Who will win album of the year? Will Beyoncé or Adele make history? How music’s biggest night pans out is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain: The 59th Grammy Awards are live now.
James Corden is the host and Beyoncé, Adele, Katy Perry, Metallica, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Keith Urban, the Weeknd, Daft Punk and Bruno Mars are among the artists set to hit the stage.
Beyoncé’s announcement this month that she was expecting twins was met with online fanfare, but there were questions about what it would mean for the Grammys — where the singer was up for nine awards, including record, song and album of the year for “Lemonade” — and a headlining gig at Coachella.
At the Grammys on Sunday, Beyoncé offered a glimpse of how she might handle her forthcoming festival date with her nine-minute performance of ballads “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles.”
Surrounded by two dozen dancers, thousands of flowers and a flashy technical display, Beyoncé took a break from the high-octane choreography that she typically brings to awards shows with a more ethereal showing.
Before Sunday, Beyoncé had yet to perform “Love Drought” or “Sandcastles” on her tour, the latter of which had a particularly curious origin. Her Grammy performance echoed her “Lemonade” visual album.
When “Lemonade” arrived, the tender ballad about reconciliation and forgiveness was seen as confirmation that years of tabloid speculation about her husband Jay Z’s infidelities rang true, especially paired with the album’s mediations of pain and struggle through the lens of black womanhood.
“Sandcastles” is the album’s emotional centerpiece. Its lyrics are raw, her voice cracking as she sings about scratching out her lover’s face in photos, and the visual companion featured Jay embracing his tearful wife and lying at her feet — the most intimate of displays for pop’s most intensely private couple.
As heart-wrenching as it was, the pain Beyoncé sang of originated with a little-known songwriter that was struggling to make ends meet.
In early 2015, songwriter Vincent Berry II promised himself he would stop writing about his ex-girlfriend.
Just one more song, he said, and during sessions with poet-rapper-actor Malik Yusef it happened with a demo called “We Built Sandcastles That Washed Away.”
Gathered at a piano Yusef sang the gospel-influenced lyrics he’d come up with — words that “opened a wound” for Berry.
“I hadn’t really healed,” Berry told The Times of the 10-year relationship that inspired the track. “I just thought about her, and it was all I needed to get the rest out.”
Barry was homeless when Beyoncé got her hands on the song, originally intended for R&B; singer Teyana Taylor, in February 2015 after word of mouth got the demo played for A&R; executive Teresa LaBarbera Whites, who famously discovered and signed Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child to Columbia Records.
It was a level of exposure that helped him go from starving artist to in-demand songwriter, and he’s since logged studio time with Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, Big Sean, BJ the Chicago Kid and Eminem.
“When someone sings your song, it’s incredible,” said Berry. “But when the biggest artist in the world sings your song, it’s really a defining moment for yourself that you know you’re supposed to be doing what you’re doing.”
READ MORE ABOUT HOW “SANDCASTLES” CAME TO BE.
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