And “Just Like That,” Bonnie Raitt takes home Song of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, hosted Sunday night (Feb. 5).
“I’m so surprised, I don’t know what to say,” Raitt said in her acceptance speech. “This is just an unreal moment.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Her track, “Just Like That,” went head-to-head against some of the night’s biggest songs, including Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film),” DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” and Gayle’s “ABCDEFU.”
“I don’t write a lot of songs but I’m so proud that you appreciate this one and what this means for me and for the rest of the songwriters who I would not be up here tonight if it wasn’t for the art of the great soul digging hard-working people that put these songs and ideas to music,” she added of her self-penned tune, written as a tribute to the late singer/songwriter legend John Prine. “I’m totally humbled, I really appreciate it.”
Watch her acceptance speech below.
During the ceremony, the artist also snagged the awards for Best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind” and Best American Roots Song for “Just Like That” and saw a nomination for Best Americana Album. She also paid tribute to the late Christine McVie with a performance of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird” alongside Sheryl Crow and Mick Fleetwood.
Her studio album Just Like That… was released in April 2022 and has been met with great acclaim.
“It’s like putting together a great meal,” Raitt told American Songwriter of the album. “I’m not a terrific cook, but I appreciate why you wouldn’t want to put this vegetable with that vegetable when this one will be a better match. I want to say something new on every record, and with 21 albums, man, I’ve covered a lot of territory of what can go wrong in a love affair. Those blues guitar licks on ‘Made Up Mind,’ I could have been singing a song about a laundromat and I still would’ve cut it.”
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy