The 66th annual Grammy Awards, which took place on Feb. 4, showcased prominent women in the industry. Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, SZA, Boygenius, Billie Eilish and Victoria Monét each took home multiple awards, with female artists winning in each of the major categories.
Taylor Swift is currently at the peak of her career, evidenced clearly by her Grammy wins this year. Swift took home two awards, her thirteenth and fourteenth wins. During her speech for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Midnights,” Swift surprised audiences with the announcement of a brand new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” While ‘swifties’ everywhere anticipated the announcement of “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” Swift’s switch up was a monumental one. In the last award of the night, Swift won her fourth ever Album of the Year award for “Midnights., announced by Celine Dion” Swift is the first person to win this category (widely considered the biggest award in the music industry) four times, surpassing music icons Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. This is a huge moment for her career, breaking previous long-standing records.
Miley Cyrus, whose music has been prevalent in the pop music sphere for decades, received her first Grammy award at this year’s ceremony. Accepting the awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year for “Flowers,” Cyrus was glowing at this year’s award show. Following her first win for Pop Solo Performance, Cyrus performed “Flowers” on the Grammy stage, calling out mid-performance “I just won my first Grammy.”
While she unfortunately did not take home the Album of the Year award as many predicted, SZA still took home three wins this year. At the pre-show, SZA took home her first award of the year for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside Phoebe Bridgers. Their hit song, “Ghost in the Machine” topped the charts and flooded the radio. Later on in the evening, the rapper took home the award for R&B Song for her hit tune, “Snooze”. She also won best Urban Contemporary Album for her iconic collection, “SOS.” 2024 marked SZA’s fourth Grammy win, with seemingly many more to come in the future.
Boygenius, a supergroup composed of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julian Baker, received high praise for their first full length album as a band, “The Record.” This album won for Best Alternative Music Album, while their hit song “Not Strong Enough” took home awards in the Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories. These awards were a first for the band. Bridgers won the most awards of the night, with four total Grammy wins between her awards with Boygenius and SZA on “Ghost in the Machine.”
Billie Eillish’s song “What Was I Made For,” written alongside her brother Finneas for “Barbie,” took home two awards, Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media. This was a milestone for women everywhere, considering the feminist meaning behind it. Victoria Monét also took home one of the big four awards, awarded as Best New Artist. 15 years into her career, Monét has finally been recognized for her work.
