The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the 2023 Grammys

This Sunday, February 5, the 65th edition of the Grammy Awards was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The ceremony was extensive and, as almost always, had several surprises in the delivery of the most important awards of the night.

Among the most notable was that Bonnie Raitt beat out Beyoncé, Adele, Harry Styles, Lizzo and Kendrick Lamar in the Song of the Year category with "Just Like That." Also, Samara Joy defeated Anitta, Omar Apollo and Maneskin for Best New Artist, and the academy nominated Harry Styles for Album of the Year when many expected Adele or Beyoncé to win.

There were almost four hours in which the speeches and presentations left manifestations of vindication for history. In addition, for this year, five new categories were included, and an extensive tribute was made. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2023 Grammys.

The Good

There could not have been a better choice than the opening of Bad Bunny with his presentation. Who was last year's most listened artist in the world, elevated Latin American culture by performing “El Apagón” and “Después de la Playa”, hits that made the entire audience stand up.

Secondly, the curatorship of the homage to the 50 years of Hip Hop with LL Cool J as host was up to the situation. The review of some hits by decade to celebrate the genre was another of the moments that raised the energy of the ceremony.

The highlight of the night was when Beyoncé became the artist with the most awards received (with 32) after winning Best Dance/Electronic Album. The script for the ceremony wanted that moment to be succeeded by the spectacular presentation of Mary J. Blige.

On the other hand, the most emotional speech of the night came thanks to Kim Petras. Sam Smith gave her the opportunity to vindicate her message in favor of the trans community, since she became the first transgender woman to win the statuette for Best Pop Performance in a Duo or Group. Lizzo also had a very good speech, extolling her “body positivity” message and thanking Beyoncé for inspiring her to continue in music when she received the Record of the Year award.

The Bad

It is very likely that most viewers would not have fully seen the Grammy ceremony. There were almost four hours in which the show alternated too much between presentations, speeches and tributes, to the point that the awards ceremony seemed to be eclipsed in the background.

The one in 2023 is perhaps one of the longest ceremonies the Grammys have ever had. Although Trevor Noah as host tried to keep his spirits up, at times he could not avoid the tedium. He also redounded too much around the presence of Beyoncé, something that could saturate those who do not follow her.

On the other hand, the presentation of Harry Styles left much to be desired. If someone watches their shows live and compares it to the presentation at the ceremony, they will notice two very different moods in the performance.

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The Ugly

The Grammys have always had radically political moments, like when Hillary Clinton in 2018 read a snippet from "Fire and Fury" as a taunt to Donald Trump. However, for this edition, the first lady Jill Biden had one of the longest speeches to present the new award for Best Song for Social Change. A fact that slowed down the ceremony at its auction.

Another issue that made the ceremony somewhat boring as a whole was the saturation of presentations. The tributes to Hip Hop, and to Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, were too extensive. To this is added that the obituary was one of the longest, but it ignored great figures such as DH Peligro, Aaron Carter or Darío Gómez.

Lastly, the fan segment was an addition to do without. While the intention was for viewers to see themselves represented in them, they spent a lot of time on each one and extended the ceremony. Still, it was endearing when the Harry Styles fan presented the Album of the Year award to the former One Direction.