Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz

Best Told-You-So: Brandi Carlile

Of all the major-category nominees at this year’s Grammys, none were more surprising than Carlile, the 37-year-old folk-rock — or rockin’ folk — singer and songwriter who earned six nods, including album of the year. But when she appeared on the Grammys stage, things became clear. Her performance of “The Joke,” a defiant anthem about tolerance, was genuinely startling (and vastly superior to the album version). Carlile’s vocals were robust, ragged, full of sneer and hope. On a night curiously light on impressive singing, it was an uncomplicated, genuine, cleansing thrill.

Shadiest Shade-Off: Drake’s (Cutoff) Acceptance Speech

Drake, who pointedly did not perform Sunday night, claimed just his fourth Grammy in 42 tries — best rap song for “God’s Plan” — and he deigned to show up to accept it, taking the winner’s podium for the first time. (His previous awards were not televised and he has even clowned the show for giving “Hotline Bling” the best rap song trophy in 2017 “maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black,” he said.) This time, he pulled a Fiona Apple and told the world it did not matter: “We play in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport,” he said, seemingly legitimately nervous. “This is a business where sometimes it’s up to a bunch of people that might not understand, you know, what a mixed-race kid from Canada has to say, or a fly Spanish girl from New York, or anybody else, or a brother from Houston.”

It was part motivational speech, part rebuke of gatekeepers, and all Drake, the most famous guidance counselor in the universe.

“The point is, you’ve already won if you have people who are singing your songs word for word, if you’re a hero in your hometown,” he added. “You don’t need this right here, I promise you.”

But when he gathered his breath to finish the sentiment, the show cut to commercial. Drake was not seen at the Grammys again, and given how hard it was to get him there in the first place, he might not be for a while.

Most Chill Host: Alicia Keys

If the tensions at last year’s ceremony left the Grammys in knots, Keys was a CBD oil rubdown: a soothing, self-assured earth mother prepared to “Kumbaya” the show into a place of solidarity and affection.

“Do you feel that love in the building?” she announced at the top of the ceremony. “This is love, this is life, this is living, this is light, and all because of music.”

She brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez to speak about music as a vessel for empowerment and empathy. She twirled in a variety of outfits. She joked around with John Mayer and harmonized with Smokey Robinson. She had already logged oodles more screen time than any host in recent memory when she perched on a stool between two grand pianos and played one with each hand in a demonstration of technical badassery, then took a tour through songs she wished she had written (Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly,” Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams,” Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”), wrapping on her own Jay-Z collaboration “Empire State of Mind” like a humblebrag come to life. But she still ended the show on a note of grander uplift: “Let’s keep listening and loving each other.”

Best Steel Magnolia: Dolly Parton

Flanked by younger admirers for a patchwork tribute, Parton easily held her own, with her voice still twangy, feathery and persuasive. The start was shaky: Kacey Musgraves too tentative and Katy Perry too vehement before Parton righted the tone of “Here You Come Again.” Miley Cyrus made an admiring rival in “Jolene,” and Cyrus shared three-part a cappella harmony with Parton and Maren Morris in “After the Gold Rush,” a Neil Young song Parton has recorded with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Little Big Town gave Parton an arena-country buildup in the story-song “Red Shoes,” from the 2018 “Dumplin'” soundtrack, before the female-solidarity finale, “9 to 5,” in which Parton made sure to praise her recent songwriting collaborator and producer, Linda Perry, who was leading the band. Parton was all smiles, and all gumption.

Best Combination of a Pop Star, an Atlanta Icon and the Spanish Language: Camila Cabello’s Opening Performance

For a show that has traditionally shunted aside Latin music (leaving it to the Latin Grammys, a separate event altogether) — and has yet to really acknowledge the rising urbano wave — Cabello’s opening number covered a lot of ground. Sure, it was centered around “Havana,” a No. 1 pop hit, but Cabello’s Cuba-via-Miami roots shone through, and she also managed to ground a performance that featured both Young Thug and Ricky Martin. (Guess which one was wearing diamond-encrusted boots.) J Balvin, the pop-reggaeton star from Colombia, popped up for an interlude of his hit “Mi Gente” — and held up a newspaper that read “Build bridges not walls” — while Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval made himself heard throughout. For a show that’s traditionally a ballad-loving affair, the energy was welcome, as was diversity that did not just feel like lip service.

Best No-Show: Childish Gambino’s Song of the Year Win

Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” the first-ever hip-hop song to be honored with a Grammy for song and record of the year, is fittingly self-conscious: rapped in clipped, referential phrases, with melodic sections and a smattering of uncredited ad-libs by some of the genre’s true recent innovators (Young Thug, 21 Savage, Quavo, BlocBoy JB). That none of them — including the song’s lead artist and writer, Donald Glover — bothered to show up and accept the trophy for the songwriters was also apt for a show that has long struggled with its handling of hip-hop, dating back to the first-ever rap award in 1989, when a number of the nominees boycotted. (Kendrick Lamar and Drake, the most nominated artists of the night, also declined to perform; the “This Is America” producer Ludwig Goransson accepted the second award.)

