Grammys 2019: Women pick up 31 trophies

The recently held 61st Annual Grammy Awards are making headlines for mostly good reasons. This year’s ceremony sought attention for focusing on girl power and inclusivity as it honoured many female singers, songwriters, producers and engineers. A total of 31 female artists won awards during Grammys 2019 that took place on Sunday, February 10, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles while the ceremony was hosted by Alicia Keys.This number is way higher than last year when only 17 of the 86 awards were presented to women including female-led bands while this time around, women won trophies in 38 categories. Besides, it is also heartening to note that 15 women were nominated in four big categories – Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.After the 2018 ceremony, Neil Portnow, Recording Academy president told reporters backstage that women needed to “step up” in order to be nominated. The comment was met with criticism and perhaps, this influenced the more inclusive nominations this year. Dua Lipa, who won the Best New Artist and Best Dance Recording awards, called out Portnow’s “step up” comment during her acceptance speech. After saying that it was an honor to be nominated along so many women, she added, “I guess this year we really stepped up.”Lady Gaga won the first award of the night for best pop duo/group performance for ‘Shallow’ that she shared with Bradley Cooper, who wasn’t present on the occasion. She also won in the best song written for visual media category alongside Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt and the best pop solo performance award for ‘Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?)’.Kacey Musgraves took home four awards including album of the year and best country album for Golden Hour, best solo country performance award for ‘Butterflies’ and best country song for ‘Space Cowboy’.Speaking to reporters backstage, Musgraves expressed that she was glad to see more women among the Grammy winners.“I think women have a really necessary perspective to art, to music and it’s really nice to see them getting a chance to be included,” she said. “I think it takes two to tango and it takes women having the balls to put out art that might not always be liked by everyone, but it also takes people on the other side of that to reach out and give those things a chance to be heard or seen.”Cardi B became the first woman to win in the best rap album category for Invasion of Privacy while H.E.R. won best R&B album and best R&B performance for ‘Best Part’.“It’s very empowering,” H.E.R. told reporters backstage. “First of all, so many women were nominated alongside each other. I love that camaraderie. We need women to support other women ... We all represent different types of women, all shapes and sizes.”Kacey Musgraves, Cardi B, Lady Gaga, H.E.R. and Brandi Carlile were among the night’s big winners. Other than these commendable women, those who picked up awards include Beyonce, who won the best urban contemporary album alongside Jay-Z for The Carters’ Everything Is Love. Before the show began, it was revealed that Ariana Grande had won her first Grammy Award in the best pop vocal album category for Sweetener. St. Vincent’s ‘Masseducation’ won best rock song, while Ella Mai took home the best R&B song award for ‘Boo’d Up’. Opium Moon’s self-titled album took home the best new age album honor. The band features violinist Lli Haydn. Meanwhile, Cecile McLorin Salvant won best jazz vocal album for The Window.Brandi Carlile won best American Roots performance and best American Roots song for ‘The Joke’, as well as best Americana album for By The Way, I Forgive You. She told reporters backstage that it was a “huge” night in terms of what it meant for female musicians and for her personally.“It’s huge to me,” she expressed. “I’m a kid from the ’90s … They completely controlled the airways and to watch that backslide for the last 20 years has been heartbreaking and tonight gives me hope as a mother of two young daughters,” she said.Other female winners included Claudia Brant in the best Latin pop album category for Sincera, Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats in the best children’s album for All The Sounds and Meghan Foley and Annie Stoll in the best boxed or special limited edition package category alongside Al Yankovic for Squeeze Box: The Complete Work of “Weird Al” Yankovic.– With information from The Hollywood Reporter  

from The News International - Instep Today http://bit.ly/2Su6Jq8