Rolling Stone Grammys 2021: 21 Best, Worst, and Most WTF Moments
Emotional speeches, actually funny one-liners, a couple of envelope malfunctions, and a surprising lack of filler. Here’s how Music’s Biggest Night went down during a pandemic
By Cliff Lipson/CBS
Let’s face it: We watch the Grammys each year to root for our favorite artists and songs, but also because we know that the show typically offers at least a handful of those can’t-look-away cringe moments we all love to snark over the next day. But remarkably, given some major challenges the fact that this was a socially distanced Grammys, and that it was rocked by a high-profile artist boycott this was one of the most heartwarming, thought-provoking, and downright entertaining Grammy nights in recent memory. Here’s our rundown of the highlights, with a few rough spots thrown in for old time’s sake.
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Billie Eilish performs at the 2021 Grammy Awards
Screenshot: Paramount+
Before performing during the televised ceremony, Billie Eilish won the 2021 Grammy for Best Song Written For Visual Media for her song “No Time to Die,” which was released last year before the Jame Bond film of the same name was delayed multiple times. If the film comes out as currently planned (in November 2021), Eilish could win an Oscar for the song two full years after it was released as a single.
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Rolling Stone 15 Thoughts on the 2021 Grammys
Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, BTS, Harry Styles, and more gave unforgettable performances but fixing the Recording Academy will be harder
By Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
As a fictional singer-songwriter who once fictionally peed their fictional pants at a fictional Grammys ceremony once sang, via real-life, dry-trousered songwriter Jason Isbell, “Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.” And, like, it really is. The 2021 Grammy broadcast was already poised for reinvention, with producer Ken Ehrlich stepping down following a decades-long tenure. As Covid-19 forced a deeper rethink, and