Grammys 2023 – live: Beyonce, Adele and Taylor Swift nominated for awards at tonight’s ceremony
The 2023 Grammys are set to take place tonight (5 February), with some of the biggest names in music competing for awards.
Much of the discussion beforehand has centred on the battle between Adele and Beyoncé for Album of the Year, six years after Adele’s 25 controversially beat out Beyoncé’s Lemonade for the top prize.
This time round, Adele is nominated for her fourth album, 30, released back in 2021. A four-star review in The Independent praised both the songwriting and Adele’s singing. Beyoncé’s disco and house-influenced album Renaissance, meanwhile, is another strong contender; the record also scored an effusive four-star review from The Independent.
The night will be hosted by former Daily Show star Trevor Noah, with the live show broadcast beginning at 8pm ET or 5pm PT (1am UK time on Monday 6 February).
Those attending the ceremony will also receive a gift bag worth $60,000: take a look at what’s inside.
You can find a rundown of The Independent’s predictions for this year’s Grammys ceremony here and learn how to watch live here.
Follow live updates below:
Grammy Awards 2023
See the full list of Grammys 2023 nominations
Take a look inside the Grammys gift bags worth $60k
Behind the controversy surrounding Sam Smith’s new music video
Who is performing at the Grammy Awards?
Read The Independent’s review of Beyonce’s Grammy-nominated album Renaissance
2023 Grammys predictions
19:00 , Roisin O'Connor
Music fans preparing for the rematch of the century, Adele vs Beyoncé, at the Grammys tonight.
Both artists are up for Album of the Year, six years after Adele took home the top prize for her third record, 25. The win over Beyoncé’s critically adored surprise album Lemonade was highly controversial; Adele herself famously declared that Beyoncé deserved the prize during her acceptance speech.
This year, the British singer is competing with her record-obliterating fourth album, 30, released in 2021. A four-star review in The Independent praised the songs as “handsomely crafted ballads about love and its various agonies”, with Adele’s voice, as ever, the main draw. “Adele possesses that perfectly imperfect voice, gargantuan and frail all at once,” critic Annabel Nugent wrote. “It’s epic without resorting to showy, melismatic affectations. It yawns into unexpected shapes and makes intonation fun.”
Beyoncé, meanwhile, surprised fans and critics with her disco and house-influenced album Renaissance. “In a catch-all spirit of musical modernism, trap, house, glitchtronica, disco, ragga, South African gqom and future funk are all lobbed into a heady mix, with songs blending into each other and shifting course mid-flow,” critic Mark Beaumont said in his four-star review.
Also battling out for Album of the Year are rapper Kendrick Lamar, Adele’s fellow Brits, Coldplay and Harry Styles, pop star Lizzo, Abba, Mary J Blige, Brandi Carlile. Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny completes the list of 10 nominees, and makes history with his album Un Verano Sin Tee, which is the first ever Spanish-language record nominated in the AOTY category.
Check out my predictions for the Big Four categories: Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
Adele vs Beyonce – the rematch! Our predictions for this year’s Grammy Awards
Album of the Year contenders Coldplay - Music of the Spheres review
20:00 , Roisin O'Connor
British band Coldplay are up for Album of the Year at the Grammys tonight with their ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres.
The Independent’s critics didn’t think much of this one, unfortunately, with Helen Brown awarding it a three-star review.
“Music of The Spheres isn’t Coldplay at their Viva la Vida finest, even if their undeniably upbeat attitude remains hard to resist,” she decided.
“The Pythagoreans believed that music purified the soul. This album offers a more superficial spiritual shower. A fleeting invigoration.”
Check out the full review:
Coldplay’s new album is a superficial spiritual shower – review
The moment Trevor Noah mocked Will Smith’s Oscars controversy at last year’s Grammys
19:30 , Roisin O'Connor
Ahead of Trevor Noah’s return to host the Grammy Awards, here’s a look at what he got up to last year...
The best ever fashion moments at the Grammy Awards
18:30 , Roisin O'Connor
The Grammys are regarded as one of the most prestigious nights in the music industry’s calendar, with this year’s nominees including the likes of Doja Cat, Beyoncé, Adele, and Lizzo.
Stars who attend the glitzy occasion are known to put their best fashion foot forward on the red carpet, showcasing stunning, sartorial creations that will sometimes be remembered for years to come.
Take Jennifer Lopez, for example, who inspired the development of Google Images when the Versace dress she wore for the 2000 awards ceremony sparked an internet frenzy. Or Beyoncé, who wore a dazzling gold design by Peter Dundas for her 2017 Grammys performance, all the while pregnant with twins Sir and Rumi Carter.
