Taylor Swift accepts the Best Pop Vocal Album award for “Midnights” onstage during the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Taylor Swift accepts the Best Pop Vocal Album award for “Midnights” onstage during the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Hosted by Trevor Noah for the fourth consecutive year, the 66th Grammy Awards took place in Los Angeles on Monday, and there were plenty of memorable moments - including an arrest.
Killer Mike, an American rapper and activist, was spotted being taken away in handcuffs moments after winning three Grammys at the pre-show show with The Hollywood Reporter journalist Chris Gardner posted a series of tweets to X claiming the arrest was related to a misdemeanour charge that is not in relations to anything that may have happened at the awards show.
However, LAPD spokesman Officer Mike Lopez spoke to AP later telling the news outlet the star’s detention stemmed from an altercation inside the arena around 4pm.
Killer Mike being escorted out of the Grammy Awards by police after winning three awards. Photo / X @thehollywoodreporter
Once the awards began, the shock moments continued with multiple celebrities walking away with their very first Grammy award - including Miley Cyrus.
The pop star’s career goes back decades, from her early days on Disney’s hit show Hannah Montana to her own captivating pop career, she’s been nominated for a Grammy a total of eight times but it was only this year the 31-year-old finally took home an award; Best Pop Solo Performance for her top-charting song, Flowers.
Mariah Carey (left) presented Miley Cyrus with the Best Pop Solo Performance award for Flowers. Photo / Getty Images
Karol G also won her first ever Grammy for best musica urbana album. “This is my first time at the Grammys and this is my first time holding my own Grammy,” the star said. She has previously won five Latin Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist.
Elsewhere, the female artist-dominated award show caused a flurry online with Taylor Swift’s website going down throughout the day and eagle eyed fans spotted an Easter egg in the form of a choker shaped like a watch resulting in heavy speculation she was announcing the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
All was revealed at the award show with the star announcing in her acceptance speech after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights that she is in fact releasing an album, a brand new one called The Tortured Poets Department on April 19.
Other bombshell moments saw Jay Z slam the Recording Academy for the voting system while he was honoured with the Dr Dre Global Impact Award. Referring to his wife, Beyonce who has won 32 Grammys - the most in the award show’s history, he said he couldn’t understand how she has never won Album of the Year.
“Obviously, it’s subjective because, you know, it’s music and it’s opinion based. But you know, some things, you know, I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year,” he added, “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
Following the American rapper and record producer’s thought-provoking speech, 80-year-old music legend Joni Mitchell made her Grammys stage debut with an intimate jazzy, meditative performance of her classic Both Sides Now.
As she sat in a velvet armchair surrounded by candles, she was joined by Brandi Carlile and a chamber orchestra, earning a standing ovation after her performance which came 10 years after an aneurysm that threatened her life and left many thinking she would never sing again.
The final three awards of the night saw Victoria Monet make an emotional speech after winning Best New Artist - her third Grammy win of the night and first three of her career.
Cyrus also had a huge surprise, winning her second ever Grammy; Record of the Year for Flowers. During her acceptance speech, she made several swerves, thanking her team and members of her family but noticeably not her father, Billy Ray Cyrus whom she is reportedly estranged from.
Miley Cyrus accepts the Record of the Year award for Flowers on stage during the 66th Grammy Awards. Photo / Getty Images
She ended her speech by saying, “I don’t think I’ve forgotten anyone, but I might have forgotten underwear.”
Album of the Year was presented by the Grammy’s top secret surprise guest presenter Celine Dion. The star received a standing ovation when she came on stage after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, which caused her to stop performing in late 2022.
Announcing the winner of the final award of the night, Dion revealed Swift had made award show history winning Album of the Year for the fourth time. Until this year’s awards, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Swift had all won the award three times.
“I would love to tell you this is the best moment of my life, but I feel this happy when I finish a song, or when I crack the code to a bridge that I love, or when I’m shortlisting a music video, or when I’m working with my dancers,” she said adding, “For me, the award is the work.”
Barbie World (from Barbie The Album) — Isis Naija Gaston, Ephrem Louis Lopez Jr., and Onika Maraj, songwriters (Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice featuring Aqua)
Just Wanna Rock — Mohamad Camara, Symere Woods, and Javier Mercado, songwriters (Lil Uzi Vert)
Rich Flex — Brytavious Chambers, Isaac “Zac” De Boni, Aubrey Graham, J. Gwin, Anderson Hernandez, Michael “Finatik” Mule, and Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, songwriters (Drake and 21 Savage)
WINNER: Scientists & Engineers — Andre Benjamin, Paul Beauregard, James Blake, Michael Render, Tim Moore, and Dion Wilson, songwriters (Killer Mike featuring Andre 3000, Future, and Eryn Allen Kane)
Best Alternative Jazz Album
Love in Exile — Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily
