Overview

The 2018 Grammy Awards was an awards ceremony held by the Recording Academy to award the past year in the music industry. The festivities were held on January 28th, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

Background

The Grammys, originally known as the Gramophone awards, have been held annually since 1959.^[1]

On May 15th, 2017, late-night host James Corden was announced as the host of the 60th annual Grammy awards.^[2] Several months later, on November 28th, 2017, the nominees were announced.^[3]

The awards were held on January 28th, 2018 at Madison Square Garden, generating several memes and viral moments during the ceremony's live broadcast.

Developments

Beyoncé Onlooker Reaction

During the broadcast, recording artist Beyonce published a photograph on Instagram of her and fellow recording artist and husband Jay-Z passing by a woman with a surprised look on her face. The post (shown below) received more than 3.7 million likes in 24 hours.

That night, Twitter ^[4] account @WhoWhatWear published the image with the caption "Relatable." The post (shown below, left) received more than 2,500 retweets and 9,500 likes in 24 hours. Shortly after, people began sharing the photograph and agreeing with the sentiment. Twitter^[5] @dhillanratchet tweeted a series of zoomed-in images of the photo with the caption "Everyone if Beyoncé ever walked past them. #GrammyAwards #Grammys2018 #GRAMMYs." The post (shown below, center) received more than 1,800 retweets and 5,400 likes in 24 hours. Twitter^[6] user @ziwe tweeted the photo with the caption "when you realize you're lucky to be alive during the same era as Beyonce," received more than 4,500 retweets and 25,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

That night, Twitter^[14] published a Moments page dedicated to the reaction to the moment.

Hillary Clinton Fire and Fury Audiobook Sketch

During the ceremony, a sketch featuring various recording artists reading from Fury and Fire, a controversial account of President Donald Trump's first year in the White House. The sketch (shown below) featured various celebrities, such as Cardi B, DJ Khaled and Hillary Clinton reading excerpts from the book as a mock recording of the audio book for Fire and Fury.

While the sketch, particularly Clinton's appearance, received a massive applause during the broadcast, members of Trump's family and administration took offense. That night, his son Donald Trump Jr. tweeted,^[8] "Getting to read a #fakenews book excerpt at the Grammys seems like a great consolation prize for losing the presidency. #GrammyAwards." The post (shown below, left) received more than 8,000 retweets and 29,000 likes in 24 hours. United States Embassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted,^[9] "I have always loved the Grammys but to have artists read the Fire and Fury book killed it. Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it." The post (shown below, center) received more than 16,000 retweets and 59,000 likes in 24 hours.

Others, however, reacted positively to the sketch. Twitter^[10] user @cmclymer tweeted, "OMG, Hillary Clinton reading "Fire and Fury" on national television. THE SHADE OF IT ALL." The tweet (shown below, right) received more than 1,500 retweets and 7,500 likes in 24 hours.

That night, Twitter^[19][20] published two Moments pages about the reaction to the sketch.

Blue Ivy "Calm Down" Gif

During the broadcast, Billboard magazine tweeted^[11] a gif of Blue Ivy, Beyoncé and Jay-Z's daughter, seemingly telling them to quiet down and stop clapping. They captioned the gif "Blue Ivy is everything!" The post (shown below) received more than 7,000 retweets and 24,000 likes in 24 hours.

Rihanna Gwara Gwara Dance

At the event, Rihanna and DJ Khaled preformed the song "Wild Thoughts" (shown below). The moment generated positive reactions for Rihanna's inclusion of the gwara gwara dance, which was popularized by South African musician DJ Bongz.^[12]

During the broadcast, users on Twitter began using the moment as an image macro, captioning the moment with various jokes about such topics as food, family and dancing (examples below). That night, Twitter published two Moments pages about the reaction to the moment and memes.^[12][13]

Consolation Prize

During the event, host James Corden joked that a consolation prize for the Grammys this year included a puppy and then presented one to comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Jimmy Gaffigan and Sarah Silverman. CBS tweeted^[15] a video of the moment with the caption "This may be the first time potty training was an issue at The #GRAMMYs! 🐶" The post (shown below) received more than 480 retweets and 3,600 likes in 24 hours.

Celebrities and other Twitter users reacted positively to the moment with some saying that it was the highlight of the event (examples below).

Media Coverage

Virtually every major media outlet covered the Grammys and the various memes it generated, including TIME,^[16] People,^[17] Billboard^[18] and more.

Search Interest

External References