Record night for Beyonce and Swift (2024)

LOS ANGELES — It was a night of destiny for R&B queen Beyoncé and young country-pop phenom Taylor Swift, who were the biggest winners at yesterday’s 52nd annual Grammy Awards. Beyoncé’s six wins were the most ever by a female artist in one year, topping Norah Jones’ Grammy total of five wins in 2002 and Beyoncé’s own five wins in 2003.

Swift, 20, won the first Grammy Award of her career, and then several more, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album for “Fearless,” the best-selling album of 2009 in any idiom with sales of 4.5 million. She is apparently the youngest artist to ever be nominated for Album of the Year, let alone to win in that category.

“Thank you so much — Album of the Year — oh, wow!” an ecstatic Swift said, as she accepted the night’s top award. “I just hope you know how much this means to me.”

Beyoncé, 28, had 10 Grammy nominations this year and 10 Grammy wins prior to her six victories yesterday at the sprawling Staples Center. Swift, who had 8 nominations this year, took home four Grammys, the first two of which were presented during the pre-telecast portion of the star-studded awards fete.

Beyoncé, who rose to fame as a member of the vocal group Destiny’s Child, won Song of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” which also was honored in the Female R&B Vocal Performance category.

“Wow, thank you so much,” Beyoncé said, after her song “Halo” beat out recordings by Swift, Pink, Katy Perry and Adele for Female Pop Vocal Performance. “This has been such an amazing night for me. I love being at the Grammys.”

Beyoncé and Swift both sang — the former with fiery power, the latter in a shaky, pitch-challenged voice — during the 3½-hour telecast, which placed an emphasis on often eye-popping performances (16 altogether) over actual awards presentations (nine). The remaining 100 Grammys were all given out during the awards ceremony’s pre-telecast portion, which was held at the adjacent Los Angeles Convention Center.

Newcomer Lady Gaga, who had five nominations and scored one of last year’s top-selling debut albums, sang with Elton John to open the telecast. But she had to settle for just two wins: for Best Dance Recording (for “Poker Face”) and Best Electronic/Dance Album (for “The Fame”).

Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon earned three awards, including Record of the Year for “Use Somebody,” which also won for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

“Thank you,” said Caleb Followill, Kings of Leon’s lead singer and rhythm guitarist. “We’re all a little drunk, but happy drunk.” (Backstage he said that he and his bandmates, which include his two brothers and his cousin, were going to celebrate their heady victories by taking their mother out “to get wasted.”)

One of the most memorable performances of the show came when former gymnast Pink sang “Glitter in the Air,” which at one point found her being hoisted and spun above the stage, a’ la Cirque de Soleil, then briefly dunked into a pool of water.

“I would say that no one ever has another excuse to lip-sync,” she said backstage.

Alas, those words of advice were not heeded by Jamie Foxx and T-Pain, whose performance of “Blame It” found both of them singing through Auto-Tune, a recording studio device used to help vocally challenged performers sound in tune.

George Varga: (619) 293-2253; george.varga@uniontrib.com