History was made at Sunday night’s 52nd annual Grammy Awards, as Beyonce became the most honored female artist by the Grammys in one night, winning six awards for her third solo album, ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce.’ Taylor Swift also beat several veteran artists to win the night’s top honor, album of the year, for her second album, ‘Fearless.’
Swift, who won a total of four awards, jumped around on-stage after beating Beyonce, the Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas for best album. “Oh wow-thank you so much! I just hope that you know how much this means to me…. that we get to take this back to Nashville,” said Swift, as ‘Fearless’ was last year’s best-selling album of any genre.
Beyonce’s honors included wining the first award given during the ceremony, song of the year. She won for her mega-hit ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),’ which she will share with the three writers. However, Beyonce wasn’t able to go on-stage to accept the award, as she was preparing for her performance, which included ‘If I Were A Boy’ and Alanis Moorisette’s hit ‘You Oughtta Know.’
The decorated singer also won best R&B contemporary album for ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce.’ After winning best female pop vocal for ‘Halo,’ Beyonce said in her acceptance speech “This has been such an amazing night for me and I’d love to thank the Grammys.”
Beyonce beat her own record this year, as she won five awards in 2004 for her debut album ‘Dangerously in Love.’ Other artists, including Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Alison Krauss and Amy Winehouse, also hold that record. But Beyonce is the first artist to hold two records.
But the former Destiny’s Child singer lost out on record of the year, which went to the Kings of Leon’s ‘Use Somebody.’ The award was the third of the evening for the family quartet. When lead singer Caleb Followill accepted for record of the year, he admitted they were a little drunk, but still happy to win.
While Lady Gaga won two awards during the pre-telecast ceremony, she lost in every category she was nominated for during the actual show, including record, song and album of the year. But she made history for opening the show during a duet with Elton John, much like Eminem did in 2001, when they sang her song ‘Speechless’ and his classic ‘Your Song.’
Rihanna returned to the show after skipping last year’s ceremony, when she was assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown. She had a good night though, as she accepted the best rap-sung award with Jay-Z for ‘Run This Town,’ a collaboration which also featured Kanye West. The rapper didn’t attend the ceremony, as he has kept a low profile since he interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at September’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Swift, who was the second most nominated artist of the night with eight nods, after Beyonce’s ten, proved to West how well her career has been going, as she also won several other awards, including best country album.
Written by: Karen Benardello