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BEYONCE HAS FINALLY won the Grammy award for best album of the year, while pop singers like Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX have received their first wins at the annual music awards.
The 67th Grammy Awards took place last night in Los Angeles, where the film, tv and music industries have been shaken by the recent devastating wildfires.
Beyonce’s win for her album “Cowboy Carter” makes her the most nominated, most decorated artist at the Grammys ever — as well as the first Black woman to claim the top prize in this century. Despite her highly successful career, she had never clinched the album of the year award before last night.
“I just feel very full and very honored,” she said as she accepted the prize. She dedicated the win to Linda Martell, a pioneering Black country musician who was featured on the album. “I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors,” Beyonce said.
The singer also won prizes for best country album and for her song II Most Wanted, a collaboration with Miley Cyrus.
The first award of the day, best pop solo performance, went to Sabrina Carpenter for Espresso, her first Grammy win.
Carpenter won a second Grammy later in the evening for best pop vocal album. She gave an Old Hollywood-inspired performance of her nominated hits Espresso and Please Please Please.
Shakira won Best Latin Pop Album and Charli XCX won three prizes including best dance/electronic album for Brat.
Sierra Ferrell won her first Grammys for Americana performance, Americana roots song, Americana album and American roots performance.
Former US president Jimmy Carter won a posthumous Grammy Award for narrating Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration, which were recordings from his final Sunday School lessons that were delivered at Maranatha Baptist Church in the US state of Georgia.
Kendrick Lamar’s album Not Like Us received trophies for music video, rap song and rap performance. He won in all five categories in which he was nominated, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He lost only to himself — he was up twice for two of the rap genre prizes.
Doechii emerged as another big winner, becoming just the third woman to ever win the prize for best rap album. Cardi B, who was the second-ever winner, presented her with the award.
Best New Artist was scooped by Chappell Roan, the finale of a meteoric year for the Midwestern artist who rapidly rose to international fame in 2024.
As Los Angeles tries to recover from recent devastating wildfires that destroyed more than 14,000 structures and displaced tens of thousands, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, reformatted the show to raise funds to help wildfire victims.
In his opening remarks, the Recording Academy’s chief executive Harvey Mason Jr said the awards were “also going to recognise the resilience of our community and celebrate our first responders and do our very best to lift up this city that we love”.
On Saturday, at the annual pre-Grammy benefit gala, the Grammys and its affiliated MusiCares charity raised “almost five million dollars in aid” for those in the music industry hit by the wildfires.
Additional reporting by Press Association and AFP
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since we can show the Dutch how to circumvent taxes, perhaps they can show us how to run a railroad?
It would help if we had 4 times as many people in an area half the size of Ireland.
@Elma Phudd: You mean just the size of munster. Which is less than quarter the size of ireland
Sounds like a well run operation that knows what it is doing. Runs a great service AND makes A billion euro in profit for its owner the Dutch state…
Our bus and train services have to be subsidized to the tune of a billion and still offer terrible, infrequent, unreliable service with poor, unclean trains and is overstaffed with overpaid and incompetent management and staff…
Pity Irish state agencies don’t have the same nationalistic tendencies.
@iohanx: They do. Both NAMA and IBRC use section 110 charity status to dodge their taxes and make their balance sheets look more favourable for propaganda purposes. I wonder how the establishment mouthpiece above would try to spin that accounting 3 card trickery?
@Drew TheChinaman :): I don’t know where you get you figures from but the annual contract between the NTA and Irish Rail was €117 million last year.
The reason our trains aren’t as profitable is we are a stone age society when it comes to high rise. You need high density high rise in urban centres to make public transport work.
Our muppet politicians reduced maximum height from six to four storeys.
@Irish Spider-Man: and the Dutch railway company had an operating profit of 107mil this year and accumulated profits totaling a billion.
So assuming similar levels of profit for the Dutch and subsidy for the Irish over the last number of years. One has made the state a billion while running a very good service and the other cost the state a billion while running a poor service.
What the Dutch are doing is legal just exactly the same as Apple does, except unlike Apple the Dutch pay the full 12.5 % tax. So Apple does legally owe us the difference so that they are tax compliant in Ireland.
@Paul Lane:
It’s nothing like Apple. Apple sells products to other countries and these other countries quite rightly would like to charge tax to organisations trading within their jurisdiction. Any tax liability to Apple should be to the all the countries Apple is trading in and not just Ireland.
@Nick Allen: And what about the tax that the Dutch government would like to receive as their railway trades there. Holland is outside Ireland just like those countries Apple does business with…So no difference at all, and completely legal except Apple did not pay the full 12.5% which is due to us.
U2′s conglomerate moved to The Netherlands a few years ago avoiding paying Irish taxes. The Dutch Railway moved to Ireland. We’re even.
@Juan Venegas: two wrongs don’t make a right.
@Ian Moloney: You’re right. Two wrongs make a we’re even.
Let me get this straight. The Dutch state is paying us €13 million a year rather than paying itself €26 million while keeping €1 billion hidden under the bed. I’m sure the Dutch people would like to see better use made of their savings.
A reverse U2.
2U
Somethign about the Dutch – maybe that Turkish guy isn’t too far off the truth – remember Rabo Direct the straight talking bank? that was fined billions!! Imagine these clowns had the hard neck to lecture us.
And u 2 invest in holland to avoid tax
have your say