Did you catch Music's Biggest Night on Sunday, Jan. 28? There were GRAMMYs handed out in 84 categories, more than 20 amazing performances, trend-setting fashion on the red carpet, and of course — acceptance speeches.
Whether it was Alessia Cara celebrating her first career GRAMMY win for Best New Artist, Bruno Mars' accepting his sixth GRAMMY of the night for Album Of The Year or Dave Chapelle's quick but funny acceptance for Best Comedy Album, we've rounded up seven memorable 60th GRAMMY Awards acceptance speeches you'll want to hear.
Bruno Mars, Album Of The Year
As the big winner of the night, hauling in a total of six GRAMMYs, we have several Bruno Mars acceptance speeches to choose from. But it's his final one, Album Of The Year, we think you'll most want to hear. Mars started by recognizing the other nominees in the category and then recounts entertaining a crowd in Hawaii as a 15-year-old, singing songs by Babyface, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Teddy Riley. He was struck by the togetherness those songs inspired.
"I remember seeing it first hand, people dancing that had never met each other from two sides of the globe dancing with each other," he said. "All I wanted to do with this album was that. Those songs are written with nothing but joy and for one reason and one reason only, and that's love. And that's all I wanted to bring with the album."
Alessia Cara, Best New Artist
Alessia Cara took home her first career GRAMMY with the esteemed prize for Best New Artist. Visibly shaken as she took the stage, the 21-year-old singer shared how she has been imagining this moment since she was a kid before issuing her thank-yous and a special message to the assembled audience.
"There are some incredible artists out there that are making incredible music that deserve to be acknowledged that don't always get acknowledged because of popularity contests or numbers games, and that's kind of unfortunate," said Cara. "I just wanted to encourage everyone to support real music and real artists because everyone deserves the same shot."
Dave Chappelle, Best Comedy Album
Perpetual funny man Dave Chappelle took home his first career GRAMMY at the 60th GRAMMYs for Best Comedy Album for The Age Of Spin & Deep In The Heart Of Texas. While he made some powerful comments in the show's opening performance where he interrupted Kendrick Lamar's performance — "the only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest black man in America" — his acceptance speech was short and sweet. "See you on Monday," he quipped.
Kendrick Lamar, Best Rap Album
Kendrick Lamar earned the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album, and during his speech, he took the time to thank not only the artists who inspire him and call out, "Jay for president," he also commented on the true artistry of hip-hop.
"Most importantly, [hip-hop] showed me the true definition of what being an artist was," Lamar said. "From the jump I thought it was about the accolades and the cars and the globes, but it's really about expressing yourself and putting the paint on the canvas for the world to evolve for the next listener, the next generation after that."
Residente, Best Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album
Winning Best Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album for his self-titled solo debut, Residente can now call himself a GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY winner. In his acceptance speech, the Puerto Rican rapper joked, "I want to say I hate math, that's why I'm a rapper," before issuing this mic drop statement:
"It's sad to see how the music industry is becoming numbers," said Residente. "That has to change. I'm dedicating this to people who make real music because they really love it and they don't care about YouTube views, followers, Spotify spins, top selling records, Top 20 on the radio. This is for all these people that make art and they love it."
Latriot, Best Remixed Recording
He earned the GRAMMY for Best Remixed Recording at the 60th GRAMMYs, his first career win for his remix of Depeche Mode's "You Move." In his acceptance, Latroit shouted out house band leader Paul Shaffer before saying he didn't prepare anything because he didn't think he would win. He then thanked Depeche Mode and quoted Jack Benny and Dave Letterman before ending on a positive note: "I'm here because you helped me. This is what happens when we help each other. This is why we have to help each other, because good things happen."
Janelle Monaé, #TimesUp
It's not an acceptance speech, but we're including it on this list anyway, because it was one of the most poignant messages of the evening. Janelle Monaé introduced Kesha's powerful performance of her GRAMMY-nominated hit "Praying" by calling attention to the #TimesUp movement.
"Tonight, I am proud to stand in solidarity as not just an artist but a young woman with my fellow sisters in this room who make up the music industry," said Monaé. "To those who would dare try and silence us, we offer you two words: Time's up. We say time's up for pay inequality, time's up for discrimination, time's up for harassment of any kind, and time's up for the abuse of power. … So let's work together, women and men, as a united music industry, committed to creating more safe work environments, equal pay and access for all women."
