Enlarge image

Pop star Taylor Swift at the Grammy Gala

Photo: John Shearer / The Recording Academy / Getty Images

Stars like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and SZA were honored at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Eilish won the US Music Award for Best Song of the Year on Sunday night for “What Was I Made For?” Swift's album "Midnights" was named best pop album. SZA picked up three awards at the start of the show: best R&B song, best progressive R&B album and best pop performance as a duo or group with rock singer Phoebe Bridgers.

But all eyes at the gala were on superstar Swift. The 34-year-old made history at the Grammy Awards: her album “Midnights” was named the best album of the year, making it her fourth Grammy award in this category. She has overtaken Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Swift took advantage of the attention and announced a new album at the show: It's called "The Tortured Poets Department" and will be released on April 19th. This comes unexpectedly for most fans. Many had assumed that Swift might announce the release of the new recording of her 2017 album “Reputation”.

However, Swift did not enter the race with the most nominations on Sunday. R&B and soul singer SZA was able to win this. The singer of the hit “Kill Bill,” whose real name is Solana Imani Rowe, competed in nine categories. She was ahead of rock musician Bridgers, pop singer Victoria Monet and sound engineer and mixer Serban Ghenea, who also had a good chance of winning one of the golden trophies with seven nominations each.

Moderator: Women currently dominate music

Singer Miley Cyrus won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance for her song "Flowers." "Oh my God, I just got stuck in the rain and traffic and thought I was going to miss this moment," she exclaimed with relief as she accepted the award from pop icon Mariah Carey.

Moderator Trevor Noah opened the gala with a tribute to the many female nominees. "Can we enjoy for a second the fact that women have dominated music this year?" said the South African comedian. »Seven of the nominees for Album of the Year are women.«

There were also many women on stage: US songwriter legend Tracy Chapman sang her 1988 hit “Fast Car” in a duet with country star Luke Combs. Eilish also performed alongside SZA and pop singer Dua Lipa, singing her winning song "What Was I Made For?" from the "Barbie" film.

Many of the more than 90 prizes were announced before the show began. At the so-called pre-gala, Bridgers' band Boygenius was honored.

jok/AFP