Check out all the best fashion moments below:
The best fashion moments ever at the Grammy Awards, from Jennifer Lopez to Beyoncé
Abba - Voyage review
18:00 , Roisin O'Connor
“Love between a man and woman is war,” said Sweden’s most famous playwright, August Strindberg. It was a philosophy that the country’s most famous pop stars took on board. From their 1974 breakthrough “Waterloo” (“I was defeated, you won the war”) to their final single, 1982’s “Under Attack”, ABBA sang of love as conflict. The easy-cheese of those catchy, interlocking melodies and those sparkly synths were disco-camo for the quartet who brought the world Strindberg in sequins. “All I do is eat and sleep and sing/ Wishing every show was the last show…” they lamented beneath the lights.
Check out Helen Brown’s fantastic review of Abba’s final ever album, the Album of the Year-nominated Voyage, here:
ABBA’s comeback album Voyage is a smorgasbord of schmaltz and stompers – review
Beyonce, Adele and Taylor Swift could break Grammys records tonight
17:30 , Roisin O'Connor
By breaking records, I don’t mean like when Adele broke her Grammy in half and gave a piece to Beyonce.
Both stars could make history at tonight’s ceremony depending on how many prizes they win.
Beyonce is on the verge of becoming the most-awarded Grammy winner of all time.
As long as the 28-time Grammy winner secures at least four wins, she will surpass late conductor George Solti, who holds the current record with a total of 31 awards.
Check out all the potential record-breakers here:
The biggest records that could be shattered at the 2023 Grammy Awards
The moment Adele broke her Grammy Award for Album of the Year and gave it to Beyonce
17:00 , Roisin O'Connor
An iconic moment at the Grammys in 2017
What’s the deal with Grammy Awards presenter James Corden?
16:30 , Roisin O'Connor
James Corden is one of an eclectic list of presenters who’ll be handing out trophies tonight.
He’s definitely what you’d call a Marmite celebrity: loved by some, loathed by others.
Back in 2021, when haters were despairing at his appearance in a Cinderella reboot, Kevin E G Perry took a dive into his appeal in the States.
‘Nobody likes a narcissist’: How did America fall in love with James Corden?
Take a peek inside the Grammys gift bags
16:06 , Roisin O'Connor
The 65th Grammy Awards are almost upon us and soon, we will find out which of the biggest names in music will be crowned winners.
This year, former Daily Show star Trevor Noah is set to host the awards ceremony, which will see the likes of Adele and Beyonce battling it out for Album of the Year. Meanwhile, fans are excited to watch artists including Lizzo and Harry Styles perform.
But at the end of the night, no one goes home empty-handed thanks to the extravagant gift bags – or, in this event’s case, gift suitcases – each guest will receive.
Last year, the gift bags’ contents ranged from products such as Coma Toes lounge slippers to floral arrangements from Rose Box NYC, to a special 64th edition of cabernet sauvignon from Frontera Wines and $10,000 worth of plastic surgery treatments.
Los Angeles marketing company Distinctive Assets has returned for its 23rd year of putting together the Grammys gift bag for 2023 and has pulled out all the stops.
Take a look at what’s inside!
What’s inside 2023 Grammys gift bag?
2023 Grammy nominations in full
16:01 , Roisin O'Connor
On Tuesday 15 November 2022, the Recording Academy announced the artists who have been nominated in each category, with Adele and Beyoncé battling it out for the top award, Album of the Year.
Winners will be announced tonight, 5 February 2023, during the ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
US audiences can tune in on CBS and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
You can see the full list of nominations below... and our predictions for the Grammys 2023 winners here.
Here’s the full list of nominations for the 2023 Grammys
Beyonce’s Renaissance for Album of the Year?
15:30 , Roisin O'Connor
Fans will be rooting for Queen Bey at tonight’s Grammy Awards, six years after she famously lost out in favour of Adele’s 25.
Anyone remember a tearful Adele declaring that Beyonce deserved the award? Well, if the “Hello” singer triumphs again tonight, you can guarantee all hell will break loose!
Surely, though, Beyonce has a good chance.
“If the cover of Lemonade – Beyoncé head down and hiding from the world behind luxuriant furs – spoke to her broken mindset in the wake of discovering the existence of Becky with the good hair, the title and sleeve of her seventh album, Renaissance, suggests a proud comeback for the empress of self-worth,” our critic Mark Beaumont said in his four-star review.