But the first no-show led to an awkward dead-air moment as the presenters, Keys and Mayer, shuffled around the stage, trying to figure out what to do next. One of Childish Gambino’s managers tweeted a shrug emoji. But what really underlined the sharp elbow of a nonappearance was that Glover did appear as part of the Grammys telecast, after all — starring in a cellphone commercial that aired more than once.

Best Capital-S Star: Cardi B

“Welcome to the Grammys,” Cardi B proclaimed one hour and 28 minutes into the Grammys, luxuriating atop a jewel-encrusted piano that would make Liberace blink. She started her performance of “Money” in a dramatic cape like a sexy vampire leopard, and ended it sporting a ring of feathers like the baddest peacock on the block. Her set of plush banquets evoked vintage glitz, but 20 dancers doing floor work, four more waving large fans and a flamboyant pianist — Chloe Flower — could not steal attention from the main attraction. When she returned to the stage to accept the award for best rap album, she had switched modes: from swagger to heart. “I can’t breathe,” she said, struggling for a brief moment to organize her thoughts. An entire arena was ready to offer up their lungs.

Least Restraint: Lady Gaga

During the 19-second fingerpicked introduction to the power ballad “Shallow,” Lady Gaga executed two full body hair flips, one side kick and seven exaggerated stabbing motions with her left arm, each punctuating plucks of Mark Ronson’s acoustic guitar. As she sang the verses to the song, the standout from “A Star Is Born,” she acted out seemingly the entire arc of rock stardom: drinking, doing cocaine and torturing a microphone stand. Lady Gaga is one of our most gloriously talented pop stars, and one of the most nerve-racking, because you never know when her tango with good taste will dip into disaster. In her attempt to make this performance of “Shallow” the most everything, she ended up with less.

Most Understated Headliner: Kacey Musgraves

The first song on Musgraves’ album of the year winner, “Golden Hour,” is “Slow Burn,” a slightly psychedelic country ballad about how chill she can be — in love, in her career and just in general. Critically respected but largely ignored by the Nashville establishment, Musgraves spent most of Grammys night edging her way, patiently, into the spotlight. Her first appearance, to perform her song “Rainbow,” betrayed some nerves. As part of the Parton tribute, Musgraves' hair had gotten bigger but she was still muscled over by a vocally pushy Perry on “Here You Come Again.” By the time she took center stage to accept the show’s final award, though, having won best country album and then beaten out pop stars like Drake, Cardi B and Kendrick Lamar for the top all-genre prize, the Grammys had come to her, and Musgraves delivered a simple, effective moment of gratitude that showed just how easy she is to root for. In a room used to having the air sucked out of it by all sorts of try-hards and egomaniacs, Musgraves just let it breathe.

Best Soul Affirmation: H.E.R.

H.E.R., the shades-wearing singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who won the Grammy for best R&amp;B; album, summoned echoes of Prince and “Purple Rain” with reverberating chords from her electric guitar as she sang “Hard Place.” Singers and a string section gathered onstage as the song moved into a gospel-charged crescendo and H.E.R. let loose more expansive, ever more soulful melismas. She wasn’t done until she had flaunted some wailing lead guitar and then eased the song back down, with poised dynamics at every moment — the kind of real-time musicianship the Grammys still hope to reward.

Worst Tribute Pairing: Jennifer Lopez vs. Motown

Let’s say up front that Jennifer Lopez is a genuinely versatile talent — a spectacular dancer, an underrated actress, a person who sings. There are numerous ways she could have enlivened any number of parts of the Grammys this year, or any other year. Fronting a Motown tribute, however — yeah, how about no? Lopez did not appear to be singing live at any point during her six-minute-plus performance, to the chagrin of many online, and perhaps also to any of the dozens of R&amp;B; singers who could have handled these songs with verve and power. While the dance routines were strong, turning the music of Motown — which featured some of the most vital, urgent vocals in pop music history — into a Busby Berkeley routine was a swing and a miss.

Best Not-Overdoing-It Tribute: Aretha Franklin

It is nigh impossible to pay full tribute to Aretha Franklin, who had one of the most forceful, nuanced and outrageous voices of the last century. So Yolanda Adams, Andra Day and Fantasia did not go over the top on their version of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” The performance was taut — just three sharp vocalists delivering impassioned singing, paying homage to an icon while silently accepting there are shoes that can never fully be filled.

Best Cameos: Miley Cyrus

Cyrus has never won a Grammy. She was not up for one this year. She has only been nominated once ever. And yet! Cyrus came to play Sunday, joining Shawn Mendes to make an unnecessary (sleeveless) duet a true power ballad, and then appearing again for a tribute to her godmother, Parton. Cyrus was loose, but focused; impactful, but not scenery-chewing, and, knowing her nonstop-ness, she probably wanted more. She could have torn up that cage with Travis Scott! She could have kept “Shallow” earthbound! She could have hosted! Bless her.

