Silk Sonic, Jon Baptiste and Olivia Rodrigo are the winners of this edition of the Grammys, which from the MGM casino in Las Vegas have awarded the best of stars and stripes music after the postponement of late January due to Covid.
The protagonist of this edition, however, is also the drama of the war in Ukraine, with the heartfelt intervention, in a video, by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Soul-funk duo Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak) won Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best R&B Song with "Leave the Door Open", while being recognized for Best Album in 2021 he went to "We Are" by jazzman Jon Baptiste who had arrived on the eve of the awards with eleven nominations and in the end won five.
19-year-old Olivia Rodrigo, a very young star born in Disney TV who according to many critics could have cleared away the most important awards, took home only those for best pop album ("Sour"), best individual pop performance (" Drivers License ") and for the best emerging artist. An award - best traditional pop vocal album - went to Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett for Cole Porter's song album "Love for Sale".
It was the 14th Grammy in a very long career for the 95-year-old "crooner" who stayed home because of Alzheimer's. Batiste also won other Grammys including Best Video by beating fierce competition that included Rodrigo, Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish. Receiving the most coveted statuette, the one for the best album, he recalled that the categories of awards, as well as art, are subjective: "Music for me is more than entertainment. It is a spiritual practice", said the musician. at CBS he is at home as bandleader on the Stephen Colbert Show of the night.
The "in memoriam" celebration recalled Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins who died on tour on March 25 and composer Stephen Sondheim, among others.
The video-recorded appeal of Zelenski dominated everything: the Ukrainian president, snubbed by the Oscars last Sunday, asked music fans in America to use social media to "tell the truth about the war", also remembering to support the cause of Ukraine "in every possible way, but not with silence".
