Manny Ita
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, marking the sixth consecutive year comedian Trevor Noah served as the evening’s host. The ceremony, which recognizes outstanding achievements in the music industry over the past year, featured a series of live performances from a roster of nominees including Sabrina Carpenter, KATSEYE, Addison Rae, Rosé, and Bruno Mars. While the majority of the 95 award categories were presented during the Premiere Ceremony held earlier in the day, the primary telecast focused on the high-profile “General Field” categories, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Organizers noted that the event was designed to celebrate “some of the tunes and bangers that helped get us through the past year.”
In the Record of the Year category, the competition featured a diverse array of global hits, including Bad Bunny’s “DtMF,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” and the collaborative track “luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA. Other notable nominees for the honor included Billie Eilish for “WILDFLOWER,” Lady Gaga for “Abracadabra,” and the viral collaboration “APT.” by Rosé and Bruno Mars. The Album of the Year category saw Kendrick Lamar’s GNX and Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA contend against Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM and Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. The category was rounded out by Justin Bieber’s SWAG, Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend, Leon Thomas’s MUTT, and the collaborative project Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse, Pusha T, and Malice.
The Song of the Year category, which specifically honors songwriters, included many of the same top-performing tracks, such as “Anxiety” by Doechii, “The Subway” by Chappell Roan, and “Golden” by HUNTR/X. Simultaneously, the Best New Artist category highlighted a broad spectrum of emerging talent, featuring nominees Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. As the main broadcast concluded, the Recording Academy emphasized its tradition of utilizing the live telecast for these major announcements following the broader distribution of awards during the pre-telecast event.
