current president of Ukraine, who gave a speech about the country’s ongoing war with Russia. Legend was also accompanied by Ukrainian singer Mika Newtown and Ukrainian poet Lyuba Yakimchuk for the performance.

Prior to his appearance at the Grammys, Legend became the latest artist to sell their music catalog. According to Bloomberg, Legend sold his copyrights and rights to royalties of his catalog to KKR & Co. and BMG, with each company getting a 50-percent stake. It was not revealed how much Legend made from the deal.

You can watch the Legend’s performance of “Free” and listen to Zelenskyy’s speech in the videos above.