Grammys 2023: Beyoncé had a big night — but was it big enough?

The morning after music's biggest night, ie. the 65th annual Grammy Awards, Toronto Star music reporter Richie Assaly and freelance music writer Maura Johnston joined Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about the highs, lows, and surprises from this year's ceremony. We've included some highlights below but for the full discussion, check out the Commotion podcast on CBC listen, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

Album of the Year was Beyoncé's to lose... so why did she?

Perhaps the biggest shock of the night was when the top prize, Album of the Year, went to Harry Styles for Harry's House, in a stunning upset over Beyoncé's Renaissance.

"I have to be honest, it was an incredibly disappointing decision. And to be frank, I think a huge mistake," said Assaly. "The Grammys have a pretty spotty history with choosing the best album, so I don't think we need to put too much stock into it typically. but I'm not sure there's ever been a more obvious choice than Beyoncé's Renaissance, nor has there been a juicier opportunity to kind of make up for the multiple times she's been snubbed for this award in the past. 

Renaissance is this big, bold, joyous, politically-relevant album from someone at the complete peak of her powers. It was universally acclaimed, it was a commercial success, it had this major cultural impact with songs like 'CUFF IT' and 'AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM,'" Assaly said.

Johnston echoed those sentiments, saying that while the night wasn't a total loss for Beyoncé — she became the most awarded artist in Grammys history last night with 32 wins — the end result does raise some questions.

"I don't feel sorry for her, obviously, because she did set that record, and she looked great and everyone was talking about her. But I am really frustrated on her behalf just because I feel like she's one of the most prominent pop artists out there who takes the idea of the album as an artistic piece of work extremely seriously. The self-titled, Lemonade and now Renaissance are all cohesive bodies of work with very distinct points of view and lots of artistic ambition — and Renaissance is also just a really fun listen.

But in the midst of it being so much fun and joyous and dance-y, it also teaches the listeners about the history of queer dance music, and I think that makes it so important. And I feel like it is the gold standard of an album as a piece of art over not just the last year and change, but the decade so far. So, it's a question of what's holding these voters — this is one of the big four categories where everyone in the Academy can vote — what is holding these voters back from recognizing that she's really, really good, and that she's putting out these really ambitious pieces of work?" Johnston posited.

On Bonnie Raitt's unexpected Song of the Year win

In a turn of events that surprised even the winner herself, country singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt took home the prize for Song of the Year for her tune "Just Like That," besting the likes of Adele and Kendrick Lamar.

"I think Bonnie Raitt was unexpected, but it's hard to be upset about this. She looked absolutely, genuinely surprised to beat out the likes of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. But yeah, she's a legend. To get an award like this at a late stage of her career, I think that's really lovely to give someone their flowers like that," Assaly said.

"I wasn't really familiar with the song, to be honest. And I went and listened this morning, and it's this really lovely song inspired by the late John Prine. It's about a woman who lost her son and she's grieving and her son was an organ donor, and she ends up connecting with a man whose life was saved by her son's organs. It's this really kind of old-school folk ballad that really hits you in the feels. So for an award that was about songwriting, I think it kind of makes sense."

Johnston, however, may have been the lone person who saw this win coming.

"I do want to point out that I did predict Bonnie Raitt's win in my piece for The Boston Globe last week," Johnston quipped. "I looked at the nominees and I was like, you know, she's an artist who has a lot of respect. And this is her first nomination for a songwriting award because, you know, she's a fantastic artist, but her earlier hits like 'I Can't Make You Love Me' and 'Something to Talk About' were written by other artists, other songwriters. I feel like this was a way for a lot of, again, the general body of voters to give her her flowers."

You can listen to the full panel from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.