GRAMMYS

The Grammys In Memoriam Included A Tony Bennett Duet, A Call For Ceasefire, And A Stunning Tina Turner Tribute

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The Grammys’ In Memoriam tribute for 2024 was necessarily a rough time, as so many legends passed away since early 2023, including Sinead O’Connor, Tina Turner, and more. The segment saw Stevie Wonder deliver a simulated duet of “For Once In My Life” with Tony Bennett, as well as “The Best Is Yet To Come.” Then Annie Lennox covered Sinead O’Connor’s Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

Fittingly, Lennox used the moment to call for a ceasefire in West Asia (commonly called the Middle East) in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palenstine over the Gaza Strip. It was a fitting moment because O’Connor notably used her platform to make passionate political statements, including criticizing the Catholic church. She took a lot of punishment from the media and the public for her positions, finding vindication years later.

Meanwhile, there were spoken tributes to Clarence Avant, the “Godfather of Black Music,” form Lenny Kravitz, and Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock & Roll, by Oprah Winfrey. Meanwhile, Jon Batiste performed Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Optimistic” for the former, while Fantasia Barrino performed “Proud Mary” for the latter, decked out in a classic Turner look. Fantasia even left the stage to dance with the audience, including Dua Lipa.

You can keep up with Uproxx’s Grammys coverage here.

Travis Scott Took The 2024 Grammys To ‘Utopia’ With A Moody Performance Of ‘My Eyes’ And ‘Fein’ With Playboi Carti

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The 2024 Grammy Awards took a trip to Utopia as Travis Scott brought his usual raucous energy to his performance.

Opening with a moody rendition of the introspective “My Eyes” and then broke out into a more energetic performance of “Fein,” replete with flamethrowers and strobing spotlights as mist surrounded his asteroid stage. He was joined by the song’s featured artist Playboi Carti, who worse a creepy mask, and spent the back half of his performance throwing chairs.

Travis is nominated for one award this year: Best Rap Album for Utopia, which dropped July 28, 2023, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 496,000 album-equivalent units sold/streamed. 252,000 of those units were pure album sales.

The album arguably marked a return to form for the Houston rapper, who had been largely absent from the spotlight in the year following the tragic incident at the 2021 Astroworld Festival in which 10 fans were killed by a crowd crush and hundreds more were injured.

Since his return, Travis has been more of a ubiquitous marketing presence than ever, crisscrossing North America on his Circus Maxiumus tour for Utopia, releasing a new Nike collaboration alongside tennis legend John McEnroe, and even starring in a new film by Harmony Korine shot entirely in infrared false color.

Travis has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards over the course of his career, including Best Rap Album for 2018’s Astroworld, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for that album’s Drake-featuring single “Sicko Mode,” and Best Melodic Rap Performance for his 2021 single “Highest In The Room.”

Watch Travis’ performance above and check out the rest of Uproxx’s 2024 Grammys coverage here.

SZA Debuted A New Song, ‘Saturn,’ From Her Upcoming Album ‘Lana’ In A New MasterCard Campaign During The 2024 Grammys

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SZA has had an incredible night at the 2024 Grammy Awards tonight (February 4). During a special performance from the Grammy House, the prolific hitmaker — who already won two Grammys tonight, for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her Phoebe Bridgers collaboration, “Ghost In The Machine” and Best R&B Performance for “Snooze” — debuted a new song, “Saturn” from her upcoming album, Lana.

On the song, SZA laments her time in an environmentally unconscious world.

“Stuck in this paradigm / Don’t believe in paradise / This must be what hell is like / There’s got to be more, got to be more Sick of this head of minе / Intrusive thoughts, they paralyze / Thе fun is done, to summarize,” she sings on the song’s hook.

The accompanying advertisement features SZA joined by dancers, moving to the music in a greenscape. It ends with SZA announcing her partnership with MasterCard and the Priceless Planet Coalition. The Priceless Planet Coalition aims to restore 100 million trees in forests around the world that have the greatest potential positive impact on the climate, for communities and for nature.

“It takes more than one person or one company to create scaled impact for the planet,” said Rustom Dastoor, EVP of Marketing and Communications, Mastercard North America, in a statement. “Music does more than unite us, it inspires us to take action. Through our GRAMMY Awards campaign, we are merging passion and purpose in a way that, through a major cultural event, rallies people to come together through the power of music to create collective action for the planet.”

You can see the MasterCard ad above.

Jay-Z Used His Global Impact Award Acceptance Speech To Air Many Grievances With The Grammys, From Their Treatment Of Hip-Hop To Beyoncé’s Snubs

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Jay-Z‘s sense of humor was on full display — for better or worse — during his acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys as he received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award alongside his daughter Blue Ivy. While he self-deprecatingly teased himself for being unable to fully boycott the awards show, he also took the opportunity to air out his feelings about the Recording Academy snubbing his wife Beyoncé for Album of the Year for multiple years.

“I don’t wanna embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,” he said. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that: the most Grammys, never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.” He also joked that some of the nominees didn’t deserve their nominations, which… Look, I’ll write that one later. We’ve always known Jay don’t play about Beyoncé, but giving him a mic at this year’s awards may have backfired on those who admitted that they voted against Beyoncé out of spite.

Not for nothing, fans were amused and impressed by the speech because Jay was only saying some things that fans have been saying a good, long while. But, of course, his joking admission that he can’t quit the show completely made him relatable and took some of the sting out of his words.

From the choices of embedded tweets here, you probably know where this writer stands. If not, read this, then check out the rest of our Grammys coverage here.

Why Was Killer Mike Arrested At The Grammys 2024?

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One of the biggest winners from the 2024 Grammys night is undoubtedly Killer Mike. The critically acclaimed rapper won his first Grammy Awards as a lead artist at this year’s award show and his first overall since winning in 2003 for Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group thanks to “The Whole World” with Outkast. At the 2024 Grammys, Killer Mike won in the Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song categories for “Scientists & Engineers” with André 3000, Future, and Eryn Allen Kane. He also won in the Best Rap Album for Michael. With these wins, Killer Mike was set to have a celebratory night, but that was interrupted when the rapper was taken away in handcuffs at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com arena.

Why Was Killer Mike Arrested At The Grammys 2024?

The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner reported that an official on Killer Mike’s team said that it appears that the rapper will be facing a “misdemeanor” charge for an incident that is not connected to anything that happened during the Grammy pre-show. “It’s a big nothing,” Gardner says a source told him. Gardner also added that he was told that Killer Mike “may be released later tonight from the arena.” As of press time, official charges against Killer Mike have yet to be revealed.

You can view video around Killer Mike’s arrest above and reports from Gardner below.

Doja Cat Went Full Post Malone For The 2024 Grammys, Complete With A Trucker Hat And (Possibly Fake) Face Tattoo

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Doja Cat’s sartorial switch-ups have been the subject of much attention and discussion since her 2018 breakout thanks to her mischievous instincts and adventurous choices. The 2024 Grammys have been no exception; in fact, she ramped up the surprise factor by pulling up to the red carpet in a princess dress and her skin adorned with an astonished array of new tattoos — including one across her forehead, Post Malone-style (the two collaborated on Malone’s 2022 single “I Like You“). You can see a few photos below.

Doja Cat is one of the artists looking forward to a win tonight and she’ll have a few opportunities to take home a golden gramophone. She’s nominated for three awards: Best Rap Song for “Attention,” Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Attention,” and Pop Solo Performance for “Paint The Town Red.” She’s had 19 nominations total, including Best New Artist, Record Of The Year for “Say So,” “Kiss Me More,” and “Woman,” and Album Of The Year for Planet Her. She won one award at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More.”

Funnily enough, Doja debuted her first tattoos at last year’s Grammys, showing them off ahead of the show and showing them off on the red carpet just weeks after trolling fans with a fake tattoo. Is her new collection of ink just as fake? I guess we’ll see at her next public appearance.

SZA Murders The 2024 Grammy Awards Audience With A Performance Of Her Hit Songs ‘Snooze’ And ‘Kill Bill’

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As the most nominated artist of the 2024 Grammy Awards, all eyes are on SZA. Just days before the coveted ceremony, The Recording Academy announced that the “Snooze” singer would take the stage. During her sit down with Apple Music, SZA confessed that she initially got into music to her naysayers wrong.

