Chappell Roan had hinted that she might deliver a controversial speech if she made it to the Grammy stage, and she did just that after winning best new artist on Sunday.
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music I would demand that labels profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” Roan began, reading from what looked like a diary or journal.
She described her own experience: Signed by a label when she was a minor, later dropped from the label with no work experience other than music, and struggled to find a job that would cover health care as the pandemic began.
“If my label would have prioritized artists’ health I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to,” Roan continued. “So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a living wage and health care protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
The audience in the arena cheered loudly at her finish, and even host Trevor Noah, usually quick with a quip after a big moment during the show, was at a loss for words.
“Man, I don’t even know what to say, that’s amazing,” Noah said.
Roan had already performed “Pink Pony Club,” one of her biggest hits, before the award was announced. Fellow best artist nominee Sabrina Carpenter, probably Roan’s biggest competition, had also appeared to sing and dance and act her way through “Please Please Please.”
The rest of the best new artist field got their chance one after another just before Roan was announced the winner, starting with Khruangbin playing as the show returned from a break.
Benson Boone came out of the audience to perform an energetic number that included a twisting flip on stage mid-vocal. Doechii, who’d earlier won best rap album, delivered one of the best performances of the entire night from the costumes to choreography and Doechii’s powerful and mesmerizing performance.
Teddy Swims and Shaboozey followed before Raye wrapped up the round-robin run of new artists with a powerhouse soulful vocal run to wrap up the segment.
Before that run of performances, Beyoncé added to her all-time record haul of Grammy Awards on Sunday with a win for best country album with “Cowboy Carter” during the Sunday primetime broadcast and another for best best country duo/group with Miley Cyrus for “II Most Wanted.”
“I want to thank God that I’m able to still do what I love after so many years,” Beyoncé said after accepting best country album from presenter Taylor Swift.
“I think sometimes ‘genre’ is a code word to keep us in our place as artists and I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about,” she continued.
With the two Grammys on Sunday, Beyoncé now has 34 total.