Making History at the 2023 Grammy Awards
By Mikelyn Britt, Opinions Editor
Kim Petras and Sam Smith at the 2023 Grammy Awards (Photo courtesy of the Grammy Awards).
Sunday held many firsts on the Grammy stage as artists took home deserved awards, though it did not come without its controversy. Here are some of the highlights:
57-year-old actress Viola Davis completed her EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony recipients) with her first Grammy win. Davis’ memoir, Finding Me, won for best audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording. Her previous work awarded her an Oscar for the 2017 film Fences, an Emmy for her role as Annalise Keating in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder and a Tony for her on-stage performance in King Hedley II. With the completion of the Grammy Award, Davis became the third Black woman to claim the title of an EGOT.
Kim Petras became the first transgender individual to be awarded a Grammy for her win in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, joined by nonbinary artist Sam Smith, who became the first gender non-conforming artist to win the award. Thirty-year-old Petras is originally from Cologne, Germany and is currently based out of Los Angeles, California.
She has been out as a transgender woman since 2006 when then-13-year-old Petras appeared on a German television show about her medical journey in hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery. Petras thanked “transgender legends” before her, including the late Scottish artist Sophie who passed away in 2021, for paving the path for this historic win. Smith was heard telling audience members to stand for the glass-shattering win.
Beyonce’s win for the Best Dance/Electronic Album for “Renaissance” put her in the history books as well. She became the most decorated Grammy Award winner of all time with a record total of 32 wins. Her twenty-six-year-long career has awarded much critical recognition from her time as a part of the trio group Destiny’s Child, to her popularity as a solo artist.
She went on to thank the “queer community for inventing the genre” and her late uncle for being the inspiration for the album. She used her acceptance speech as a way to pay tribute to the history of the electronic sound and queer influences from her family and peers in her music.
Despite major support and high expectations, “Renaissance” did not win Album of the Year.
Instead, the Grammy went to Harry Styles for his record “Harry’s House,” and backlash ensued surrounding the recording artist and actor’s acceptance speech.
Styles stated, “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often.” The phrasing of ‘people like me’ has been up for debate on social media, with many arguing that as a white male, the response was tone-deaf for the current socio-political atmosphere.
The other best album nominees included Black musical artists Beyonce, Lizzo and Kendrick Lamar, while Styles, as some online statements argue, is another white man. Others give Styles the benefit of the doubt, saying that as the son of a working-class single mother, he was referencing his economic upbringing. Although the topic is still widely up for debate, Styles fans stand by his win.
