The Grammy Awards, more simply known as the Grammy’s, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize the outstanding achievements of several artists. They are deemed the most prestigious awards in the music industry worldwide. The 66th annual Grammy’s was held on February 4 and started at 7:00 p.m. CST at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were lots of well-known artists who attended the Grammy’s this year, including Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, 21 Savage, Future, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, Chris Stapleton, SZA, Alicia Keys, J. Cole, Zach Bryan, Boygenius and Kacey Musgraves. A handful of artists made history and there were several memorable moments during the 2024 Grammy’s. Women were dominating and winning in huge categories. Miley Cyrus won her first ever Grammy, and Taylor Swift made history by becoming the first artist to ever win Album of the Year four times, passing big names like Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon.

Some things to acknowledge that I loved about the Grammy’s this year are Trevor Noah and his ability to stall for time in order for celebrities, like Meryl Streep, to show up a second later while he was bantering with her empty chair. His comedic timing made it so much fun to watch and laugh along with the audience. Another thing I loved about the awards this year was not only watching but listening to history being made by Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman. The two sang a duet together, which was adorable to see after Combs talked about how he looked up to her during his childhood. Speaking of performances, my favorite of the night was Miley Cyrus’s first televised performance of “Flowers,” (her third time performing it live ever). I grew up watching Hannah Montana, so seeing that Cyrus has grown into one of the best rock vocalists that we have today is incredible and heartwarming.

While the award ceremony was entertaining to watch, I also had a concern during the night. One I think a lot of people can relate to is the length of the ceremony. Yes, I love watching the Grammys, but for some who might not have that long of an attention span, it’s hard to stay engaged for the whole two-and-a-half hours. To make it even worse, producers were itching to make it even longer by adding pre-taped video segments. While some provided context to some performances like Billy Joel’s, others felt unnecessary and were eating up precious time.

Overall, I thought that the Grammy’s were successful and very entertaining to someone who loves music. There was a great wide variety of artists from different categories of music, a good balance between hosting and award speeches, and overall just the performances that we got to see. It was a great year for the music industry and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out next year.