The highlights and winners at the 2021 Grammy Awards

With stadium concerts still out of the question during the ongoing global pandemic, this year’s biggest stage is the TV.

Trevor Noah and his magnificent lockdown hair presented the 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony live from the Los Angeles Convention Center's open-air arena. Many of the night's winners were scattered at tables in a garden-style setting and other musicians joined on-screen via satellite.

In honour of the entertainment workers who keep live venues ticking, many of the Grammy winner envelopes were opened via satellite and on stage by bartenders, floor workers and managers from four famous venues: New York's The Apollo Theater, Nashville's The Station Inn, LA's the Troubadour and The Hotel Café. The workers talked about the history of their venues and their careers, and spoke about what it has been like for them with all the venues being shuttered during the pandemic.

The world’s biggest acts – including Bad Bunny, Black Pumas, Burna Boy, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift – then performed live throughout the ceremony.

Read on for the highlights of the event.

PS: Fans, remember you can still catch Trevor on The Daily Show, Tuesdays-Fridays on Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) at 23:30.

And you can check out all the Grammy red carpet fashion moments on E! Live From The Red Carpet on Monday, 15 March, on E! Entertainment (DStv channel 124) at 22:00

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The Grammys for the most entertaining awards show moments go to...

Harry Styles opened the evening's performances with his hit, Watermelon Sugar, followed by Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, performing All I Ever Wanted, and Haim performing The Steps.

Lizzo presented the first award of the night to Megan Thee Stallion who collected the Best New Artist Grammy.

This was Thee Year for Megan Thee Stallion, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.

Megan got to talk about her career in a recorded biographical segment during which she urged listeners, "Even on the days you feel like quitting, don't quit because it is possible to achieve all your dreams.”

After that segment, Megan and Cardi B performed Savage in a full-on, magnificent Vegas-style production with dazzling costumes and a golden stage. Then Cardi B and Megan twerked up a storm as they gave their first-ever live TV performance of WAP. All Trevor could say was "Wow!” before commenting on how luxurious and comfy the bed felt and warning Cardi that his grandmother was going to give them a whopping for prancing around on the bed with their shoes on.

Following that performance, an emotional Megan and Beyoncé took to the stage together to accept their Best Rap Song Grammy for Savage. Standing next to Beyoncé, Megan joked that throughout her life, her guiding vision has been to ask, “What would Beyoncé do, but make it a little ratchet.”

That award became Beyoncé's 27th Grammy, tying her with bluegrass-country musician Alison Krauss as the female star with the most Grammys ever. And moments later, when the Best R&B Performance Grammy was announced, Beyoncé became the singer (both male and female) with the most Grammy Awards ever, with 28 awards.

“As an artist, I believe it’s my job, and all of our jobs, to reflect time and it’s been such a difficult time,” she said on stage when she won for Black Parade. Beyoncé now ties with Quincy Jones by holding the second-most Grammy wins. It’s just a few more to go before she could tie with or surpass the late conductor Georg Solti’s 31 Grammys. And it was set to be a family celebration night as Beyoncé daughter, Blue Ivy, also picked up a Grammy for her role in Brown Skin Girl, which won Best Music Video.

While neither Megan nor Beyoncé won the final award of the night, Record of The Year, Megan got one heck of a shout-out. The award was presented by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, who commented, "It's great to be anywhere" after a full year in lockdown.

In a tight race, the Grammy went to Billie Eilish who was not ready to win at all because she fully thought that Megan Thee Stallion would be taking home the award for sure. Billie announced, "This is really embarrassing for me." Then she told Megan, "You deserve this. Can we just cheer for Megan Thee Stallion, please?" And she thanked Megan for all the inspiration she'd given her during the year. This was Billie’s second Record of The Year Grammy in a row, following 2020’s win for Bad Guy.

Other highlights included…

The ceremony’s on-stage live performances were everything we could have hoped for.

For the first time ever, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak performed Leave The Door Open live as their soulfully, sinfully smooth R&B act Silk Sonic, while dressed in hilariously awful ’70s-era brown suits with wide lapels, wing-collar shirts and wide-leg pants. Trevor Noah quipped, "I can't wait to dance to that at every wedding for the rest of my life."