But after reaching massive success, SZA is well beyond that, and her Grammy performance proved that. After pulling out of the 2023 VMAs, her onstage set during the 2024 Grammys carried that much more weight. SZA knocked it out of the park without skipping a beat, performing her first No. 1 song and hit single “Kill Bill,” along with some of “Snooze.”

In May 2023, SZA shared a touching note after learning of the milestone. “Took me over a week to process ’cause I dreamt of this my entire career,” she said. “It didn’t feel real, lol, and still doesn’t. But I wanna say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS. Every person, every fan base, every ear that listened and pushed for me. Can’t believe we have a number 1 record.”

At the 2024 Grammys, SZA is up for nine awards, including Album of the Year (SOS), Song and Record of the Year (“Kill Bill”), Best Progressive R&B Album (SOS), Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Love Language”), Best R&B Song (“Snooze”), Best R&B Performance (“Kill Bill”), Best Melodic Rap Performance (“Low”) and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Ghost in the Machine”).

Find a clip of SZA’s performance above.

View Uproxx’s complete coverage of the 2024 Grammy Awards here. Check out the full list of nominees and winners here.

Tracy Chapman Made A Surprise 2024 Grammys Appearance To Join Luke Combs For A Perfect ‘Fast Car’ Duet

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There are only so many perfect songs in the world. “Fast Car” is one. Tracy Chapman’s 1988 single had a renaissance last year when country music star Luke Combs covered the song (earning Chapman a reported $500,000 in royalties — she also became the first Black woman to have the sole writing credit on a No. 1 country song) They performed the song together for the first time during the 2024 Grammys, after reports leading up to the show suggested they would.

“I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car,’” the reclusive Chapman told Billboard about the cover.

Combs replied, “I have played it in my live show now for six-plus years and everyone — I mean everyone — across all these stadiums relates to this song and sings along. That’s the gift of a supernatural song writer. The success of my cover is unreal and I think it’s so cool that Tracy is getting recognized and has reached new milestones. I love that she is out there feeling all the love and that she gave me a shout-out! Thank you, Tracy!”

You can watch a clip of the performance above.

What Awards Are Announced During The Grammys Ceremony 2024?

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It’s officially Grammys night for 2024! The best artists in the music industry will be honored for their work in 2023, and hours before the main ceremony, a number of artists were graced with awards during the Grammys pre-show. Jack Antonoff won in the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category while Paramore won in the Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance categories. The R&B ladies shined as SZA won Best Progressive R&B Album, Victoria Monét won Best R&B Album, and Coco Jones won Best R&B Performance. Killer Mike swept the rap categories with wins in the Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album categories.

A lot of categories were announced tonight, but there are still a good bunch of winners that will be announced in between performances for the Grammy Awards 2024. The remaining categories for the night are Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Best R&B Song, Best Country Album, Best Musicá Urbana Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album.

As of press time, Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” was announced as the first winner of the night as it was selected in the Best Pop Solo Performance category. To see the full list of winners from the 2024 Grammy Awards, visit our updated list here.

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

Killer Mike Was Taken Away In Handcuffs Shortly After His Three Big Wins At The 2024 Grammys

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Killer Mike had a tremendous start to the 2024 Grammys. During the pre-show awards, he picked up three awards, every one for which he was nominated. Not long after that, though, things took a turn, as he was spotted being taken away in handcuffs.

On X (formerly Twitter), The Hollywood Reporter‘s Chris Gardner shared a video of Mike, with his hands in cuffs and behind his back, being escorted through a Crypto.com Arena hallway by law enforcement. Gardner noted in a follow-up tweet, “An official tells someone on his team that it’s possible he may be released later tonight from the arena. Unclear if he’s being booked here and what he’s charged with. Trying to find out.”

In an additional update, Gardner conveyed that the situation appears to not be a big deal, tweeting, “Just spoke to an official who tells me it’s a misdemeanor and has nothing to do with anything that happened today here inside the arena. Likely he will be released once it’s sorted. ‘It’s a big nothing,’ source says.”

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. caught wind of what happened and was seen talking with Mike’s team and with officials. After a few minutes, Gardner noted, “Harvey Mason Jr is now headed backstage after spending time here talking to security and Killer Mike’s team. The scene by security has calmed but Mike is still detained back there.”

Gardner also said he attempted to get more information about the situation from somebody on Mike’s team, but they declined to comment.

Find Gardner’s tweets below.