Adele’s “Hello” triumphed in the Song of the Year category at a star-studded Grammys.
“First of all, I really do apologize for swearing,” Adele said, addressing the f-bomb she dropped earlier in the show. “George Michael really means a lot to me and I apologize if I offended anyone anywhere.”
Adele heaped praise upon her producer, Greg Kurstin, whom she brought on stage. Kurstin unfortunately got cut off in the middle of his acceptance speech.
“Hello” was up against “Formation” by Beyonce, “I Took a Pill In Ibiza” by Mike Posner, “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber, and “7 Years” by Lukas Graham in a hotly-contested category.
The Song of the Year, which is a recognition of songwriting excellence as opposed to the more broad Record of the Year category which encompasses production and performance, featured three No. 1 songs out of five. “Formation” and “7 Years” were the only two not to top the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
“I Took a Pill In Ibiza” was the only song in the category which was written by a single songwriter, Mike Posner. The others were all collaborative efforts, most notably between Justin Beiber, Ed Sheeran and Benjamin Levin who teamed up to write “Love Yourself,” although Sheeran, a two-time Grammy winner himself, did not lend his vocals to the song.
“7 Years” was written by two of the Danish band Lukas Graham’s lead performers, vocalist Lukas Forchhammer and keyboard player Morten Ristorp, as well as producer Stefan Forrest and composer Morten Pilegaard.
Before the Grammys began, “Hello” and “Formation” were considered the front-runners in the category. The latter has five songwriters credited (Beyonce, Khalif Brown, Asheton Hogan, and Michael L. Williams II), while the former was co-written by Adele and Kurstin.
While going up to accept the award, Adele mouthed “I love you” to Beyonce. Watch her full speech below:
