Grammy Awards Live Updates: Megan Thee Stallion Wins Best New Artist

In announcing his selection as host last November, officials with the Recording Academy and CBS praised Noah’s energy and ability to keep an audience engaged. Noah had suggested he would let the musical performances do much of the work powering the show.

But in his opening remarks, the spotlight was squarely on Noah. He used his time in part to lay out the complicated logistics around how the night’s performances would take place, but also to try to build excitement for the hours ahead.

“This is not a zoom background, this is real,” he said. “Tonight we’re going to celebrate some of the fantastic music that has touched our lives and saved our souls over this unprecedented year.”

Exclamation points aside, they weren’t that far off. The first quasi-live mega-awards red carpet since Covid-19 began was like a fashion primal scream. It was also kind of fun. Who wants restraint when we’ve all been constrained? Doja Cat summed it up when she showed off a Roberto Cavalli gown that involved a leather motorcycle jacket unzipped to the waist and then somehow spliced into a showgirl skirt of neon green and black feathers.

“I like something that’s kind of out there,” she said in her red carpet interview. “I feel like I’ve been kind of toned down before this.”

“Toned-down” was not a word anyone would have used (BTS in hip monochrome Louis Vuitton suiting aside). Phoebe Bridgers came as a bejeweled Thom Browne skeleton, with a full set of bones embroidered on a black gown. Noah Cyrus was a walking tower of whipped cream in exploding ivory Schiaparelli couture. Cynthia Erivo did her best imitation of liquid mercury in Vuitton sequins. Dua Lipa was a crystal Versace butterflyMegan Thee Stallion channeled a gigantic neon orange supernova in a strapless Dolce & Gabbana column with a steroid-fueled bow on the back, complete with train.

“I wanted to look like a Grammy,” she said, of the dress. “I manifested this.”

She wasn’t the only one. Suddenly, costumes that once might have provoked eye rolls and cynicism seemed like a courageous refusal to let the last year win. And the red carpet, which was increasingly dismissed as a mere marketing tool, has a whole new role.

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Diary of a Song Breaks Down the Grammys

Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and more will face off this weekend for record of the year. In this special Diary of a Song episode, The New York Times’ pop music team dissects the award show’s premier category.

