The Best & The Worst of The 2022 Grammy Awards

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The 64th Grammy Awards held a lot of spectacle, and a couple of surprises, without any hands being thrown like last week. Of course, the evening didn’t go without a couple of snubs along the way.

Held for the first time in Las Vegas, Nev. on Sunday (April 3), the Grammys were billed as a return to the splendor of ceremonies past before the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the awards show started out of the gate with a captivating performance by the duo of Silk Sonic, better known as Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — really a trio if you count THAT wig. The duo’s performance showed off the pizazz they’ve been exhibiting during their MGM residency and would be the backdrop for their winning all four of the categories they were nominated for including Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Leave the Door Open.”

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SZA and Doja Cat had a chaotic but entertaining moment after winning the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance where SZA took to the stage in a billowy dress and crutches (she explained that she had fallen out of bed earlier in the day) by herself, remarking “Girl, you went to the bathroom for like five minutes, are you serious?” to her co-artist who was rushing to take the stage. “I have never taken such a fast piss in my whole life,” Doja responded to laughter from the crowd. But her candor led to some real tears of joy soon after, proclaiming that “this is a big deal” in accepting the award.

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Questlove added another trophy to his growing collection for his quintessential documentary Summer of Soul. The Roots drummer was also a presenter at the awards, and he and Trevor Noah had some light banter concerning the infamous “slap” that took place before he received the Oscar last week.

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Tyler The Creator provided some more light-hearted energy despite not being at the ceremony after his win for Best Rap Album for Call Me If You Get Lost, showing some love through his Instagram account.

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The legendary Queensbridge MC Nas took the stage and delivered a thrilling medley of his hits including “One Mic” and “Rare” from King’s Disease II which was nominated for Best Rap Album. And Jon Batiste, the artist who shocked many by racking up 11 nominations, wound up taking home five Grammys including Album of The Year for his album We Are. The music director for Late Night With Stephen Colbert on CBS also wound up winning the award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media in a tie (more on those later) and remarked on the journey to make the album as his wife was dealing with cancer.

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It wouldn’t be the Grammys without some unnecessary drama and of course, Hip-Hop was in the middle of it. While Nas had a spotlight performance, the genre wasn’t heavily focused on during the televised ceremony outside of Baby Keem’s win for “Family Ties” and Jack Harlow joining in with Lil Nas X for his performance of “Industry Baby”.

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Many had questions after Ye aka Kanye West wound up winning two Grammys after being barred from attending the event over his recent shenanigans. The ties, with Jazmin Sullivan and Silk Sonic winning for Best R&B Performance and Batiste’s own for his work on the Disney film Soul seemed a little off. But Silk Sonic again wound up being front and center for one of these lowlights, as Bruno Mars kept it a little too 70s by lighting up a cigarette on stage. 

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