SZA is unfazed that Cher accidentally announced Luther Vandross as the winner of Record of the Year at the Grammys, instead of her and Kendrick Lamar.
What the legendary pop singer and actress actually meant to say was that Kendrick and SZA’s song “Luther” was the winning song. But the slip-up didn’t faze SZA.
When chatting with Entertainment Tonight, Solána said that she and Lamar “share the frequency of the song” with Vandross. Luther’s 1982 duet with Cheryl Lynn, “If This World Were Mine,” is sampled on the track.
“That's his frequency that allowed us to win and that allowed it to be memorable,” SZA continued. “So [Cher’s] not wrong. And she's from that era. She probably really knew Luther Vandross.”
SZA added, “Of course, her brain and her energy is connecting that energy to the energy that we're sharing. We're mooching off of what Luther already gave us. So we're grateful. And it's like, I wish I could speak to him. Thank you, Luther.”
Vandross and Cher have at least one thing in common: they both began their careers as backing vocalists. Vandross famously sang with the likes of David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and more in the 1970s before striking out on his own. Cher, in the prior decade, appeared as a backing voice on many of producer Phil Spector’s classic hits, including the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
On Sunday night, Cher was poised to announce who won the Grammy when she paused and looked around.
“Oh! They told me it was gonna be on the prompter,” she said to the audience’s laughter. She then said that Luther Vandross was the winner, though everyone knew she meant Lamar’s beloved GNX cut, “Luther.”
Lamar won the most awards of any artist on Sunday night. In addition to record of the year, he won Best Rap Album, Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Luther,” Best Rap Performance for his feature on Clipse’s “Chains and Whips,” and Best Rap Song for “TV Off.”
With this year’s awards show, he broke the record for the most Grammys won by a rapper and now holds 27 Grammy awards.