The Recording Academy held its annual Grammys on April 3, and after the drama-filled Oscars night last Sunday, it was refreshing to see an awards show run smoothly. From a touching “In Memoriam” performance to a surprise Album of the Year win, the 2022 Grammys ceremony was one of the academy’s best in years.

PERFORMANCES

The night can be divided into two sections—awards and performances. To start with the latter, Silk Sonic opened up the show with their song “777,” which allowed Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak to fit with the show’s new venue at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas while giving a performance evoking the likes of Elvis Presely and James Brown.

Olivia Rodrigo and J Balvin followed with stage set-ups, placing them apart from the rest, with the former having a neighborhood set to go with her hit song “drivers license” and Balvin bringing in a Jabbawockeez-esque group to perform on beat with his hit song “In da Ghetto.”

Of course, some performances were not as good as the rest, such as Carrie Underwood performing her new song “Ghost Song” as well as the Brothers Osbourne performance that closed out the show on an awkward note. Still, artists like Billie Eilish, Chris Stapleton and Jon Batiste arguably gave the best performances of the night. All three of them honed in on their unique stage presences and wowed everyone with their emotionally charged performances.

AWARDS

Many of the biggest artists in pop right now, like Eilish, Lil Nas X, Rodrigo and Doja Cat were nominated for multiple awards. Leading up to the ceremony, Rodrigo was predicted to win many of the major awards thanks to her hit debut album “SOUR.” While she won Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album, the top awards were given to other artists like Silk Sonic and Batiste, the latter being the biggest surprise of the night.

Both Mars and .Paak accepted their awards for their hit song “Leave The Door Open” with the type of bravado and confidence they built up for themselves, then declared that “drinks are on Silk Sonic tonight.”

When the show came to a close on Album of the Year, not many people expected Batiste’s “WE ARE” to take home the prize, especially after his album lost the Best R&B Album award to Jazmine Sullivan’s “Heaux Tales” earlier in the night. Fortunately for him, despite Batiste giving off a confused expression at the announcement of his win, he gave a beautiful speech thanking his collaborators and recognizing the other nominated artists in the category.