Best Belated Penance: Diana Ross

Some Grammy performances have little to do with music in itself. The recording business owes a lot to Ross, who had dozens of No. 1 hits, turns 75 in March and is still touring this year. What she never got, with the Supremes or solo, was a competitive Grammy Award; the Recording Academy came up with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2012. So when she arrived onstage in a regal, gauzy red gown, after being introduced by her grandson, her presence was enough. She got through the retrospective gratitude of “The Best Years of My Life” (despite an ill-advised upward key change) and an arm-waving singalong of “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” as she strolled through the audience. “Learn, dream, unlock new doors,” she exhorted. “All is possible.” The standing ovation was a cumulative appreciation.

Worst Lifestyle Advice: Post Malone and Red Hot Chili Peppers

Between a 2014 Super Bowl appearance with Bruno Mars and this Grammy Awards duet with Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers have made themselves symbolic elder statesmen of excess. Excess was the thematic link for a three-part Grammy medley: Post Malone’s acoustic-guitar-strumming ballad “Stay” (recalling a lovers’ quarrel while he was “too drunk to talk”) followed by his singsong, self-censored boasts of overindulgence in “Rockstar” and then the Chili Peppers’ 2016 song “Dark Necessities,” which hints at addiction and self-destructive impulses. Post Malone’s self-satisfied self-pity coupled with the Chili Peppers’ we-can-still-do-this athleticism — singer Anthony Kiedis ended up shirtless — all played like unintentional parody. Post Malone also made no mention of his collaborator on “Rockstar”: 21 Savage, currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Best Funk Infusion: Janelle Monáe

Monáe has extensive ideas about cybernetic control vs. sensual abandon; she also has old-school showbiz razzle-dazzle. She combined them all to perform “Make Me Feel,” a song that harks back to the Minneapolis funk of Prince and prime Janet Jackson. Flanked by dancers who were costumed as shiny automatons, she swaggered through the song with robotic twitches, hip-pumping carnality and even some moonwalking, adding a snippet of her gynocentric song “Pynk” and the admonition, “Let the vagina have a monologue!” She earned the mic drop that ended the song.

Best Rule-Breaking: Travis Scott

The Grammys, structurally, still look like they could be filmed in the 1970s. The camera setups are fairly flat, and the performances are tightly controlled. So credit Scott for taking a much-needed wrecking ball to the format. He began his performance with a coolly tempered “Stop Trying to Be God,” backed by James Blake duetting with Philip Bailey (of Earth, Wind and Fire). But then the scene switched: Scott reappeared inside a tall cage rapping “No Bystanders,” and was swarmed by dozens of ecstatic revelers, some of whom began scaling the cage walls. Eventually Scott climbed up, hopped over the top and landed on the outstretched arms of his faithful. For a show that likes to pretend music moves in one direction — from the stage outward — this was a welcome reminder that it can also go up, down, around, and explode in plain sight.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/arts/music/grammys-moments-best-worst.html" id="08c576c4-8dd2-3652-aba6-a1790103a98e">The New York Times</a>.

The 61st annual Grammy Awards on Sunday worked to right the wrongs of the past few years’ ceremonies, where the leading narrative was tension over a lack of diversity and poor representation for the most influential young artists in music. Big stars still stayed home — and one of the biggest got cut off mid-speech — but the show corralled a former first lady and delivered many messages of inspirational uplift. Here are the highlights and lowlights as we saw them:

The Best and Worst of the Grammys

The first song on Musgraves’s album of the year winner, “Golden Hour,” is “Slow Burn,” a slightly psychedelic country ballad about how chill she can be — in love, in her career and just in general. Critically respected but largely ignored by the Nashville establishment, Musgraves spent most of Grammys night edging her way, patiently, into the spotlight. Her first appearance, to perform her song “Rainbow,” betrayed some nerves. As part of the Parton tribute, Musgraves’s hair had gotten bigger but she was still muscled over by a vocally pushy Perry on “Here You Come Again.” By the time she took center stage to accept the show’s final award, though, having won best country album and then beaten out pop stars like Drake, Cardi B and Kendrick Lamar for the top all-genre prize, the Grammys had come to her, and Musgraves delivered a simple, effective moment of gratitude that showed just how easy she is to root for. In a room used to having the air sucked out of it by all sorts of try-hards and egomaniacs, Musgraves just let it breathe.

Between a 2014 Super Bowl appearance with Bruno Mars and this Grammy Awards duet with Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers have made themselves symbolic elder statesmen of excess. Excess was the thematic link for a three-part Grammy medley: Post Malone’s acoustic-guitar-strumming ballad “Stay” (recalling a lovers’ quarrel while he was “too drunk to talk”) followed by his singsong, self-censored boasts of overindulgence in “Rockstar” and then the Chili Peppers’ 2016 song “Dark Necessities,” which hints at addiction and self-destructive impulses. Post Malone’s self-satisfied self-pity coupled with the Chili Peppers’ we-can-still-do-this athleticism — the singer Anthony Kiedis ended up shirtless — all played like unintentional parody.

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Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli and Caryn Ganz

Articles written by the author

The Best and Worst of the Grammys

The Best and Worst of the Grammys