Grammys 2020: Billie Eilish claims top honor Song of the Year for 'Bad Guy', defeats Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga
Billie Eilish has just claimed one of the Grammy Awards' top honors by taking home the coveted 'Song of the Year' award for 'Bad Guy'. It is doubly sweet for Billie Eilish because she also wrote the song along with her brother and producer, Finneas.
The Song of the Year award is technically awarded to the songwriters of the song i.e. whoever helped write the lyrics and melodies of the song. So, with this prestigious award, the Recording Academy is actually honoring the composition and its composers more than the actual recording of the song itself, but Billie Eilish qualifies for both, considering she both wrote and performed the song 'Bad Guy', which is a perfectly slick, ironic, modern pop song.
The notable nominees for this year's Song of the Year award included stellar performers (and songwriters) like Lady Gaga for 'Always Remember Us This Way', from the soundtrack of the movie she also starred in - 'A Star Is Born'; the queen of American contemporary pop, Taylor Swift for her smash hit 'Lover'; country music stalwart Tanya Tucker for her life-affirming hit 'Bring My Flowers Now'; Brit breakout sensation Lewis Capaldi for his ballad 'Someone You Loved'; and the supremely talented and runaway success story Lizzo, who had one of the funkiest songs of the year in 'Truth Hurts'.
The full list of nominees for Song of the Year from 2019 included songwriters like:
'Always Rember Us This Way' - Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Lori McKenna (Performed by Lady Gaga)
'Bad Guy' - Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell (Performed by Billie Eilish)
'Bring My Flowers Now' - Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker (Performed by Tanya Tucker)
'Hard Place' - Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth, D. Arcelious Harris, HER & Rodney Jerkins (Performed by HER)
'Lover' - Taylor Swift (Performed by Taylor Swift)
'Norman F***ing Rockwell' - Jack Antonoff & Lana Del Rey (Performed by Lana Del Rey)
'Someone You Loved' - Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn & Sam Roman (Performed by Lewis Capaldi)
'Truth Hurts' - Steven Cheung, Eric Frederic, Lioness, Melissa Jefferson & Jesse Saint John (Performed by Lizzo)
It's also one of the few times that the relatively unnoticed people behind the scenes have been recognized and lauded for their contributions to the music industry. Previous winners in the past for this prestigious award have included songwriters like Micheal Jackson, Sting, John Mayer and Alicia Keys. In the recent years, however, a bit of controversy has tended to dog the Song of the Year winners regarding who had actually inspired the song. Sam Smith won in this category for the hit 'Stay With Me', but eventually ended up paying Tom Petty plenty of royalties, due to the undeniable comparisons with Petty's song 'I Won't Back Down'. Similarly, this year, Lizzo’s 'Truth Hurts' was also plunged into a bit of a credits dispute, with British musician Lioness getting a belated songwriting credit for coming up with the line "I just took a DNA Test, turns out I am 100% that bitch."
At this year's 62nd Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony however, it was Billie Eilish who reigned supreme with her collaborator and older brother, the producer Finneas. They both seemed a little overwhelmed at the honor, and Billie Eilish was incredibly grateful to everyone who had been a part of her support system along the way. Her brother Finneas also had an encouraging word for all the indie DIY musicians and bedroom producers around the world, and encouraged them to follow their dreams.