The Grammys 2024: A Crescendo of Talents, Triumphs, and a Night of Firsts

In the wake of the 66th annual Grammy Awards, admits the backdrop of dwindling viewership rates, fans are left to reflect on the future trajectory of music’s most iconic celebrations and debrief the events of the evening. Well-known artists like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish both walked away with multiple golden gramophones under their belts, but it was the diversity and newness of the cast of winners for this year that made the Grammys an interesting watch again. I mean, come on – a viewership of 16.9 million people is nothing to sniff at, but you’d be surprised to hear that although that’s a more than 5 million viewer increase from last year, it’s still lower than the amount of people the Grammys used to pull in. Long gone are the days of 39 million viewers from 2012, or even the 28.4 in the year following that – but, perhaps, not all is lost.

Grammy awards. Image Courtesy of Carlo Allegri | Reuters

According to an article from Variety, this year marked “the most watched Grammys ceremony since 2020”, which should indicate why people stopped tuning into the show. COVID-19 impacted many areas in entertainment and daily life (your mom’s book club and your dad’s weekly golf games included), and the Grammys were certainly not exempt from that. With social distancing and a much-reduced audience in place in the past couple of years, it’s no wonder the show was deemed “too boring”; especially since so many of the same people kept winning the same awards.

This year exhibited some of the same trends, with Taylor Swift winning awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year, but even that marked a divergence from the shows of years past; Swift broke a record previously held by Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon. She became the first-ever artist to have won the Album of the Year award four times. (And, wonder of wonders, she didn’t even get the microphone yanked out of her hand this time!)

Taylor Swift accepted her Grammy. Image Courtesy of Kevin Winter | Getty Images

Frank Sinatra’s children – Nancy and Tina Sinatra – congratulated her with a message on Instagram, posting a black and white picture of their dad with the caption: “Congratulations @taylorswift on your Album of the Year win and breaking our dad’s record. You’re a champion for artists everywhere, and doing it your way.”

That, coupled with Swift teasing the release of a new album beforehand – though most people thought it would be a re-record of Reputation and not an entirely new setlist – proved to be a major reason why so many people tuned in for the 2024 Grammys. So not only did Blondie – as her fans affectionately call her – bolster the show’s viewership, but she also found an opportunity to promote her work. Let’s just call her a marketing queen and be done with it. Miss Girl knew what she was doing.

Moving forward, Swift was presented her Album of the Year award by none other than the legendary Celine Dion, who emerged as one of the night's more dignified surprises. Dion, who shared her diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome with the world in December of 2022, looked happier and healthier than ever, elegantly dressed in Valentino SS24 couture. She was largely graced with a standing ovation from the audience upon walking onto the stage and was greeted with a general sense of relief from the public, who hadn’t heard from her in a good while.

Celine Dion on stage. Image Courtesy of Monica Schipper | Getty Images

Dion’s appearance was one of many wholesome moments in the award show, but another one – much awaited by fans and the artist herself – was Miley Cyrus’ first-ever Grammy win for Record of the Year. Her song, “Flowers” was all the rage in TikTok last year, and was highly publicized due to being about her gaining her identity and freedom back after her divorce from ex-husband Liam Hemsworth.

Her ad-libbed performance was one that many fans enjoyed, and although her clothes and hairstyle weren’t appreciated by everyone, the general consensus was that her award was much deserved. Cyrus, after all, is a veteran in the music industry, and her Grammy was – if anything – a long time coming.

However, she wasn’t the only one being honored by the award show for the first time. Victoria Monét – dressed in a gorgeous, brown floor-length ball gown, matching with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Hazel – won three Grammys that night for Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. During a time when women of color still haven’t obtained the proper representation that they deserve, these wins proved to be a breath of fresh air on the music scene.

Image Courtesy of Sonja Flemming | Getty Images

Monét – alongside the American indie music group, boygenius – was one of the front-runners favored to win the awards for which she was nominated for in the Grammys. Similar to her, the aforementioned group won three awards as well, for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance.

Joining the group Monét was Coco Jones, who – being a seasoned Disney star  – was also nominated for her first Grammy this year. She won Best R&B Performance for her song “ICU”, which she released in 2022 on her EP “What I Didn’t Tell You”. She described the moment her name was called as life-changing, telling Bet.com, “I’m just truly grateful for all the obstacles that make me who I am today.” Her spectacular win, set alongside Monét’s, is a victory for all young Black women who don’t often get to see themselves represented at award shows like this. Though most people are still upset by the fact that Beyonce still hasn’t won an Album of the Year award (Jay-Z, who might be entering his Kanye era, having reminded us), the triumphs of these two women have proven to be a balm for the soul.

Taking all of this year’s awards into consideration, it seems that the Grammys has chosen a new path for its future, while still clinging onto vestiges of its troubled past. Viewers can, in the future, expect to see some of what they always have, while looking out for the newest faces on the scene and the most deserving names being called for the awards that they earned. It’s been a long time coming, to this transition, and while it isn’t the radical move that most people would have liked to see, it’s a step in the right direction.

Hopefully, next year, we can see more of what made this year’s celebration so worth watching. For now, all we can do is hope and wait.

Strike Out,

Helia Roghani

Miami

Helia Roghani is a writer for Strike Magazine, Miami. She grew up writing terrible fanfiction about Harry Potter and now writes slightly less terrible fiction and non-fiction pieces of her own. She enjoys listening to Taylor Swift, reading the latest from Cassandra Clare, and is a proud (and loud!) hater of Colleen Hoover. You can reach her on Instagram @heliaroghani or email heliaroghani02@gmail.com.

Editors: Carla Mendez, Priscilla Fernandez