Grammys 2024: The LGBTQ winners and stand out moments
Boygenius, Miley Cyrus, and Victoria Monét were among the LGBTQ winners
Sunday (4 February) night was Grammys night and it was a good one for the LGBTQ community. Among the queer/queer-interest winners were Miley Cyrus (taking home her first and second Grammys!), Boygenius, Taylor Swift, and Kylie Minogue.
The Awards also saw many icons take to the stage to perform or present awards including Celine Dion in a memorable moment.
One of the night’s big awards, Album of the Year, went to Taylor Swift for Midnights. Among others, she beat out Boygenius, Janelle Monáe, and Miley Cyrus. She also made history as the only singer to win Album of the Year four times.
A particularly emotional moment came when Celine Dion made a surprise appearance to present Album of the Year. She received a standing ovation as she was helped onstage by her son to her hit ‘The Power of Love’. The 55-year-old singer shared her Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) diagnosis with the public in December 2022.
Swift also took home the gong for Best Pop Vocal Album. The ‘Lavender Haze’ singer used her win to announce her new album – The Tortured Poets Department – would be released on 19 April. There’s a date for the diary!
However, Record of the Year went to ‘Flowers’ by Miley Cyrus. Accepting the award Miley thanked her collaborators, family as well as her “main gays,” for “how good I look”. Cheekily at the end she added: “I don’t think I forgot anyone but I might have forgotten underwear, Bye!” The singer, who identifies as pansexual, later celebrated her first Grammy with an ad-lib during a performance of the hit song.
Miley also took home the Best Pop Solo Performance award for ‘Flowers’.
It was a good night for Victoria Monét, who identifies as bisexual. While she missed out on Record of the Year she did go home with the Best New Artist award and Best R&B Album for Jaguar II. The album also won Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Accepting the Best New Artist Award she said: “To everybody who has a dream, I want you to look at this as an example. This award was a 15-year pursuit.”
The inaugural Best Pop Dance Recording award was taken home by Kylie Minogue for ‘Padam Padam’. Speaking to Laverne Cox on the red carpet Kylie addressed her LGBTQ+ fans saying: “Thank you for being with me for such a long time through thick and thin. We ride the highs and the lows and the in-betweens and to know that we’ve got each other’s backs. This feels like the start of the next era for us.”
Kylie also told Rolling Stone it was “poetic” to win and she was “super happy and proud.” Also in the running for Best Pop Dance Recording was Troye Sivan for ‘Rush,’ with the song also nominated for Best Music Video. That award went to The Beatles for ‘I’m Only Sleeping.’
Continuing her streak of success, Billie Eilish won Song of the Year for ‘What Was I Made For?’ from Barbie. It also won the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Speaking of Barbie, the film took home the award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Boygenius – Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus – won three Grammys – Best Alternative Music Album for The Record with ‘Not Strong Enough’ from the album winning Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. Separately, Phoebe Bridgers also won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Sza for ‘Ghost in the Machine’.
The Broadway musical Some Like It Hot won the Best Musical Album award. The musical, based on the Marilyn Monroe film of the same name saw its leading star, J. Harrison Ghee, who identifies as non-binary, win Leading Actor in a Musical at the Tony Awards last year. David Bowie: Moonage Daydream won Best Music Film. The 2022 documentary film follows the late singer and uses previosuly unseen footage of the ‘Fashion’ singer.
On a bum note for the night, Dave Chappelle took home his fifth Grammy for his comedy album What’s in a Name? The comedian recently courted controversy over his latest Netflix special, Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer, where he said he loves “punching down” as he mocked trans and disabled people.
Check out all the Grammys winners here.