American singer Beyoncé broke the record for most Grammy award wins of all time during last night’s momentous ceremony in Los Angeles. The celebrated artist finally topped the previous record of 31 Grammys, which was held by classical musician Georg Solti, as she collected the trophy for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album.
Last summer, Beyoncé returned with Renaissance, her first studio album since 2016’s Lemonade. The commercially and critically successful LP was written and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic and included collaborative efforts from Nova Wav, The-Dream, Symbolyc One, A. G. Cook, Honey Dijon, Beam, Grace Jones, Tems, Skrillex and more.
Beyoncé’s record-breaking award was her fourth of the night, following those for ‘Best Dance/Electronic Recording’ for ‘Break My Soul’, Best Traditional R&B Performance for ‘Plastic Off The Sofa’ and Best R&B Song for ‘Cuff It’.
“Thank you so much, I’m trying not to be too emotional, and I’m trying to just receive this night,” she beamed as she accepted the record-breaking trophy. “I wanna thank God for protecting me; thank you God. I’d like to thank my uncle Johnny who’s not here. But he’s here in spirit. I’d like to thank my parents, my father, my mother, for loving me and pushing me.
“I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children who are at home watching. I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and inventing the genre. God bless you.”
In the run-up to the ceremony, Beyoncé had nine nominations. Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Harry Styles joined her with multiple nominations, with the former One Direction singer taking home the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Performances at the event included those from Bad Bunny, Stevie Wonder, Sam Smith, Lizzo, Mary J. Blige, Steve Lacy and more. A special performance in celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop also featured LL Cool J, Big Boi, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Missy Elliott, and many others.
Watch Beyoncé’s acceptance speech below.