When you look at this category, Record of The Year, how do you feel? “Sad.” “What the hell were they thinking?” “It feels like what 50-year-olds think popular music was like.” “It feels like 2020 in that it’s kind of unsatisfying.” “Record of The Year is the culture category. Where in the culture was this music in 2020?” “But it should be good. It should be the song that’s good enough to represent the year, not just the song that was zeitgeisty enough.” Singing: “Mother land, mother land, mother land, mother land drip on me.” Do you like this song? “I do like this song.” “I do like this song.” “It’s fine.” “I like Black Parade a lot, actually.” “It’s very textured and layered and it gets more and more interesting the more you listen to it.” “There’s the flute. There’s the African choir. There’s the fact that she’s being very topical, talking about Black Lives Matter protests.” “Is it like the banger from Beyoncé I want to hear every day? Not necessarily.” “And we are talking about one of pop music’s Olympic gods. This is a mortal song. She does probably win.” “And I think it might have an inside track, because they keep snubbing Beyoncé.” “She’s the queen of nominations and then the non-queen of winning, especially in the major categories.” “But she’s even better on ‘Savage.’” We’ll get to ‘Savage.’ Singing: “With all my favorite colors.” What is this song? “Every time it comes on I’m like, maybe this is going to be the time where I think it’s deeper than it actually is. But it really isn’t. It’s very simple.” “It’s a song that exists for the Grammys.” “The Grammys appreciate that kind of musicianship.” “There’s good guitar work on that song. Organ on that song is really strong. The vocal is good.” Singing: “I’ll be shaded by the trees.” “But what it’s missing for me is the punch or drama. I mean, it is for people in major Starbucks attendance withdrawal is what it is.” One of the things that hit me about this category is that a lot of them are guitar songs. Even the rap song is a guitar song. “Right. But they’re guitar songs, but they are guitar songs. It’s funny because the next one we’re going to talk about is DaBaby, which is definitely a guitar song.” Singing: “You even met a real rockstar. This ain’t no guitar, bitch, it’s a glock.” “Of every song in this category, it’s the best writing. The guitar part is so pretty, I feel like you almost aren’t catching everything that he’s saying.” Singing: “PTSD. I’m always waking up with cold sweats like I got the flu. My daughter a G. She show me kill a [inaudible] before the age of two. And I’d kill another [inaudible] too.” “I doubt it can win. Historically, the Grammys don’t do well with stuff like this.” “I also don’t think they want to give a Grammy to two Black men. They just don’t. Outkast was the last time that’s going to happen for a long time in the major categories.” Singing: “I’d let you had I known it. Why don’t you say so?” Doja Cat, “Say So,” produced by a man named Tyson Trax. Have you ever heard of this guy, Tyson Trax? “Isn’t that a pseudonym for somebody who maybe has a kind of a bad reputation?” “Oh wait, it’s not Dr. Luke?” Yeah. It’s Dr. Luke. “He used a pen name, for real?” Yeah — Tyson Trax. “Ew. That’s disgusting.” “The number of people in the nominating process or the voting process who know that this is a pseudonym for Dr. Luke, I have to imagine is less than 1 percent.” Do you like “Say So?” “No. Actually, I don’t. It’s disco without the luxury. Everything about disco and twirling around in furs under a disco ball. And this song kind of sounds like a sad person dancing under a single light bulb to me.” “It’s more like, hey.” Yeah. It’s Uber music. “Hey, everybody.” It’s music for the Uber. “It’s Uber music. That’s it.” Singing: “I got everything I wanted.” “This is typical Grammy stuff. Hey that worked. Let’s do it again.” Would it be too soon for Billie Eilish to win again? “Yes.” Singing: “Don’t show up. Don’t come out. Don’t start caring about me now.” Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now.” “Yes.” “Is this the record of the year?” “Yes. Disco strings, baseline of the year.” Singing: “Don’t show up. Don’t show up. Don’t —” “It’s a kiss off to an ex who’s trying to make a comeback.” “It’s kind of the opposite of Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own.’” Singing: “I’m in the corner watching you kiss her.” “Dua’s like, don’t come watch me be in the club with somebody else, because I’m going out now and I’m over you.” “‘Don’t Start Now’ is a disco banger.” “It sounds like makeup.” Singing: “Run away, but we’re running in circles.” “The idea that this person also did ‘White Iverson.’” Singing: “I got me some braids and I got me some hoes.” “It is fascinating to think that those are the same artist.” This is not a rap song? “No.” “I don’t even know what this song is.” “You know what? This was the Post Malone song that convinced me. I was like, OK, you’re a songwriter. This is a really good song.” “I don’t dislike it, because it’s almost like structurally impossible to dislike.” But you also wouldn’t vote for it? “No, I wouldn’t.” Singing: “I’m a savage. OK Classy, bougie, ratchet, OK Sassy —” Is this the record of the year? “Yes it is.” “A major streaming hit. A huge TikTok hit and dance trend before Beyoncé ever shows up. Beyoncé shows up because of all that. But Megan Thee Stallion, she’s like a C.E.O.” Right. “She’s a great rapper about transaction. It isn’t only about capitalism. But it is also about orgasm, and pleasure, and body fluids.” “Do you think that this is a bigger TikTok song than ‘WAP?’” That’s a good question. ‘WAP’ obviously could have been in this category. Cardi B. reportedly did not submit it for nominations because she wants to save it for the next Grammys. But Beyoncé is Beyoncé. So, you know — “Yeah. Yeah.” “Beyoncé on this song is that big steak that the Flintstones get at the end of every episode and it tips the whole car over. Beyoncé is that steak. She can’t help it. And if you’re Megan Thee Stallion, what are you going to say?” Is this the song to beat in the category? “Yeah. I think it’s between this and Dua.” Flat out, what’s going to win this category? “I think ‘Black Parade.’” “I’m picking ‘Black Parade.’” “‘Savage’ or Billie Eilish.” “I’m going to say, Dua. I think she should win, and I think she will win.” And who should win? “I’m giving it to Beyoncé and ‘Black Parade’ again.” “The Dua Lipa song and ‘Savage’ are my favorite two.” “My vote’s ‘Rockstar.’” And what do you miss in this category? What should be here? “‘Watermelon Sugar.’” Singing: “High.” “It’s a classic no-brainer record of the year. I can’t believe it’s not here. And ‘Blinding Lights’ is the other song.” Right. Singing: “When I’m like this, you’re the one I trust.” “‘Cardigan’ by Taylor Swift is not there.” Singing: “You put me on and said I was your favorite.” “That’s a cozy, old-fashioned subliminally catchy song.” “My heart will always be with that Dua song because I think it’s crisp and perfect. But, if Beyoncé came to the awards, and gave an acceptance speech, and if she would take the Grammys to task for it taking so long for her to be properly honored, the potential of the ‘Black Parade’ win is the most interesting one.” Singing: “Black parade.” “That presumes I think the Grammys are valid.” Sure. “So let’s start with that. That’s a dubious proposition. Start there.” [vocalizing] “I just had this idea that I wanted it to bounce.” Singing: “I got the horses in the back.” [vocalizing] Singing: “Man, what’s the deal? Man, I’m coming through. It’s your girl Lizzo.”

This year, Beyoncé appears in the category twice — for her song “Black Parade” and “Savage (Remix)” with Megan Thee Stallion — alongside “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa, “Rockstar” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch, “Say So” by Doja Cat, “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish, “Circles” by Post Malone and “Colors” by Black Pumas.

It’s an eclectic mix, telling a variety of stories about the industry through disparate sounds. To understand the premier category, The New York Times’ pop music team gathered remotely to discuss the nominees in a special “Diary of a Song” spinoff episode. Watch the breakdown above.

And check out the rest of the behind-the-scenes making-of videos — including appearances by Lipa, Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Olivia Rodrigo, a Grammys hopeful for next year — at our YouTube channel. Subscribe to never miss an episode.

“Brown Skin Girl,” a celebratory anthem filled with familiar faces — including Lupita Nyong’o and Kelly Rowland — is replete with imagery of loving relationships between Black women: mothers and daughters, sisters, friends. Blue Ivy appears at the beginning, with a shot of her playing a hand clapping game with her mother. She later appears all dolled up like a debutante, wearing a string of pearls and white gloves.

In the song’s outro, Blue Ivy echoes her mother, singing, “Brown skin girl/Your skin just like pearls.” Also credited for the award is the Nigerian singer-songwriter Wizkid.

The award was given out in the earlier Grammys ceremony that started at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Beyoncé has a big night ahead of her: She has nine nominations in eight categories, the most of any artist. Also included on the winners’ list for best music video is one of the directors, Jenn Nkiru, and the video producers: Astrid Edwards, Aya Kaida, Jean Mougin, Nathan Scherrer and Erinn Williams.

Riley Gale, the frontman and moral compass of the Dallas thrash band Power Trip, died last August. This nod, for a song from the outstanding concert recording “Live in Seattle: 05.28.2018,” is a reflection of not only the band’s stomping potency and Gale’s charisma, but also an implicit acknowledgment that the group’s ascent to the stratosphere was an inevitability. JON CARAMANICA

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, “Axiom”

It’s a Grammy mystery that “Axiom” is nominated for best contemporary instrumental album — usually a category for pop-jazz and acoustic Americana — when it’s clearly jazz, though Adjuah prefers the term “creative improvised music.” (Meanwhile, Adjuah’s trumpet solo in one track, “Guinnevere,” is nominated for best improvised jazz solo.) Recorded at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village in the last days before the club closed for the pandemic, the music has a now-or-never immediacy: declamatory, percussive, intent on tapping communal power. JON PARELES

