By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. (AP Entertainment)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beyoncé has already won two Grammys on Sunday, bringing her a step closer in her pursuit of being the most decorated artist in the show’s history.
During the Grammys pre-telecast ceremony, Beyoncé won for the first time ever in the best dance-electronic music recording category for “Break My Soul.” She also won for best traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa.”
Beyoncé, who now has 30 awards, only needs two more wins to eclipse the record held by the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti, who has 31 Grammys. Solti has held on to the record since 1997.
It’s the first time Beyoncé has been nominated in the dance category. Her seventh studio project is up for best dance-electronic music album.
Beyoncé entered Sunday’s ceremony as the leading nominee including album, song and record of the year. If she wins in any of those major categories, it’ll be her first since since she received the song of the year honor for “Single Ladies” in 2010.
Muni Long — a best new artist candidate — beat out Beyoncé in the best R&B performance category for her song, “Hrs. and Hrs.”
Beyonce’s other nominations include best R&B song for “Cuff It” and song written for visual media for “Be Alive,” the Oscar-nominated song from the “King Richard” soundtrack.
That’s one of the main storylines heading into Sunday’s ceremony with several of music’s biggest names who are in the running for the night’s top honors — Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, ABBA and Lizzo are all among the nominees in for album of the year. Adele joins them in the record of the year competition.
Viola Davis is now an EGOT — a term for those who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — after she wins for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording. The actor gave an emotional speech and emphatically said “I just EGOT” after she marched on stage to collect her award.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola, to honor her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything,” Davis said. “It has just been such a journey.”
Brandi Carlile made a rare appearance during the pre-telecast for a major artist. The singer showed up after her song “Broken Horses” won for best rock performance and best rock song, a songwriter’s award.
“It’s rock ‘n’ roll, man,” said a smiling Carlile, who jogged on stage with a couple of her band members. “I cannot tell you how much this means to us. We’re born and raised in Seattle. When I met these guys 22 years ago we decided to get into a band.”
Carlile co-wrote “Broken Horses” with twin brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth.
“Oh my God, this is amazing,” she said. “Oh, I’ll never be the same.”
Kendrick Lamar extended his record in the best rap performance category with his sixth career trophy for “The Heart Part 5,” which also recognized his songwriting as a victor for best rap song.
Trevor Noah will host the telecast live from downtown Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS and Paramount+. The show will include performances by Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Sam Smith, Lizzo as well as special musical tributes to the late musicians Takeoff, Loretta Lynn and Christine McVie.
But with 91 Grammy categories, most of the awards are given out during the Recording Academy’s livestreamed Premiere Ceremony.
There could be many other firsts: If Bad Bunny wins album of the year for “Un Verano Sin Ti,” it would be the first time a Spanish-language album has taken home the top honor. Taylor Swift, whose latest album “Midnights” wasn’t eligible for this year’s Grammys, could win her first song of the year trophy for “All Too Well.” An Adele win for song of the year for her track “Easy on Me” would make her the most decorated artist in the category with three wins, the others coming for her megahits “Hello” and “Rolling in the Deep.”
This year’s Grammys have also introduced several new categories, including one for video game music composition, which went to the soundtrack for “Assassins Creed: Valhalla.”
Ozzy Osbourne won two Grammys, cementing the metal god’s late-career rejuvenation.
“Degradation Rules” by Ozzy Osbourne featuring Tony Iommi won the best metal performance and his album “Patient Number 9” won best rock album.
Earlier this year, Osbourne announced the cancellation of his 2023 tour dates in the U.K. and continental Europe and that his health would likely prevent him from touring again.
This year’s show marks a return to Los Angeles after the pandemic first delayed, then forced the Grammys to move to Las Vegas last year. Noah hosted the ceremony as well, which saw Jon Batiste take home album of the year.
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AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy contributed to this report.
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For more coverage of this year’s Grammy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards.
