The Biggest Winners of the 2024 Grammys
The Grammys are always going to be divisive, but even if your faves didn’t win, there’s a lot to be learned from what NPR calls a “three-and-a-half-hour infomercial for the music industry.”
Here’s a rundown of the biggest winners at the 2024 Grammys so you can get inspired with tracks for award season. Universal Production Music’s licensing offerings give creators access to a range of music genres for media.
Idol of the Year
Taylor Swift dominated, winning Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for her tenth studio album, Midnights. During her first speech of the night, she also surprised fans with news of her upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Midnights marks Swift’s fourth Album of the Year win, though many critics acknowledge this year’s victory wasn’t based on musical quality alone. Despite her long career, 2023 was the star’s biggest year yet. After earning even more fans with surprise folk pop drops during the pandemic, Swift continued to build her legacy with blockbuster re-records of past albums and the $1 billion dollar Eras tour.
Swift’s uncanny ability to read the cultural moment has long been her secret weapon. Music doesn’t exist within a vacuum, and finding the right sound for the right time is key.
Miley Proves Performance Chops
A quick Grammys lesson: Record of the Year is awarded for the best audio recording of the year, and goes to the performer, producers, and engineers of a song. Song of the Year is for songwriting and goes to the songwriter. Billie Eilish’s yearning feminist lament “What Was I Made For?” earned the nod for songwriting, but when Miley Cyrus performed her hit ‘Flowers’ on the Grammys stage, her Record of the Year win was explained.
Cyrus wowed with an endearing mid-song adlib and choreography inspired by Tina Turner. The dazzling live moment proved it was her performance skills that elevated an average pop song into an inescapable anthem of independence.
A Peek at (and Critique) of the Men Behind the Curtain
A winning night for Taylor Swift also meant a winning night for her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. Antonoff first won a production Grammy for Swift’s 2014 album 1989, and has been a main producer on almost every album since. Antonoff’s fingerprints were all over Album of the Year Midnights, and his Producer of the Year win cemented a long reign as pop queenmaker.
A very different music production great, Jay Z, was also recognized with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. The musician used his platform to call out the Recording Academy for continuing to shaft Black artists. Check out UPM’s rap tracks for winners to find contemporary sounds that speak to the broader culture.
Despite Jay Z’s classy coup, the Recording Academy won the true production award of the night for a sleek, successful show that landed with American audiences. Above all, the musical choices showcased the art of the moment. Register to find your next sound with Universal Production Music to build your awards season soundtrack.