The 2022 Grammys were weird before a single winner was announced. Following an admittedly pretty fun but down year during prime pandemic, the 64th annual awards ceremony was delayed due to the Omicron surge, rescheduled from January to April. And that was even after — as is pathetically typical for the Recording Academy — scandal after scandal piled on, from controversial figures receiving nominations, to clear frontrunners being barred from certain categories, to last minute rule changes, to megastars withdrawing their names from the competition. Oh, and then there was five-time nominee Kanye West’s performance being canceled because of his beef with host Trevor Noah.
Those controversies carried right into the pre-broadcast portion of the evening, with Ye winning a pair of awards (Best Melodic Rap Performance alongside The Weeknd and Lil Baby for “Hurricane,” as well as Best Rap Song with JAY-Z for “Jail”) to a noticeably tepid crowd reaction. Later, Louis C.K. nabbed Best Comedy Album, a win to which some reacted with perhaps too much enthusiasm.
On a less problematic note, the Premiere Ceremony also saw Jon Batiste begin to collect on his staggering 11 nominations by winning four awards. After being kept out of the Best Comedy Album category, Bo Burnham got his by taking home the best Song Written for Visual Media Grammy for “All Eyes on Me.” Olivia Rodrigo also became a Grammy winner when “drivers license” took home Best Pop Solo Performance, while Silk Sonic took home two trophies. St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home won out in a competitive Best Alternative Music Album field, and Tyler, the Creator nabbed Best Rap Album.
In a fitting tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters took home the first rock award of the night, winning Best Rock Performance for “Making a Fire.” The band quickly followed that up by winning Best Rock Song for “Waiting on a War” and Best Rock Album for Medicine at Midnight.
Then it was time for the broadcast ceremony, the one mostly filled with (honestly knockout) performances, as well as the biggest awards categories. The first one to go was Song of the Year, which Silk Sonic won for “Leave the Door Open” (which already had Best R&B Song) — a feat they followed up towards the end of the ceremony by nabbing Record of the Year. Olivia Rodrigo was named Best New Artist early in the evening, and later took home Best Pop Vocal Album for Sour.
Baby Keem snagged himself a Golden Gramophone by winning Best Rap Performance for his Kendrick Lamar collab “Family Ties.” As did Jazmine Sullivan, winning Best R&B Album for her smash release Heaux Tales. BTS were robbed once again, this time losing Best Pop Duo/Group Performance to Doja Cat and SZA’s (still worthy) “Kiss Me More.”
It all ended with Batiste capping off an epic night for himself by taking home Album of the Year for We Are.
So yeah, the 2022 Grammys were kind of a mess before anyone even arrived in Las Vegas, and the awards themselves were something of a mixed bag. But when the biggest names in music gather to celebrate the (subjectively) best songs, records, and artists (“new” or otherwise) of the last year, there’s a lot to keep an eye on — if for no other reason than the discourse.
Who Else Won Grammys?
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste’s original score for Pixar’s Soul tied with Carlos Rafael Rivera’s score for The Queen’s Gambit to win the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack marking Batiste’s first win of the night. He also took home the trophy for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for “Cry,” sharing the latter with Steve McEwan; and Best Music Video for “Freedom” alongside director Alan Ferguson and producer Alex P. Willson.
The late Chick Corea posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, as well as Best Latin Jazz Album for Mirror Mirror with Eliane Elias and Chucho Valdés.
Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based composer Arooj Aftab won the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for “Mohabbat.”
Chris Stapleton took home the first Country award of the night, winning Best Country Solo Performance for “You Should Probably Leave,” later adding Best Country Album (Starting Over) to his mantle.
Brothers Osborne — much hyped multi-nominees and performers — won the Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song “Young Me,” which is about member T.J. Osborne coming out as gay.
RÜFÜS DU SOL’s “Alive” took home the award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.
The legendary Joni Mitchell was on hand to accept her Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967).
One week after winning the Best Documentary Feature award at this year’s Oscar, Questlove accepted the Best Music Film award for Summer of Soul.
Bad Bunny won the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album for his El Último Tour Del Mundo.
Silk Sonic (“Leave the Door Open”) and Jazmine Sullivan (“Pick Up Your Feelings”) tied for the Best R&B Performance Grammy.
H.E.R. delivered Jon Batiste his first loss of the night, taking home Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Fight for You” over Batiste’s “I Need You.”
Tyler, the Creator took home Best Rap Album for Call Me If You Get Lost — and we can’t disagree with that.
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s Love for Sale won for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
In perhaps the most easily predictable win of the pre-show docket, Jack Antonoff took home the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical Grammy for his work on albums by Taylor Swift, St. Vincent, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Bleachers, and Clairo.
Find the complete list of 2022 Grammys winners below (winners are designated in bold).
