The Grammy Awards is a special ceremony held annually by the American National Academy of Recording Arts to celebrate and honor various talented artists in the record/entertainment Industry. This years 61st annual Grammy Awards held on February 10th, featured many new nominees as well as a surprising shift from previous years.

After 2018’s controversial ceremony, the award show faced a lot of public backlash as well as criticism for its unvarying hip-hop nominees within the main categories. It also faced backlash with its exclusion of women from the telecast winners, with several celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Sheryl Crow, and Iggy Azalea scrutinizing the awards for being “male dominated” and lacking of female representation within the industry. 2019 was a huge bounce back with female artists dominating the majority of the ceremonies air time.

The show held a heavy focus on female empowerment and included an opening segment with former First Lady Michelle Obama who gave a speech of triumph for many of the female nominees of the night.  Those of which included artists such as Cardi B who became the first solo woman to win best rap album, Kacey Musgraves who won four awards (including album of the year for “Golden Hour”), Dual Lipa who won Best New Artist, and Lady Gaga who claimed Best Pop Performance and Best Pop Duo Performance. The eventful night was followed by many more female triumphs from various award categories.

The media has been quick to praise the award show for its steps towards female empowerment in the entertainment industry as well as the inclusion of minorities represented by nominee celebrities such as Janelle Monae, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

The event was carried out by several live performances and acceptance speeches from the winners of the night. Host Alicia Keys gave her own performance and enchanted viewers alongside Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, and Jada Pinkett Smith in the opening speeches of the night.

This years’ award night proved to be a big progress from previous years ceremonies for the audience as well as for the industry itself. After controversial comments from Recording Academy President Neil Portnow denying the shows criticism on its lack of female representation and his calling to women to “Step Up”, many female artists were grateful for the given opportunity to empower and stand as  a voice for their community.

“Where I want to begin is by saying how honored I am to be nominated alongside so many incredible female artists this year because I guess this year we’ve really stepped up,” Dua Lipa said Sunday.