The music industry’s biggest night went live last Sunday with the most talented people in attendance. But with a night full of surprise wins, fandoms have taken it to social media to defend their faves to the end and dragging anyone who steps in their way.
There is no doubt that the Grammys were a shocking turn of events. Millions of viewers watched as Harry Styles took home the Grammy for “Album of the Year,” an award that everyone presumed would go to Beyoncé or Bad Bunny. Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s TikTok-viral song “Unholy” won Best Pop/Duo performance amidst religious controversy. And don’t even get us started with the jaw-dropping moment of American blues singer Bonnie Raitt winning “Song of the Year” for her song “Just Like That” against Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Adele’s “Easy on Me,” and even Taylor Swift’s ten-minute version of “All Too Well.”
And of course, with a night full of twists and surprises, people took it to Twitter and TikTok to react to the wins and snubs of the evening. From admiration and excitement to down-right hatred, these stans did anything to have their voice heard. Let’s take a look at some of the mixed reactions to the biggest categories of the night.
Album of the Year: Harry's House
Coming from someone who’s been supporting Harry since they were nine years old, I was genuinely surprised that Harry beat out some of the top artists in the music industry. There was no doubt in my mind that this award was going to Queen B or Benito. But when Trevor Noah panned over to Reina, the sweet little grandma who was Harry’s supporter for "Album of the Year," my heart dropped. It was something completely unexpected, and something that I will forever be so lucky to have witnessed in real-time.
And while some agree with me, and reacted positively of Harry’s win:
Others made it very clear that their faves were more deserving, and even members of the crowd posted videos of them heckling the artist during the show:
All nominees in this category were deserving of this award – period. Each album was truly a fantastic body of work from start to finish, and Harry’s House just happened to seal the deal with the Recording Academy.
Best Music Video:
“All Too Well: Short Film” by Taylor Swift
It’s not everyday that an artist can write, produce and create a 10-minute version of a song. But Taylor Swift did exactly that. After rereleasing Red (Taylor’s Version), Swift made the executive decision to give the fans the full version of her song “All Too Well”. Written all about a relationship with an age-gap and nostalgic memories of a relationship that once was, this song easily became a fan favorite amongst Swifties.
The short film featuring star-studded actors like Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien play characters based on a relationship that many assume to be Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal. This category definitely had the most positive reactions to Swift winning the award. It's one thing to create a music video, but it's a completely different story to create an entire short film based on one song– and for that Swift is deserving of such high prestige. But fans were more upset over this “masterpiece” not winning the Grammy for “Song of the Year”. With Swift being nominated in this category six times in her career and not winning once, fans were clearly upset at the Recording Academy.
Song of The Year: “Just Like That” by Bonnie Raitt
The utter silence and confusion that was heard and seen across the room at the Grammys was something many have never experienced before. The shock and overall “What the hell just happened?” mood had everyone in shambles. In a category that had nominees from Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar to Adele, Steve Lacy, Harry Styles (you get the point), the award went to Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That”– a song that had less than one million streams on Spotify before it’s win and a song that no one really knew about.
Since the song wasn’t as mainstreamed as “BREAK MY SOUL” or didn’t have a viral TikTok dance created because of it (Shoutout to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time”), people were very confused as to how a song with hardly any public discourse could become the “Song of the Year.”
However, Bonnie Raitt is a decorated musician with 14 Grammys and she was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010– her success speaks for herself. And many have taken it to Twitter to let people know that Raitt is more than deserving of this award.
Regardless of who you wanted to win for "Song of the Year," Bonnie Raitt's career and talent are not to go unnoticed– I mean, she wasn't listed as #50 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and given the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award for nothing.
If the Grammys has taught us one thing it is to expect the unexpected. While no artist managed to have a clean sweep in the awards ceremony, it's great to see that all of our favorite artists won at least something, and it further goes to show that the Grammys is all about appreciating the different forms and styles of music, regardless of what fandom you are in.
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