Hosted by Regina Hall, Wanda Skyes, and Amy Schumer, the 94th Academy Awards was one to remember. Apart from the infamous slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock, there were lots of recognition brought to amazing films throughout the night.
CODA, a drama/musical, took home three awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur, Adapted Screenplay for writer-director Sian Heder. This movie is about a teenage daughter who is the only person with hearing in her family who works mornings to support them but finds herself drawn to singing and her duet partner after joining the choir club at school. This was a historic win because the cast was made up of a majority deaf actors and actresses. It was also seen as an underdog in the competition due to starting at Sundance Film Festival just over a year ago before moving to Apple TV but won every category it was nominated for.
The science fiction film, Dune, took home six awards, the most this year. Timothee Chalamet starred in it, but the cast also included big names like Jason Momoa, Zendaya, and Stellan Skarsgård. The awards the movie won included best cinematography, editing, score, visual effects, production design, and sound. This is the most Oscars a sci-fi film has won since Mad Max: Fury Road back seven years ago.
Other notable awards received were Will Smith for best actor, Jessica Chastain for best actress, and Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” for best original song.
The 64th annual Grammys also occurred Sunday, April 3rd. So many great songs were released this past year and the nominees were chock full of talent.
Some nominees for Album of the Year were “Planet Her” by Doja Cat, “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, “Evermore” by Taylor Swift and “MONTERO” by Lil Nas X, but the Recording Academy awarded “We Are” a jazz album by Jon Batiste. In fact, he took home five awards in total.
Two successful solo artists, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak recently formed a R&B duo called Silk Sonic — they won four awards. Mars is a favorite at the Grammys, he has won Record of the Year three times. Nineteen year old Olivia Rodrigo had just started her own music career in January of 2021 but has gotten over a billion streams since then. She took home the Grammy for Best New Artist along with two other awards.
These were the last two major award shows for the year, take some time to check out these films and albums before next year’s awards!
