The Grammys are always good for innumerable indelible moments, partly because unlike acting-related awards shows – that’s you Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmys – this telecast always features great artists doing what they do best on live television: rocking out.
The 65th annual awards, which were held Sunday inside Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, were no exception. The all-star event, which kicked off with a wild mambo fiesta courtesy of nominee Bad Bunny, featured standout musical acts, one-of-a-kind outfits and historic Grammy wins.
Beyoncé officially became the queen of the Grammys when her win for best dance/electronic album for “Renaissance” brought her all-time total to 32, one more than the late Hungarian classical conductor Georg Solti.
There also was Adele finally getting to meet The Rock, Viola Davis joining the exclusive EGOT club and Shania Twain looking like a witchy mushroom. Missed it all? No worries, we’ve got the best of the best moments right here.
Grammys 2023:Follow every award with our minute-by-minute recap of the night
Winners! See which stars took home Grammy gold
Adele (finally!) meets Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
Trevor Noah sidled up to a table where Adele was sitting and divulged the fact that one of the superstar’s secret desires was to meet Dwayne Johnson. Noah said that while he wasn’t sure where that person was, he did want to introduce her to someone called The Rock.
That’s when the actor strode into view, hulking in a brown suit, and embraced a visibly shocked Adele. Later, The Rock was the one to present Adele with the Grammy for best pop solo performance for “Easy On Me.”
“Get up here, best friend,” The Rock called out as a soon-to-be teary Adele walked to the stage.
50 years of hip-hop gets an outrageous star-filled tribute
The crowd rose to their feet for a lengthy tribute celebrating 50 years since the sounds of hip-hop first emanated from Brooklyn house parties. With rap icons ranging from Jay-Z to Dr. Dre taking in the action from the audience, The Roots backed an all-star cast of performers that began with pioneer Grandmaster Flash doing “Flash to the Beat,” followed by Run-DMC doing “King of Rock.”
A torrent of rap talent followed, including DJ Jazzy Jeff (the other half of the duo that featured Will Smith), Salt-N-Pepa, Chuck D and Flavor Flav from Public Enemy, West Coast rap legend Ice-T and rapper-turned-beloved TV actress Queen Latifah.
Representing more recent standouts were Swizz Beatz and Lil Wayne. LL Cool J and Lil Uzi Vert rapped things up with “Just Wanna Rock” and gave a shout-out to how hip-hop has gone from being largely an urban American sound to being to being fully integrated into culture worldwide.
Harry Styles superfan, 78, presents him with his album of the year Grammy
In what was undoubtedly a Grammy first, the vaunted album of the year award was announced by … a 78-year-old grandmother from Sudbury, Ontario.
Harry Styles superfan Reina Fafantaisie was one of several people who were invited to share their feelings on why their favorite performer should win. At the end of the telecast, Noah called all the superfans to the stage. After he opened the envelope, he turned to Fafantaisie and told her, “You read it.”
A shocked Fafantasie, Grammy in hand, was rushed by Styles, who then wrapped his outstretched hands around the stunned woman.
Lizzo gives props to Prince and Beyoncé in her acceptance speech for record of the year
A shook-up Lizzo bounded on the stage to accept record of the year for “About Damn Time” and thanked Prince, who embodied the musical essence of Minneapolis, the city where Lizzo broke out.
“When we lost Prince, I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music,” she said. Being misunderstood made her want to “make the world a better place, so I had to be that change, to make the world a better place.”
At the end of her long speech, she sought out a standing Beyoncé in the crowd and, weeping, thanked the all-time Grammy champion for being her inspiration, starting back from when she cut class in fifth grade with her sister to see the icon in concert.
“Thank you so much. You clearly are the artist of our lives!” Lizzo said as a smiling Beyoncé nodded in acknowledgement.
Viola Davis gets her EGOT
Actress Viola Davis reached an epic milestone by winning a Grammy for best audio book of her own memoir, “Finding Me.” That award allowed her to join the exclusive EGOT club, those artists who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Davis won her Oscar in 2017 (for “Fences”), her Tonys in 2001 (“King Hedley II”) and 2010 (“Fences”), and her Emmy in 2015 (“How to Get Away With Murder”).
“I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola, to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything,” Davis said in her acceptance speech. “And it has been such a journey. I just EGOT!”
She’s only the third Black woman and 18th person to EGOT, a group includes performers such as Jennifer Hudson, Rita Moreno, John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Robert Lopez, Whoopi Goldberg and Mike Nichols, to name a few.
Shania Twain wore a truly outrageous Grammy outfit
Country star Shania Twain, who presented the best country album Grammy to Willie Nelson for “A Beautiful Time,” showed up on the red carpet wearing an outfit that defied description. But if we had to try, we’d call it a cross between a benevolent witch and a cartoon mushroom.
The glittery outfit was a sequined white bell-bottomed suit with big black spots, crowned by a oversized hat in the same material. Shania spiced it all up by sporting shockingly red hair.
Kim Petras becomes first trans performer to win best pop duo/group Grammy
German pop singer Kim Petras, who is transgender, and nonbinary British crooner Sam Smith made history together they took the stage to accept the award for best pop duo/group performance for the song “Unholy” off Smith’s new album “Gloria.”
It was the first time the award in this category was given to a trans performer, and she’s believed to be the first Grammy-winning trans performer in history.
Smith stepped aside and let Petras take the microphone to give an impassioned acceptance speech in which she described growing up in Germany with a mother who accepted that her child, born male, was a woman.
