Canada was well represented on the list of nominees at the 63rd Grammy Awards – but only a few ended up with statuettes.
The first two awards, presented during the non-televised show on Sunday afternoon, went to Montreal’s KAYTRANADA. The 28-year-old DJ-producer made his Grammy debut by winning Best Dance Recording for “10%” ft. Kali Uchis and Best Dance/Electronic Album for Bubba.
KAYTRANADA lost Best New Artist to Megan Thee Stallion.
A little later, Justin Bieber picked up his second Grammy and – like his 2016 win – it was for a collaboration. “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay ft. Bieber was named Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
Bieber lost Pop Vocal Album (for Changes) to Dua Lipa, Pop Solo Performance (“Yummy”) to Harry Styles, and Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Intentions ft. Quavo) to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.
After the nominations were announced last November, Bieber complained about not being considered in the R&B categories. “I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album,” he wrote in a message on Instagram. “It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me."
On Sunday, Bieber merely retweeted the Recording Academy's tweet about the "10,000 Hours" win.
Calgary native Shawn Everett won the Grammy for Best Engineered Album - Non-Classical as part of the team that worked on Beck’s Hyperspace.
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Other Canadians were not so lucky.
Drake, a four-time Grammy winner, lost Best Rap Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance (for “Laugh Now Cry Later” ft. Lil Durk) to Megan Thee Stallion and Anderson .Paak respectively.
Toronto’s J.P. Saxe earned his first ever Grammy nomination – for Song of the Year – for “If The World Was Ending,” his duet with Julia Michael, but lost to “I Can’t Breathe” by H.E.R.
Another first-time nominee, Toronto-based Lido Pimienta, lost Best Latin Rock or Alternative (for Miss Colombia) to Fito Paez.
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Montreal’s Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album Thanks for the Dance, produced by his son Adam Cohen, was up for Best Folk Album. The award went to All the Good Times by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
Congratulations to all of the Canadian winners at last night’s #GRAMMYS!
— Canada (@Canada) March 15, 2021
Kaytranada, Justin Bieber, Shawn Everett, Larnell Lewis, and Jim Kimo West all took home well-deserved awards and made their country proud! pic.twitter.com/wc0OzOB0N9
Two Toronto-born nominees came up empty on Sunday. Director X (aka Julien Christian Lutz) lost Best Music Video (for “Life Is Good” by Future ft. Drake) to Beyoncé and Jenn Nkiru for “Brown Skin Girl.” Producer Frank Dukes (aka Adam Feeney) lost Album of the Year (for Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding and Record of the Year (for Malone’s “Circles”).
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Another Ontario native, songwriter Sam Ellis, wasn’t able to score the Best Country Song award for Ingrid Andress’ “More Hearts Than Mine.”
Canadian nominees who didn’t get to pick up a Grammy include Nasri Atweh (Best R&B Song for “Slow Down” by Skip Marley and H.E.R.), Jayda G. (Best Dance Recording for “Both of Us”), Jim West (Best New Age Album for More Guitar Stories) and Audrey Brisson (as part of the cast of Amelie, up for Best Musical Theater Album).
Montreal-raised Rufus Wainwright’s Unfollow the Rules lost Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album to American Standard by James Taylor.