January 28, 2018
by Carla Hay
With seven awards for his “24K Magic” album and “That’s What I Like” song, Bruno Mars was the top winner at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, which took place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018. He became one of the few artists in Grammy history (including Adele, 2017’s biggest Grammy winner) to sweep the top three prizes in one year: Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Mars also won all the other Grammys for which he was nominated this year: Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. “24K Magic” also took the prize for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, an award that went to engineers Serban Ghenea, John Hanes and Charles Moniz and mastering engineer Tom Coyne.
Performers included Jon Batiste, Brothers Osborne, Alessia Cara, Cardi B, Childish Gambino, Eric Church, Gary Clark Jr., Miley Cyrus, Daddy Yankee, DJ Khaled, Luis Fonsi, Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Kesha, Khalid, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Little Big Town, Logic, Patti LuPone, Bruno Mars, Maren Morris, Pink, Ben Platt, Rihanna, Zuleyka Rivera, Sam Smith, Chris Stapleton, Sting, SZA, Bryson Tiller and U2.
Presenters included Tony Bennett, Dave Chappelle, Kelly Clarkson, Victor Cruz, Eve, Jim Gaffigan, Katie Holmes, Nick Jonas, Anna Kendrick, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Shemar Moore, Trevor Noah, Sarah Silverman, Hailee Steinfeld, Donnie Wahlberg and U2 members Bono and the Edge.
The award show had several artists speaking out on stage against racism and sexism, including Lamar, Janelle Monáe and Logic. Many celebrities who wanted to show their support of the Times Up and #MeToo movement wore or carried white roses at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Grammy Awards host James Corden delivered an uneven performance that was a lot less inspired than his hosting at the 2017 Grammys. Many of his jokes fell flat, and a prerecorded skit of Corden, Sting and Shaggy doing a New York subway version of Corden’s famous Carpool Karaoke was truly cringeworthy and dragged on for too long. A skit that was much-better received by the audience at the arena was a mock prediction of potential winners for the spoken-word Grammy. The skit showed celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Cardi B and Hillary Clinton reading excerpts from “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which has several unflattering stories about President Donald Trump. Throughout the evening, Corden, “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah and other celebrities on the Grammy stage made direct and indirect criticisms and jokes about Trump and his administration’s policies.
The Grammy Awards are voted on by the Recording Academy’s membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers, and engineers.
The following is a sampling of nominations from the Grammy Awards’ 30 fields and 84 categories. For a complete list of winners and nominations, visit www.grammy.com.
*=winner
Album of the Year
“Awaken, My Love!” — Childish Gambino
4:44 — JAY-Z
DAMN. — Kendrick Lamar
Melodrama — Lorde
24K Magic — Bruno Mars*
Record of the Year – given to the artist(s) and producer(s)
“Redbone” — Childish Gambino
“Despacito” — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber
“The Story Of O.J.” — JAY-Z
“HUMBLE.” — Kendrick Lamar
“24K Magic” — Bruno Mars*
Song of the Year – given to the songwriter(s)
“Despacito” — Ramón Ayala, Justin Bieber, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Erika Ender, Luis Fonsi & Marty James Garton, songwriters (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber)
“4:44” — Shawn Carter & Dion Wilson, songwriters (JAY-Z)
“Issues” — Benny Blanco, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Julia Michaels & Justin Drew Tranter, songwriters (Julia Michaels)
“1-800-273-8255” — Alessia Caracciolo, Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, Arjun Ivatury, Khalid Robinson, songwriters (Logic Featuring Alessia Cara & Khalid)
“That’s What I Like” — Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip, songwriters (Bruno Mars)*
Best New Artist
Alessia Cara*
Khalid
Lil Uzi Vert
Julia Michaels
SZA
Best Pop Solo Performance
“Love So Soft” — Kelly Clarkson
“Praying” — Kesha
“Million Reasons” — Lady Gaga
“What About Us” — P!nk
“Shape Of You” — Ed Sheeran*
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
“Something Just Like This” — The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
“Despacito” — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber
“Thunder” — Imagine Dragons
“Feel It Still” — Portugal. The Man*
“Stay” — Zedd & Alessia Cara
Best Dance/Electronic Album
Migration — Bonobo
3-D The Catalogue — Kraftwerk*
Mura Masa — Mura Masa
A Moment Apart — Odesza
What Now — Sylvan Esso
Best Rock Performance
“You Want It Darker” — Leonard Cohen
“The Promise” — Chris Cornell
“Run” — Foo Fighters*
“No Good” — Kaleo
“Go To War” — Nothing More
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Free 6lack — 6lack
Awaken, My Love! — Childish Gambino
American Teen — Khalid
Ctrl — SZA
Starboy — The Weeknd*
Best Rap Album
4:44 — JAY-Z
DAMN. — Kendrick Lamar*
Culture — Migos
Laila’s Wisdom — Rapsody
Flower Boy — Tyler, The Creator
Best Country Album
Cosmic Hallelujah — Kenny Chesney
Heart Break — Lady Antebellum
The Breaker — Little Big Town
Life Changes — Thomas Rhett
From A Room: Volume 1 — Chris Stapleton*
Best Jazz Vocal Album
The Journey — The Baylor Project
A Social Call — Jazzmeia Horn
Bad Ass And Blind — Raul Midón
Porter Plays Porter — Randy Porter Trio With Nancy King
Dreams and Daggers – Cécile McLorin Salvant*
Best Gospel Album
Crossover — Travis Greene
Bigger Than Me — Le’Andria
Close — Marvin Sapp
Sunday Song — Anita Wilson
Let Them Fall In Love — Cece Winans*
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
Rise — Danny Gokey
Echoes (Deluxe Edition) — Matt Maher
Lifer — MercyMe
Hills And Valleys — Tauren Wells
Chain Breaker — Zach Williams*
Best Latin Pop Album
Lo Único Constante — Alex Cuba
Mis Planes Son Amarte — Juanes
Amar Y Vivir En Vivo Desde La Cuidad De México, 2017 — La Santa Cecilia
Musas (Un Homenaje Al Folclore Latinoamericano En Manos De Los Macorinos) — Natalia Lafourcade
El Dorado — Shakira*
Best Americana Album
Southern Blood — Gregg Allman
Shine On Rainy Day — Brent Cobb
Beast Epic — Iron & Wine
The Nashville Sound — Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit*
Brand New Day — The Mavericks
Best Comedy Album
The Age Of Spin & Deep In The Heart Of Texas — Dave Chappelle*
Cinco — Jim Gaffigan
Jerry Before Seinfeld — Jerry Seinfeld
A Speck Of Dust — Sarah Silverman
What Now? — Kevin Hart
Best Song Written For Visual Media
“City Of Stars” — Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, songwriters (Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone), Track from La La Land
“How Far I’ll Go” — Lin-Manuel Miranda, songwriter (Auli’i Cravalho), Track from Moana: The Songs*
“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker) — Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew & Taylor Swift, songwriters (ZAYN & Taylor Swift), Track from Fifty Shades Darker
“Never Give Up” — Sia Furler & Gregg Kurstin, songwriters (Sia), Track from Lion
“Stand Up For Something” — Common & Diane Warren, songwriters (Andra Day Featuring Common), Track from Marshall
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Calvin Harris
No I.D.
Greg Kurstin*
Blake Mills
The Stereotypes