Taylor Swift performed a medley of her hits from her Folklore and Evermore albums on a stage set up like a magical snowy day at a mossy cabin in the woods complete with flurries of little lights representing fireflies. It fulfilled our every fantasy that the Folklore album gave us during lockdown. And this year, Taylor became the first woman to win Album of The Year three times.

The Grammys also honoured smash hits by female country artists in 2020. The first black female solo artist ever honoured in a country music category, Mickey Guyten, took the spotlight as she performed Black Like Me in a full-glam gold gown, backed by her live chorus and musicians. She was followed by Miranda Lambert performing Wildcard and Maren Morris singing The Bones.

After explaining the distinction between a couple of Grammy categories, Trevor honoured the Song of The Year nominees and announced H.E.R's win for I Can't Breathe, inspired by the police murder of George Floyd. The Black Lives Matter movement was also highlighted in the chillingly powerful and moving on-stage protest and rap-poetry performances of The Bigger Picture by Lil Baby, complete with protest signs, fireworks and a street set straight out of his music video. And Trevor Noah also showcased Beyoncé's Black Parade album and the growing movement to support black-owned businesses.

A biographical segment took us inside Post Malone's life and career before his eerily staged live performance of Hollywood's Bleeding that saw him dressed in a leather trench coat like WWE star The Undertaker. Trevor Noah quipped that checking out Post's face tattoos was the most reading that he's done all year.

Doja Cat gave a rundown of how she made her own fame with the help of around 50 online fans in the early days to becoming a viral sensation today. After that segment played, she performed her hit Say So while dressed in a robotic-looking, head-to-toe, full-coverage latex outfit.

And K-Pop sensations BTS took the stage to perform their hit, Dynamite, but they weren't in LA – they actually duplicated the Los Angeles Convention Center's stage in Seoul to perform live back home.

Make it fashion

Many, many gorgeous outfits were worn both during performances and by artists accepting awards as the Grammys went for full glamour this year, so watch those fashion pages. But aside from Bad Bunny's black, knitted, bunny-ears cap, the accessory of the night was, of course, masks, with most of the artists wearing outfit co-ordinating masks. Taylor Swift's floral applique mask, Harry Styles's yellow chequered mask and Megan Thee Stallion's beautiful orange satin mask set the bar high for the rest of us.

PS: Style-overlord Harry collected his Best Pop Solo Grammy for Watermelon Sugar wearing a used car salesman-style yellow chequered blazer and a purple feather boa with a peach knitted shirt and brown corduroy pants, looking like he rolled around in a dumpster outside a charity shop… but, as always, somehow chic.

Watch E! Live From The Red Carpet on Monday, 15 March, on E! Entertainment (DStv channel 124) at 22:00

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In Memoriam

Trevor gave a shout-out to essential workers during 2021 before introducing the In Memoriam segment in honour of the 1 000-or so musical artists we lost during 2020, starting with Bill Withers and Little Richard.

Bruno Mars (wearing a Little Richard-style skinny moustache) and Anderson .Paak performed an energetic medley of Little Richard hits including Good Golly Miss Molly. Lionel Richie gave a touching performance of Kenny Rogers' hit Lady in honour of his late friend. "I miss you, Kenny, I miss you, man," Lionel said in goodbye. Brandi Carlile sang I Remember Everything in honour of John Prine. And Brittany Howard (a five-time nominee at this year's Grammys), accompanied by Chris Martin (picking up two nominations this year) on piano, performed You'll Never Walk Alone honouring, among others, the late Gerry Marsden.

For the full list of 2021 Grammy Awards winners, click here.

Watch it all on DStv

Watch the 2021 Grammy Awards on Monday, 15 March, on 1Magic (DStv channel 103) at 20:30

Watch The 2021 Grammy Awards Monday, 15 March, on Channel O (DStv channel 320) at 20:00

Watch The Daily Show, Tuesdays-Fridays on Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) at 23:30

Watch E! Live From The Red Carpet on Monday, 15 March, on E! Entertainment (DStv channel 124) at 22:00

Both 1Magic (DStv channel 103) and Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) are available exclusively on DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus. To get DStv or to upgrade your package, click here.

E! Entertainment (DStv channel 124) is available on DStv Premium, Compact Plus and Compact. To get DStv or to upgrade your package, click here.

Channel O (DStv channel 302) is available on all DStv packages aside from EasyView. To get DStv or to upgrade your package, click here.

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