“Clad only in the zip of an invisible diamond onesie, she sits astride a cosmic crystal horse like Xanadu’s Godiva; audaciously back in the (presumably pre-warmed) saddle. After nine years and two albums of revered art-pop progress, lead single ‘Break My Soul’ declares a fresh desire for airplay too; a brazen house banger (sampling Robin S’s ‘Show Me Love’) that suggests we ‘release ya wiggle’ even as it advocates breaking free from capitalist wage slavery.”
Read the full review:
On Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’, politics gives way to post-pandemic pleasure – review
Shania Twain - read The Independent’s interview with the Queen of Country Pop ahead of her Grammys appearance
15:00 , Roisin O'Connor
In case you didn’t know, I am a huge Shania Twain fan, so I’m very excited that we’ll be seeing her at the Grammys tonight!
Helen Brown interviewed her in September last year around the release of her new Netflix documentary, and ahead of her sixth studio album Queen of Me, which came out this week.
“When asked to explain how she became the best-selling female artist in the history of country music, Shania Twain keeps landing on the same two f-words: fear and fun,” the interview began.
“I’ve had to face my fears so many times in my life,” she says. “Sometimes you can walk right through those fears. Other times you have to back off and wait it out. It’s not always a choice.” She shrugs. “Losing my voice was scary. Losing my husband and collaborator was very scary.” But, through it all, she has remained insistent on a woman’s “prerogative to have a little fun”.
Read the full interview here:
Shania Twain: ‘This is a historically challenging time for women’
Adele is up for Album of the Year at the Grammys again
14:28 , Roisin O'Connor
British megastar Adele is one of the strongest contenders for the coveted Album of the Year prize at tonight’s ceremony.
The “Hello” singer is nominated for her fourth album, 30, which includes the record-busting single “Easy on Me”.
“No one makes heartbreak as relatable as Adele,” wrote critic Annabel Nugent in her four-star review.
“Ever since she was discovered aged 18 on Myspace in 2006, the Tottenham-born singer has made weepy, diaristic soul music her métier. She gathers pain – hers and ours – and spins it into songs that go diamond or platinum. It’s an alchemy she has honed over 15 years and just three records.
“The songs themselves are good. Grounded in pathos, they tend to be handsomely crafted ballads about love and its various agonies – but it’s her vocals that sell them. Adele possesses that perfectly imperfect voice, gargantuan and frail all at once. It’s epic without resorting to showy, melismatic affectations. It yawns into unexpected shapes and makes intonation fun. But there are many great vocalists out there who don’t attract the same mass adoration. There’s something else about Adele that makes her so endearing, something that preternatural vocal cords alone can’t explain.”
Read the full review here:
Adele, our patron saint of heartbreak, licks her wounds on divorce album 30 – review
What’s with all the Sam Smith controversy?
13:58 , Roisin O'Connor
Sam Smith is one of the artists scheduled to perform at tonight’s ceremony.
The British singer recently found themself at the centre of controversy due to their new music video, for single “I’m Not Here to Make Friends”.
For whatever reason, some people decided to get uppity about the fabulous and slightly raunchy carnival Smith puts on. My colleague Louis Chilton wrote a fantastic comment piece explaining exactly why the uproar was so ludicrous. And fingers crossed Smith will be dressed in something outrageous tonight.
Calling Sam Smith’s music video ‘pornographic’ is a toxic double standard
Who is performing at the Grammy Awards?
13:30 , Roisin O'Connor
It’s finally time for the 65th Grammy Awards to bring together the biggest names in music to celebrate their accomplishments.
This year’s ceremony, hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, takes place on Sunday (5 February) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and features an incredible lineup of performers.
Already confirmed acts include Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Mary J Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy and Sam Smith with Kim Petras.
DJ Khaled will also take the stage, potentially with Jay-Z, Variety reports. Their “GOD-DID” collaboration with Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy is competing in three categories, including Song of the Year.
Additional all-star tributes are expected, with Kacey Musgraves singing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in honour of the late Loretta Lynn.
See the full breakdown of tonight’s performances here:
Who is performing at the Grammys 2023?
Grammy Awards 2023 - tonight!
13:07 , Roisin O'Connor
Hello, and welcome to The Independent’s liveblog of the 65th Grammy Awards!
Tonight, we’ll be guiding you through a star-studded event as some of music’s biggest names compete for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Artist of the Year and more.
This year’s Grammys will be broadcast live from the Crypto.com Arena in LA on Sunday 5 February.
If you’re in the US, you can tune into the ceremony on CBS and live or on-demand on Paramount+ at 8pm ET or 5pm PT.
Fans will also be able to stream the showing live from live.grammy.com. If you’re in the UK and you want to stay up with me and my colleague Maanya, you can tune in via the livestream from 1am!
