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Show Notes
Miley Cyrus, Victoria Monet, Tyla and Boygenius were among the several women who won their first Grammys on Sunday
On Sunday night, the Grammy Awards culminated, predictably enough, in adding to Taylor Swift’s growing list of chart records and industry milestones. Previously, she was the fourth artist in Grammy history to win Album of the Year three times (for 2008’s Fearless, 2014’s 1989, and 2020’s Folklore), alongside Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Stevie Wonder. Now, after taking another Album of the Year for Midnights, she is the only artist in history to win music’s most coveted award four times.
Earlier in her career, Swift had been skewered for seeming surprised to win awards so often that naysayers thought it was insincere. However, her surprise at the Album of the Year win on Sunday appeared to be legit. She used her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album to reveal that she’s releasing a new album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, in April (she did the same thing at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards to announce Midnights).
Swift wasn’t the only artist who used their Grammys platform to plug new music. Minutes after Kacey Musgraves presented the Best Country Album, CBS aired a commercial featuring a snippet of a new Musgraves song, singing the words “My Saturn has returned,” to announce her forthcoming fifth album. SZA also premiered a new song, called “Saturn,” as part of a 3-minute Mastercard commercial.
Earlier in the day, Midnights producer Jack Antonoff made history of his own. He became the second person to win Producer of the Year, Non-Classical three times in a row, matching Babyface’s run from 1996 to 1998. Del Rey was also up for three awards, including Album of the Year, and lost all of them, bringing her Grammy career total to 11 nominations and zero wins.
When Celine Dion, making a rare public appearance since being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder in 2022, announced the Album of the Year. Swift, who excitedly sang along with Dion’s hit “The Power of Love” while the Canadian diva took the stage, didn’t visibly acknowledge the presenter when accepting the award, stirring online outrage that Swift had “snubbed” Dion. Later in the night, a photo of Swift and Dion smiling together was posted online, prompting accusations of calculated damage control.
After her win was announced, Swift insisted on bringing her friend Lana Del Rey, another Album of the Year nominee and the only guest artist on Midnights, up to the stage. As Swift made her speech, Del Rey stood quietly off to the side, while Swift showered her with compliments during her speech. “Lana Del Rey, who is hiding, but I think so many female artists would not be where they are and would not have the inspiration they have if it weren’t for the work she’s done,” Swift said. “I think she’s a legacy artist, a legend in her prime right now, I’m so lucky to be your friend.”