Women and people of colour dominated top categories including Kacey Musgraves who won album of the year for Golden Hour. Below we share the top five best moments:
Kacey Musgraves wins Best Country Album and Album of the Year
“Oh my God, it was unbelievable to be in a category with such gigantic albums, brilliant works of art,” Musgraves said during her acceptance speech for Best Album.
The American singer has paved the way for a new brand of country music, making a conscious effort to stand out and fly the flag on a number of social issues including marriage equality and legalisation of marijuana.
Cardi B becomes the first woman in history to win the category of ‘Best Rap Album’
Cardi B recorded her best-selling album Invasion of Privacy while she was heavily pregnant. She responded to trolls who slammed her historic win saying: “While everybody was harassing me like, you not gonna do it, we know you pregnant, your career’s over—that s–t’s dwelling in my f–king mind while I’m workin!”
Dua Lipa wins best new artist
The British artist cheekily gave a shout out to her fellow female nominees during her acceptance speech saying, “I guess this year we really stepped up.” The pointed comment was in reference to former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow and his suggestion last year that women needed to “step up” to be recognised at the Grammys.
She later expanded on her quip, saying: “Being in the New Artist category and having so many female artists nominated is a big change. It’s a change we hope to see for many years to come. It’s a big difference from previous years. I feel so grateful to have been a part of the nominations when they came out and to see so many women honoured. Like, this is amazing. It felt right to be able to do that because they were artists I love and admire and I’m so honoured to be able to share that moment with them.”
Lipa also collected Best Dance Recording alongside Diplo and Mark Ronson for the song, ‘Electricity’.
H.E.R wins Best RnB Album
Rising star, Gabriella (Gabi) Wilson but better known by her stage name H.E.R won best RnB Album for her self titled album, H.E.R.
“So first thing I wanna say is this is unbelievable and second it’s not even an album, it’s an EP” she said after accepting her golden gramophone. “I’m speechless right now, I’m holding back tears.”
She thanked her family, record company and God for the win: “Thank you for all the sacrifices you made for me and for embracing my talents since I was a little girl,”
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance awarded to Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga for ‘Shallow’
During a rousing acceptance speech, Lady Gaga addressed the issue of mental health and urged people to “take care of each other”.
“I’m so proud to be a part of a movie that addresses mental health issues,” Gaga said. “They’re so important. And a lot of artists deal with that, and we’ve got to take care of each other. So if you see somebody that’s hurting don’t look away. And if you’re hurting, even though it might be hard, try to find that bravery within yourself to dive deep and go tell somebody and take them up in your head with you.”
Video: Lady Gaga gives an inspirational and emotional speech collecting the award for “Shallow” for Best Duo Performance! #GRAMMYs #AStarIsBorn pic.twitter.com/kKy7OJRyzG
— Ryan | Lady Gaga 🏳️🌈 (@ryanleejohnson) February 11, 2019
It was a huge night for all the winners and a welcome step forward (or perhaps a step up) from the organisers of the Grammys.