February 27, 2023 by Eliza Howenstein (’24)
Both The Grammy Awards and The Brit Awards generated massive buzz with star-packed nominees and incredible performance lineups this year. To determine which was truly the best award show, I’ve compiled a ranking of each show’s best moments.
The Grammys best moments:
The fourth most special moment was the Grammy’s “In Memoriam” section. This touching section featured performances from Fleetwood Mac and Kacey Musgraves. This segment is always done beautifully, and the performers they have doing it never disappoint.
Coming in at 3rd place was a historic occasion: Kim Petras became the First Trans Woman to win a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The increasing recognition for all the LGBTQ+ talent in the music industry is wonderful to see and well deserved.
The second best moment was Harry Styles taking home the coveted Album of the year award. Harry’s House was an album that broke several records. Its lead single “As It Was” enjoyed 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. This gives the track the distinction of having bagged not only the longest chart-topping run for a British artist but also the longest-running No. 1 with no accompanying artists. In addition to that, Styles had a historic U.S. tour accompanying this album with 15 sold-out nights played at the iconic Madison Square Garden. His win wasn’t without controversy, but I’d say it was well-earned.
And the greatest moment this Grammy season? Beyoncé became the most-awarded Grammy winner in Grammy’s history. With 32 wins, the superstar musician surpassed late conductor Georg Solti for the record. She achieved the honor with a win at the 2023 Grammys in the best dance/electronic album category.
The Brit’s best moments:
Coming in fourth place is breakout band Wet Leg winning two Brit awards during their debut year at the award show. The band formed in 2019 and increased in popularity after Harry Styles covered their song “Wet Dreams” in the second half of 2022. The band took home the awards for Breakout Artist and British Group.
In 3rd place is Harry Styles’ performance of his song “As It Was.” Although he performed this song at the Grammy’s, he faced backlash on Twitter after his performance due to technical difficulties with his stage setup. His performance of his hit single at the Brit’s was his chance at award show performance redemption and he met and exceeded expectations.
Coming in at 2nd place was Beyoncé’s surprise appearance to accept the Brit for International Artist of the Year. Although she could not be there in person, her video acceptance speech was widely praised, with her ending the speech by thanking her British fans and promoting her upcoming tour.
And the Brit’s best moment came from Harry Styles. The singer made headlines with his full Brits sweep–which included Artist of the Year, Mastercard Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and the fan-voted Pop/R&B act. For Harry fans the biggest moment of the night wasn’t all his wins, it was when he thanked his former bandmates from One Direction. This is something the singer rarely does, so to hear him speak about One Direction more than 10 years after the band was formed undoubtedly sent a corner of Twitter into a spiral.
Although I’d say, the Grammys best moments outweighed those from the Brits, both award shows had their own respective highlights and were enjoyable watches.