Taylor Swift Made Grammys History and Got to Stand on Stage With Celine Dion

Swift announced a new album, became the first artist to win Album of the Year 4 times, and was the only person to be handed an award by Celine Dion. Huge!

By Lauren Tousignant | February 4, 2024 | 5:30pm

Entertainment

Taylor Swift Made Grammys History and Got to Stand on Stage With Celine Dion

Taylor Swift, the friendship bracelet industry’s favorite artist, made history again Sunday night when she won her fourth Grammy Album of the Year award for Midnights, which makes her the first artist ever to win the award four times. (Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder were the previous record holders, both with three AOTY wins.) She was also handed her record-breaking Grammy by Celine Dion, who made a surprise appearance to present AOTY.

“When I say that I’m happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart,” Dion said to the audience after walking out to a standing ovation. “Those who have been blessed enough to be here at the Grammy Awards must never take for granted—the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and to people all around the world.” (Dion won AOTY in 1997 for Falling Into You, which was presented to her by Diana Ross and Sting.)

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Dion was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, in 2022, and was forced to cancel her world tour. Dion’s sister, Claudette, has shared some updates about her condition in the past couple of years, most recently revealing that Dion lost control of her muscles but was hoping to return to the stage in some capacity. Return to the stage she did! And she was perfect and looked stunning.

In addition to standing on stage with Dion, Swift also won Pop Vocal Album of the Year and used her acceptance speech to announce another new album. But I’ll briefly back up.

Early Sunday, Swift made all her profile photos black and white, quickly sending the Swiftieverse—which includes the Empire State Building—into a massive, collective meltdown. When Taylor arrived at the Grammys wearing a white Schiaparelli Haute Couture gown with black velvet gloves and a bunch of chain necklaces, Swifties lost their minds again. While all this was happening, TaylorSwift.com shut down and Swifties went into the back end to figure out what the hell was going on. (As a Swiftie, yes, we know this is all insane.) And then Taylor…didn’t announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version). She announced her 11th brand-new studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, instead. I know!!!!

(Taylor also did this in 2022, when she accepted the VMA Video of the Year award for All Too Well: The Short Film and announced Midnights—the exact album she won AOTY for Sunday night! Nice!)

“This is my 13th Grammy,” Swift said while accepting Best Pop Vocal Album, mentioning that 13 is her lucky number. “I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way, but I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans. So 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 April 19.”

Twitter is having a lot of fun with the album name, as Twitter should. I, personally, am so excited I nearly choked on my tongue but this tweet made me giggle, as did this one, and this one, and this one, and this one. People also were quick to remember that Paul Mescal and Joe Alwyn once revealed they were in a group chat with Andrew Scott called the “Tortured Man Club.” Maybe there’s no connection but probably not.

“For me, the award is the work,” Swift said during her AOTY speech after thanking Jack Antonoff, Laura Sisk, and Lana Del Rey, who also got to be on stage with Celine Dion. “All I want to do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much. It makes me so happy. It makes me unbelievably blown away that it makes some people happy who voted for this award, too. All I want to do is keep doing this. So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much. Mind blown. Thank you so much!” Thank you, Taylor! I hope you take a nap on your flight to Tokyo before your next three-and-a-half-hour concert on February 7.

Earlier in the night, Jack Antonoff won his third straight Grammy for Producer of the Year. “Taylor Swift kicked that fucking door open for me. Love you to death Taylor,” he said in his acceptance speech, which is nice because Taylor gave a big speech at his wedding and apparently teased that she always thanks Jack in her speeches and he never thanks her. So congrats to these rich, successful, Grammy-winning friends!

And congrats to all of us, for getting to see Celine Dion<3