2020 Grammy Awards Winners Scored

The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards were held last night, hosted by Alicia Keys once again. I didn’t watch it once again, not through any particular evasion but because life happens. As I understand, homages to Kobe Bryant, who just died yesterday as well, defined the ceremony in part. And in second part it was defined by Billie Eilish’s ubiquity. The up-and-comer swept the “Big Four” categories, winning Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist, the first to do so since Christopher Cross in 1981. In conjunction with her brother Finneas, Eilish was the biggest winner of the night with five awards, a different outcome than Lizzo’s eight nominations could have implied. Cutting down the full 84 categories to 30 that I could even remotely predict for, I had predicted Lizzo would have won the most awards with five. Well, I was obviously wrong about that, but let’s see just how I scored across the board. I’ll mark my choice with a * and bold the actual winner.

Record of the Year

• “Hey, Ma” — Bon Iver
• “Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish*
• “7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
• “Hard Place” — H.E.R.
• “Talk” — Khalid
• “Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
• “Truth Hurts” — Lizzo
• “Sunflower” — Post Malone & Swae Lee

Album of the Year

• I, I — Bon Iver
• NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL! — Lana Del Rey
• WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? — Billie Eilish
• THANK U, NEXT — Ariana Grande*
• I USED TO KNOW HER — H.E.R.
• 7 — Lil Nas X
• CUZ I LOVE YOU — Lizzo
• FATHER OF THE BRIDE — Vampire Weekend

Song of the Year

• “Always Remember Us This Way” — Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Lori McKenna
• “Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell
• “Bring My Flowers Now” — Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker
• “Hard Place” — Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth, D. Arcelious Harris, H.E.R. & Rodney Jerkins
• “Lover” — Taylor Swift
• “Norman Fucking Rockwell” — Jack Antonoff & Lana Del Rey
• “Someone You Loved” — Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn & Sam Roman
• “Truth Hurts” — Steven Cheung, Eric Frederic, Melissa Jefferson & Jesse Saint Sohn*

Best New Artist

• Black Pumas
• Billie Eilish
• Lil Nas X
• Lizzo*
• Maggie Rogers
• Rosalia
• Tank and the Bangas
• Yola

Best Pop Solo Performance

• “Spirit” — Beyoncé
• “Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish
• “7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
• “Truth Hurts” — Lizzo*
• “You Need to Calm Down” — Taylor Swift

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

• “Boyfriend” — Ariana Grande & Social House
• “Sucker” — Jonas Brothers
• “Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus*
• “Sunflower” — Post Malone & Swae Lee
• “Senorita” — Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

• SI — Andrea Bocelli
• LOVE — Michael Bublé
• LOOK NOW — Elvis Costello & The Impostors*
• A LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS — John Legend
• WALLS — Barbra Streisand

Best Pop Vocal Album

• THE LION KING: THE GIFT — Beyoncé
• WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? — Billie Eilish
• THANK U, NEXT — Ariana Grande*
• NO. 6 COLLABORATIONS PROJECT — Ed Sheeran
• LOVER — Taylor Swift

Best Rock Performance

• “Pretty Waste” — Bones UK
• “This Land” — Gary Clark Jr.*
• “History Repeats” — Brittany Howard
• “Woman” — Karen O & Danger Mouse
• “Too Bad” — Rival Sons

Best Rock Song

• “Fear Inoculum” — Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones & Maynard James Keenan
• “Give Yourself a Try” — George Daniel, Adam Hann, Matthew Healy & Ross MacDonald
• “Harmony Hall” — Ezra Koenig
• “History Repeats” — Brittany Howard
• “This Land” — Gary Clark Jr.*

Best Rock Album

• AMO — Bring Me the Horizon
• SOCIAL CUES — Cage the Elephant*
• IN THE END — The Cranberries
• TRAUMA — I Prevail
• FERAL ROOTS — Rival Sons

Best Alternative Music Album

• U.F.O.F. — Big Thief
• ASSUME FORM — James Blake
• I, I — Bon Iver*
• FATHER OF THE BRIDE — Vampire Weekend
• ANIMA — Thom Yorke

Best R&B Performance

• “Love Again” — Daniel Caesar & Brandy
• “Could’ve Been” — H.E.R. ft. Bryson Tiller
• “Exactly How I Feel” — Lizzo ft. Gucci Mane
• “Roll Some Mo” — Lucky Daye
• “Come Home” — Anderson .Paak ft. Andre 3000*

Best Traditional R&B Performance

• “Time Today” — BJ the Chicago Kid
• “Steady Love” — India.Arie
• “Jerome” — Lizzo*
• “Real Games” — Lucky Daye
• “Built for Love” — PJ Morton ft. Jazmine Sullivan

