Golden, the inescapable hit from the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters, has become the first ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy Award.
Performed by the fictional band Huntr/x, it picked up best song for visual media as the awards ceremony got underway in Los Angeles. It is also nominated for song of the year.
Other early winners included British stars Yungblud, The Cure and FKA Twigs, while the Dalai Lama won best audiobook and eight year old Aura V became the youngest ever Grammy recipient, for best children’s album.
In the film categories, the Southern horror film Sinners won best soundtrack and best score, in the same week it picked up a record 16 nominations at the Oscars.
Released last June, K-Pop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most-viewed movie of all time, with more than 480 million views.
The propulsive soundtrack, full of inescapable earworms, became the first to top the Billboard charts since 2022, when Disney’s Encanto created a similar craze.
Its success at the Grammys suggests a growing recognition of Korean pop’s cultural and commercial force.
Blackpink singer Rosé is also up for three prizes at Sunday’s ceremony for her song APT, including song and record of the year.
Last August, the Recording Academy announced that a group of artists, producers and songwriters who had made significant contributions to K-pop had joined the organisation’s voting body, including Seventeen singer Woozi, Enhypen’s Jungwon and Le Sserafim’s Huh Yunjin.
Tears for Ozzy Osbourne
The premiere ceremony takes place across the street from the main Grammy Awards at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre.
Eighty-six of the night’s 95 prizes are handed out, covering most of the genre categories, including best country, best rap and best R&B.
The first award of the night went to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who picked up best pop duo or group performance for their Wicked duet Defying Gravity.
Neither was present to accept the prize. It was Grande’s third Grammy Award and Erivo’s second.
British star Yungblud won best rock performance for his live rendition of Black Sabbath’s Changes, recorded during Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert in Birmingham last year.
Osbourne’s wife, Sharon, wept as the singer accepted the award.
“The last time I saw Ozzy Osbourne, he asked if there was anything he could do for me,” said Yungblud.
“I answered, the music was enough, and I can safely say, on behalf of all of us, that still stands now and it will do forever.
“You’ll be with me every time I’m nervous and on stage at every show.”
Alternative rock royalty The Cure also won their first ever Grammys – best alternative album, for Songs of a Lost World, and best alternative recording, for the record’s lead single, Alone.
The band were unable to accept the trophy in person, as they were attending the funeral of keyboard player Perry Bamonte, who died on Christmas Eve.
Elsewhere, FKA Twigs won best dance/electronic album for her cutting-edge concept album, Eusexua.
“I didn’t expect to come up here,” said the British singer-songwriter. “I was just so happy to be nominated.”
“I know that to a lot of people, I may be new, but I’ve actually been doing this a really long time,” said the singer, who released her debut EP in 2012.
“So to any artist, don’t give up. Follow your vision. Because that’s what’s going to make the world fall in love with your art.”
R&B singer Kehlani was the first to address the political unrest in the US, as she picked up best R&B performance for her viral hit, Folded.
Directing an expletive towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, she said: “I hope everybody’s inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on.”
Later, she dedicated her best R&B song award, also for Folded, to her aunt, who adopted her as a child when her mother, who was a drug addict, was sent to jail.
“My mother adopted me. You didn’t have to. You didn’t have to give up your life for me. You could have done whatever you wanted in your 20s, but instead, you chose to take care of me and to put me in all the programmes… that would feed who I am today.
“Mommy, I owe you everything.”
Joni Mitchell made an unexpected appearance as she won best historical recording for volume four of her Archives project, which compiles the folk legend’s unreleased recordings from 1976 to 1980.
Taking to the stage, Mitchell appeared to be confused, and had to be reminded she had won after standing silent behind the microphone for several seconds.
