As always, Grammys night delivered epic performances, jaw-dropping interactions, and some controversial wins in 2023. From Queen Bey’s fashionably late arrival to Harry Styles’ surprise win, here are the moments that have immediately gone down in Grammys history.
Some of the biggest moments happened before the live ceremony even began, like Taylor Swift getting recognized as a director by winning the Best Music Video award for All Too Well: The Short Film.
Also before the live ceremony, Viola Davis achieved EGOT status by adding the Grammy for Best Audio Book Recording to her Oscar, Emmy, and Tony wins. She won the Grammy for narrating her memoir, Finding Me.
The first big drama of the night was the lack of Beyoncé. After her song “Cuff It” won Best R&B Song, Bey was not there to accept the Grammy. Host Trevor Noah informed the confused crowd that she was stuck in traffic, and sure enough, she arrived a bit later.
One thing Adele’s always going to do: deliver a hilarious and emotional acceptance speech. The singer had the whole crowd in stitches with her excited reaction to winning Best Pop Solo Performance for “Easy On Me.”
Smith was also on hand to support Kim Petras when their collab, “Unholy,” won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making Petras the first trans woman to ever win that category. She shouted out the late SOPHIE in her acceptance speech.
Probably the best acceptance speech of the night was Lizzo’s. When she won Record of the Year for “About Damn Time,” Lizzo used her spotlight to fangirl over Beyoncé, telling her musical inspiration about the time she skipped school to go to her concert.
The “In Memoriam” segment is always heavy, and sure enough, it delivered the most emotional moment of the 2023 Grammys when Quavo performed “See You Again” in remembrance of his nephew Takeoff.
As always, the biggest moment of the night was the Album of the Year award. Harry Styles’ win came as a surprise to many viewers, since Beyoncé’s Renaissance was heavily predicted to take it. The night ended in controversy as Twitter erupted over the choice.