Best R&B Song

• “Could’ve Been” — Dernst Emile II, David “Swagg R’Celious” Harris, H.E.R. & Hue
• “Soundzfire” — Strother
• “Look at Me Now” — Emily King & Jeremy Most
• “No Guidance” — Chris Brown, Tyler James Bryant, Nija Charles, Aubrey Graham, Anderson Hernandez, Michee Patrick Lebrun, Joshua Lewis, Noah Shebib & Teddy Walton*
• “Roll Some Mo” — David Brown, Dernst Emile II & Peter Lee Johnson
• “Say So” — PJ Morton

Best Urban Contemporary Album

• APOLLO XXI — Steve Lacy
• CUZ I LOVE YOU — Lizzo*
• OVERLOAD — Georgia Anne Muldrow
• SATURN — Nao
• BEING HUMAN IN PUBLIC — Jessie Reyez

Best R&B Album

• 1123 — BJ the Chicago Kid
• PAINTED — Lucky Daye
• ELLA MAI — Ella Mai
• PAUL — PJ Morton
• VENTURA — Anderson .Paak*

Best Rap Performance

• “Middle Child” — J. Cole
• “Suge” — DaBaby
• “Down Bad” — Dreamville ft. J.I.D., Bas, J. Cole, EARTHGANG & Young Nudy
• “Racks in the Middle” — Nipsey Hussle ft. Roddy Ricch & Hit-Boy
• “Clout” — Offset ft. Cardi B*

Best Rap/Sung Performance

• “Higher” — DJ Khaled ft. Nipsey Hussle & John Legend*
• “Drip Too Hard” — Lil Baby & Gunna
• “Panini” — Lil Nas X
• “Ballin” — Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch
• “The London” — Young Thug ft. J. Cole & Travis Scott

Best Rap Song

• “Bad Idea” — Chancelor Bennett, Cordae Dunston, Uforo Ebong & Daniel Hackett*
• “Gold Roses” — Noel Cadastre, Aubrey Graham, Anderson Hernandez, Khristopher Riddick-Tynes, William Leonard Roberts II, Joshua Quinton Scruggs, Leon Thomas III & Ozan Yildirim
• “A Lot” — Jermaine Cole, Dacoury Natche, 21 Savage & Anthony White
• “Racks in the Middle” — Ermias Asghedom, Dustin James Corbett, Greg Allen Davis, Chauncey Hollis, Jr. & Rodrick Moore
• “Suge” — DaBaby, Jetsonmade & Pooh Beatz

Best Rap Album

• REVENGE OF THE DREAMERS III — Dreamville
• CHAMPIONSHIPS — Meek Mill
• I AM > I WAS — 21 Savage
• IGOR — Tyler, The Creator*
• THE LOST BOY — YBN Cordae

Best Spoken Word Album

• BEASTIE BOYS BOOK — Various Artists*
• BECOMING — Michelle Obama
• I.V. CATATONIA: 20 YEARS AS A TWO-TIME CANCER SURVIVOR — Eric Alexandrakis
• MR. KNOW-IT-ALL — John Waters
• SEKOU ANDRES & THE STRING THEORY — Sekou Andrews & The String Theory

Best Comedy Album

• QUALITY TIME — Jim Gaffigan
• RELATABLE — Ellen DeGeneres
• RIGHT NOW — Aziz Ansari
• SON OF PATRICIA — Trevor Noah
• STICKS & STONES — Dave Chappelle*

Best Musical Theater Album

• AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS*
• HADESTOWN
• MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL
• THE MUSIC OF HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD — IN FOUR CONTEMPORARY SUITES
• OKLAHOMA!

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

• THE LION KING: THE SONGS
• QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
• ROCKETMAN
• SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
• A STAR IS BORN*

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

• AVENGERS: ENDGAME
• CHERNOBYL
• GAME OF THRONES: SEASON 8
• THE LION KING*
• MARY POPPINS RETURNS

Best Song Written for Visual Media

• “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy” — TOY STORY 4
• “Girl in the Movies” — DUMPLIN’
• “I’ll Never Love Again” — A STAR IS BORN*
• “Spirit” — THE LION KING
• “Suspirium” — SUSPIRIA

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

• Jack Antonoff*
• Dan Auerbach
• John Hill
• Finneas
• Ricky Reed

Best Music Video

• “We’ve Got to Try” — The Chemical Brothers
• “This Land” — Gary Clark Jr.
• “Cellophane” — FKA twigs
• “Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus*
• “Glad He’s Gone” — Tove Lo

Best Music Film

• HOMECOMING*
• REMEMBER MY NAME
• BIRTH OF THE COOL
• SHANGRI-LA
• ANIMA

Even though I had selective predictions and missed some of the big awards, I surprised myself with an 18 out of 30. Look, it’s a 60 percent, but it’s a better result than last year’s 48. Maybe I should listen to the hot music more.