The Grammys honored a pair of younger artists with the first two Grammys of the night as Doechii won best rap album and Sabrina Carpenter took best pop vocal album.
“This category was introduced in 1989 and two women have won – three women have won – Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, and Doechii,” Doechii said, correcting herself midway through the sentence as Cardi B, who presented her the award for the album “Alligator Bites Don’t Heal.”
“I know that there is some Black girl out there, so many Black women out there, watching me right now and I wanna tell you, you can do it,” Doechii said from the stage. “Anything is possible. Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark or that you’re not smart enough or that you’re too dramatic or you’re too loud.
“You are exactly who you need to be, to be right where you are and I’m a testimony,” she continued. “I want to tell you anything is possible.”
After Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith sang a snippet of their “Under the Bridge” –”Sometimes I feel like my only friend/is the city I live in, the City of Angels” – they gave a shout-out to both survivors of the fires and the community that’s come together to help them before presenting best pop vocal album to Sabrina Carpenter.
“I’m still out of breath from the performance,” Carpenter upon reaching the stage. “This is my first Grammy so I’m going to cry, whoo! This is so special to me, and ‘Short ‘n Sweet’ means the world to me.”
Technically, it was her second – she picked up an award for best pop vocal performance at the pre-show – but it was her first on TV after giving a dynamite performance so we understand why it would feel like a first.