Best Regional Roots Music Album
Nā Wai Ehā, “Lovely Sunrise”

The Hawaiian entry in this category, which is an umbrella for traditional and regional American styles, comes from Nā Wai Ehā, a robust, deeply skilled band made up of two sets of brothers devoted to time-honored Hawaiian music that also pays homage to the crisp, harmony-rich pop of the 1960s. CARAMANICA

Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
Lido Pimienta, “Miss Colombia”

Born in Colombia and living in Canada, Lido Pimienta sings about finding her own path as she forges deep musical connections. She fuses Colombian rhythms and traditions with 21st-century possibilities: electronics, rock guitars, horn sections and choirs of her own clear, guileless voice. PARELES

Best Bluegrass Album
Billy Strings, “Home” (Winner!)

One of the most adventurous guitar players in bluegrass, Billy Strings has been inching toward recognition beyond the walls of the typically cloistered genre. (He recently released a song with country kingpin Luke Combs.) “Home,” his second solo album, is both lustrous and curious, a full-throated arrival of a wicked talent. CARAMANICA

Best Dance/Electronic Album
Arca, “KiCk i”
Baauer, “Planet’s Mad”

In a year of empty dance floors and shuttered clubs, the dance/electronic category looked well beyond typical big-room bangers. “KiCk i” by Arca is a jolting, disorienting, whipsawing album — sometimes confrontational, sometimes whimsical, sometimes yearning, sometimes manic — with guest vocals from Björk and Rosalía along with Arca’s own rapping and singing. “Planet’s Mad” by Baauer, whose 2012 “Harlem Shake” started a video dance craze, is a loud, nutty, overstuffed concept album envisioning the destruction of Earth in an interplanetary collision, hopscotching through assorted international beats on the way to immolation. PARELES

Best Americana Album
Courtney Marie Andrews, “Old Flowers”
Sarah Jarosz, “World on the Ground” (Winner!)

The Americana category includes two pristine, thoughtful, largely acoustic albums suffused with quiet grace. Courtney Marie Andrews’s “Old Flowers” addresses a breakup and its aftermath in sparse, gorgeously sung ballads: heartsick but cleareyed. Sarah Jarosz’s “World on the Ground” envisions a homecoming to small-town Texas to contemplate memories, expectations, disillusion and resilience. PARELES

Traditionally, the week leading up to the Grammys is packed with charity events, brunches, showcase performances and boozy parties. Gossip trickles out, chests are puffed and campaigns for the next year are seeded. Important business is conducted. Journalists (cough cough) exploit the atmosphere to corner executives who don’t return their calls.

This year, that is gone. There have still been some virtual events, but without the clinking of cocktail glasses and the Los Angeles sunshine, it’s just not the same.

The cruelest absence is Clive Davis’s annual gala, which he has been hosting since 1976. Besides the year’s big artist nominees, the event, planned for the night before the awards, usually has national V.I.P.’s like Nancy Pelosi and Tim Cook. One year I witnessed gasps as Sylvester Stallone arrived. (He was astonishingly orange.)

Davis, the 88-year-old industry eminence who signed Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys, had intended to hold a virtual version of his show, but postponed it because he has been suffering from Bell’s palsy; Davis reportedly intends to hold a rescheduled event in May. That might still be fun, but I will miss everybody’s ironclad predictions that their client will totally win.

Abel Tesfaye, who performs as the Weeknd, led the anti-Grammys charge this cycle, after he was shut out of nominations despite having released a critical and commercial juggernaut of an album, “After Hours,” and an inescapable hit in “Blinding Lights.”

In a statement to The New York Times, Tesfaye said he no longer wanted to be considered for the awards moving forward, citing the Grammy committees that decide the final nominees in most categories. “Because of the secret committees,” he said, “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” (Ocean took a similar stance in 2016, explaining that he did not trust the Grammys to understand “people who come from where I come from.”)

