Grammys 2021: Red carpet in pictureson March 15, 2021 at 1:54 am

The stars swapped their lockdown comfies for glad rags on “music’s biggest night”.

The Grammy Awards defied the pandemic by having a real live (Covid-safe) ceremony, and a real red carpet.

R&B singer Lizzo was among the stars walking along it, arriving in a strapless, shimmering green dress on her way to presenting the best new artist award.

“On my way to the function ya’ll,” she wrote of her look on Instagram.

That best new artist award went to Megan Thee Stallion, who confirmed that the future of rap music is indeed orange.

“I just really wanted to pop. Like, I wanted to look like a Grammy,” she said. “So I manifested this.”

Taylor Swift had six nominations going into the awards, and won album of the year for her lockdown album Folkmore.

In keeping with the album’s rural theme, she opted for a Oscar de la Renta dress covered in floral details.

Host and comedian Trevor Noah promised the show wouldn’t be “pandemic-y”, with some of the biggest nominees and performers in a (socially distanced) tent in Los Angeles – and everyone else tuning in online.

“This isn’t a zoom background,” he assured viewers in his opening monologue. “My uncle isn’t gonna walk behind me naked.”

Billie Eilish stylishly matched her bucket hat with her face mask – fashionable yet practical.

She soon changed into something more comfortable to dance on top of a car during her performance of the ballad Everything I Wanted, which was named record of the year. The set replicated her self-directed video for the song.

Harry Styles brought a selection of pastel-coloured feather boas to the ceremony, where he won best pop vocal performance for his summer anthem Watermelon Sugar.

He said the song was written on a “day off in Nashville” – but does it really count as a day off if you end up writing an international hit single?

You can do anything at the Grammys, but lay off DaBaby’s green suede shoes.

The colourfully-suited rapper was nominated in four categories, including best record for Rockstar, and also performed with Dua Lipa.

Indie singer-songwriter and LA local Phoebe Bridgers was up for best new artist, and she took the chance to make a great first impression with this embroidered skeleton dress.

It’s a fancier version of the long-sleeved T-shirt she’s worn throughout the promotional campaign for her album of the year nominee, Punisher.

Asked by reporters what she’d do if she won, she replied: “I mean, you know… very Covid-ish. Go and have an orange juice in my house with my mom.”

Dua Lipa won best pop vocal album for Future Nostalgia, and received five other nominations.

After walking the red carpet with her manager Ben Mawson, the British-Kosovan star performed a medley of her hits Levitating and Don’t Start Now.

Doja Cat had three nominations, and she rolled into the awards in a fitted motorcycle jacket.

“I like something that’s out there,” she told reporters. “I have been very toned down lately. This is like something I have always wanted to do.”

It could get chilly on the freeway later.

US singer-songwriting queen H.E.R turned up in the colour of kings – purple.

She won song of the year for I Can’t Breathe, which was written in response to George Floyd’s death in police custody last year.

“I wanted to talk about the pain that only the black community experiences,” she said.

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