Taylor Swift has made history – as well as pulling off the ultimate bait-and-switch – at a jam-packed Grammy awards ceremony.

Swift delivered a bombshell announcement after many of her fans had speculated she would use an awards speech to announce the re-recording of Reputation.

Instead, the megastar singer went much further, announcing she will release a new album on April 19.

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It came as she accepted the award for best pop vocal album, for her 2022 album Midnights.

“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out on April 19,” Swift said.

“It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you. I love you. Thank you.”

Swift was up against Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo in the category. Her win on Sunday (US time) makes her the first person to win the album of the year title four times – beating Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, who all have three.

Swift previously won in 2009 for Fearless, in for 2015 for 1989 and, again in 2020 for Folklore.

The big four

Victoria Monét won best new artist, describing her win as a “15-year pursuit”.

Miley Cyrus also had a huge night, where she performed and finally got her flowers, for her song Flowers.

“This award is amazing, but I really hope it doesn’t change anything,” she said as she accepted the award for record of the year.

“Because my life was wonderful yesterday.”

Billie Eilish performed What Was I Made For? alongside her brother, Finneas O’Connell. The song was written for the hit movie Barbie, and won best song written for visual media and song of the year.

Jay-Z laments the Grammys

Jay-Z received the Dr. Dre global impact award and used his acceptance speech to take aim at the Grammys for not giving his wife, Beyonce, album of the year.

“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year,” he said.

“Even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys; never won album of the year. That doesn’t work.”

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Beyonce has won 33 Grammys, Jay-Z won 24. She was nominated in 2017 for album of the year for Lemonade, losing to Adele. Even Adele said at the time that she thought Beyonce should have won.

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In memoriam

This year, the Grammys featured an unprecedented 16-minute long in-memoriam segment.

Wonder started with a duet of For Once in my Life with a virtual Tony Bennett. Before diving in, Wonder said he would miss Bennett “forever”.

“I remember hearing Tony Bennett singing For Once in My Life when I was like 13 or 14 years old,” he said.

“What’s amazing is I was able to actually sing the song with someone that I admired for so long, not just because of his voice, which was incredible, but because of his art, his love for art, his love for peace, his love for unity, his love for civil rights.”

Annie Lennox paid tribute to the late Sinead O’Connor in the most Sinead O’Connor way possible.

“Artists for ceasefire, peace in the world,” Lennox said, clearly making a statement about Israel’s war in Gaza. She performed a rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U.

Clarence Avant, recognised as the “godfather” of black entertainment, was remembered with a heartfelt introduction by Lenny Kravitz and a performance from Jon Batiste.

Oprah Winfrey kickstarted the tribute to the “queen of rock’n’roll”, Tina Turner. Fantasia Barrino sung Proud Mary, clad in an outfit reminiscent of Turner.

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Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell perform

The Grammys promised plenty of exciting performances this year and they certainly delivered.

U2 performed all the way from Las Vegas, while Billy Joel sang his brand new song, Turn The Lights Back On.

Tracy Chapman graced the stage alongside Luke Combs, to perform her 1988 hit Fast Car.

It has had a recent spike in popularity after Combs covered it and his rendition earned him a Grammy nomination for best country solo performance.

The two got a rousing standing ovation and the song leapt to the top of the iTunes charts, for the first time, in the hours after their duet.

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Miley Cyrus sang her summer anthem Flowers for the first time on TV, also winning the Grammy for best pop solo performance.

When Rodrigo performed Vampire, Swift was seen singing and dancing in the audience. That might put to bed rumours the pair have some sort of feud.

Beloved singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell also sang. Like Chapman, 80-year-old has had few performances in recent years, following a brain aneurysm. It was her first performance at a Grammys.

Mitchell’s live album, Joni Mitchell At Newport [Live] won best folk album.

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