Similar tensions have been simmering for years, with questions about gender and racial diversity that have plagued the industry more widely colliding and coming under special scrutiny surrounding the annual television showcase. The Recording Academy, the nonprofit behind the Grammys, has called its recent diversity efforts, including a push for new members, “transformative.”

On the day before the show, Cardi B, who is scheduled to perform, took a more diplomatic approach than some of her peers, nodding to the controversy in a statement, but striking an optimistic, conciliatory tone. “Maybe by next year they will get it right,” she wrote, before citing as wins the nominations of independent Black artists like Chika, Freddie Gibbs, Kaytranada and Robert Glasper. “Let’s not forget to congratulate these artists,” she said. “This is their moment too.”

Yet it remains an uphill climb: A Black artist has not won album of the year since Herbie Hancock’s tribute to Joni Mitchell in 2008. A rap song won record and song of the year — two of the other so-called “big four” categories — for the first time in 2019, with “This Is America” by Childish Gambino. (Donald Glover, who performs as Childish Gambino, was not present to collect his awards.)

This year, artists like Beyoncé, who has not won a major award since 2010, and Roddy Ricch, a young Los Angeles rapper, are among the top nominees.

But despite her field-leading nine nominations and stated interest from the academy, Beyoncé will not perform at the show, marking the third time in the last four years that the top nominee will not grace the stage, following her husband Jay-Z (who went zero for eight in 2018) and Kendrick Lamar.

The Grammys preshow, which includes the red carpet stream, starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. There will be the typical giddy interviews with stars and glimpses at the backstage setup. You can watch that on Grammy.com; it will also be streaming on Facebook Live.

An earlier Grammys ceremony started at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific. Hosted by the singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko (a Grammy nominee herself), more than 70 Grammys were awarded at this ceremony, which streamed on Grammy.com and on the Grammys YouTube channel. The preshow ceremony also featured performances by several nominees, including the Nigerian singer-songwriter Burna Boy, the blues musician Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and the German pianist Igor Levit.

It is still not entirely clear what shape the night will take. Officials have said they planned for a small audience in Los Angeles, and that a mix of live and pretaped performances will take place on five outdoor stages near the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the show’s usual home. Trevor Noah, from “The Daily Show,” is the host. Here’s a quick look at what else to expect:

The nominees:

Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Roddy Ricch headlined the nominations when they were disclosed in the fall.

Beyoncé got the most nods overall with nine nominations in eight categories — “Black Parade” is competing against her guest turn on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage (Remix)” for record of the year. Swift got six nominations, five for her quarantine album “Folklore,” and one for “Beautiful Ghosts,” a song she wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the film version of “Cats.” Lipa has six too, including album, record and song of the year. And Ricch earned six nominations in four categories (he’s up against himself for rap song and rap/sung performance).

Our pop music team broke down and debated one of the so-called “big four” categories, record of the year, in a special “Diary of a Song” episode.

A full list of nominees is here, a condensed version of the highlights is here, and as always, there were snubs, which we wrote about here. (The biggest? The Weeknd, who received no nominations this year, and told The New York Times this week that he would ask his record company not to submit his music for the awards in the future.)

The performers:

The full list of announced performers includes Bad Bunny, Black Pumas, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. And there’s always the possibility of a surprise artist joining the lineup.

The Recording Academy has said the show will offer a mix of live and taped appearances in a format described as “coming together, while still safely apart.”

Workers from the Troubadour and the Hotel Café in Los Angeles, the Apollo Theater in New York and Nashville’s Station Inn will appear throughout the evening. Presenters will also include a handful of artists: Jhené Aiko, Jacob Collier, Lizzo and Ringo Starr.

Although safety concerns surrounding the pandemic are providing challenges for the show’s producers — the event will feature both live and taped appearances — the unusual circumstances are also offering the Grammys a chance to experiment, as other high-profile live events have done.

The Golden Globes allowed co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to appear simultaneously from separate locations in New York and Los Angeles. And organizers of the Democratic National Convention drew praise last year for broadcasting a virtual roll call that featured appearances from everyday Americans in 57 states and territories.