Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar won music’s most coveted prizes at Sunday’s Grammy awards, in a star-studded ceremony that doubled as a show of strength for Los Angeles after wildfires ravaged the city. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won three awards including Album of the Year — her first win in the category after four previous nominations — and Best Country Album, making her the first Black woman to win the accolade.Lamar’s “Not Like Us”, a diss track he lodged during a frenetic rap feud with Drake last summer, nabbed both Song and Record of the Year, a rarity for a rap song in two of the most competitive categories of the night. The spectacle-filled evening — in which Taylor Swift danced the night away with a champagne glass in hand and Chappell Roan rode a giant pink pony on stage — was hard to imagine just a few weeks ago. Raging wildfires ensnared LA in early January, displacing tens of thousands of residents and destroying thousands of structures. The disaster decimated large portions of Pacific Palisades, an idyllic neighbourhood by the sea that was home to many music executives, including Universal Music chief Lucian Grainge.The Recording Academy chose to push ahead rather than postpone or cancel the show — a decision with which some people in the industry privately disagreed. Almost all of the parties and events that typically surround the Grammys were cancelled. But the show went on. The Grammys, like the film industry’s Academy Awards, are an expansive production that employs thousands of people. One of the main arguments for carrying on was to bring work back to the city, and turn the Grammys into a show of resilience for LA. “It’s a slightly strange feeling in a way, because the city is massively affected . . . and still having these shiny music events makes it a little bittersweet,” said one senior music executive. The challenge was getting the tone right. Comedian Trevor Noah hosted the reconfigured show, repeatedly pleading on air for donations to aid relief efforts. Two firefighters presented Beyoncé with the Album of the Year trophy. Footage of razed neighbourhoods and donation drives were intermixed with the glitz and glamour. Somehow, it mostly landed. Fires aside, the Grammys serve as a snapshot and a showcase for the current landscape of pop. Even as the music industry has transformed over time, the Grammy awards still matter to most artists. Megastars such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, who rarely speak to the press, keep showing up to the ceremony in downtown LA. A big performance or award can cement a rising star. Winning artists usually receive a boost to sales and streams, and get more leverage in future contracts.This year’s ceremony honoured what was one of the exciting years for pop in recent memory. In 2024 some of the biggest established stars released new work, including Beyoncé, Swift, Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish, making for a jam-packed calendar. They competed with new stars such as Chappell Roan, who brought a dose of overtly queer camp into the mainstream, playing to large crowds and topping the Spotify charts. Meanwhile Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, artists who have been grinding for many years, catapulted to new levels of success with forward-thinking pop.Roan on Sunday won Best New Artist, solidifying her entrance as a major star and defeating a field including Carpenter and rising rapper Doechii (who picked up the award for Best Rap Album). The 26-year-old used her acceptance speech to call on record labels to give artists health insurance and “a liveable wage”.“Labels, we got you. But do you got us?”, she asked an audience filled with industry executives. Charli XCX’s Brat was both a musical feat and a cultural phenomenon of 2024, with the album’s slime green aesthetic dominating social media throughout the summer. But Brat lost out on the major awards on Sunday, instead nabbing three trophies for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Dance Pop Recording, and Best Recording Package. Swift and Eilish, who have historically been favourites of Grammys voters, both left empty-handed. Beyoncé is just the fourth Black woman to win Album of the Year in the Grammys’ 67-year history — following Lauryn Hill in 1999, Whitney Houston in 1994 and Natalie Cole in 1992.She had previously been passed over for the award four times, in spite of winning the most Grammy awards in total of any artist in history, fuelling accusations that the Grammys overlook Black musicians for their most prestigious accolades. Stars including Drake, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z have spoken out against the institution. Cowboy Carter fuses elements of country, rock, R&B and opera and centres Black musicians who have been shunned by the country music establishment — including Beyoncé herself, who grew up in Houston, Texas. “Used to say I spoke too country./And then the rejection came, said I wasn’t country enough,/Said I wouldn’t saddle up,” she sings in the album’s opening track, “Ameriican Requiem”. The ambitious album also features appearances by Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Shaboozey.Some country radio stations initially refused to play the lead single “Texas Hold ’Em”, but it went on to become the first song by a Black woman to top the country music charts. “It’s been many, many years”, Beyoncé said as she accepted the biggest award of the night on stage. As she spoke, some of her peers in the audience visibly teared up, while Swift toasted with Jay-Z. In addition to sombre references to the wildfires, animosity towards the White House coursed through the ceremony. Lady Gaga declared that “trans people are not invisible” while Shakira, winner of Best Latin Pop Album, dedicated her speech to “my immigrant brothers and sisters”. Trevor Noah joked about Trump’s tariffs while Alicia Keys, accepting the Global Impact Award, declared: “DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift.” The Grammys, more than any other Hollywood awards show, are centred on live performances. Eilish kicked things off with her breezy smash hit, “Birds of a Feather”. In an homage to her hometown of LA, she performed against a backdrop of mountains that seemed to mimic the canyons of Altadena, one of the areas hit most severely by the wildfires. “I love you, LA”, she shouted from the stage. Roan’s performance was perhaps the most elaborate, as she straddled a massive pink pony surrounded by dancing rodeo clowns and belted out the song “Pink Pony Club” — itself a homage to West Hollywood’s drag scene. Nearly four hours into the ceremony, Charli XCX lit up the crowd with an energetic performance of Brat hits “Von Dutch” and “Guess”. Briefly turning the Grammys stage into a mini-rave, XCX crawled across the floor as strobe lights flashed and a cascade of underwear rained down from the ceiling.live.grammy.com
