Grammy award show was one for the history books for Filipino Americans

Olivia Rodrigo won three Grammys in her first recording hits and album

UPDATED, April 5, 1 p.m. PDT to include Grammy winner Arooj Aftab.

It was a historic moment not lost by Filipino Americans. It may never happen again: two Filipino American acts opening a major awards show, but that's what happened when Bruno Mars and Olivia Rodrigo were the first two performances at the 64th Grammy Awards.

Asian American artists, especially Filipino Americans, made their presence felt at the Grammys, the music industry's major awards show.

In the first performance to get the show off to a lively start, Mars teamed up with Anderson Paak as Silk Sonic to do a raucous funky performance of "777" from their album giving the show an instant shot of energy and excitement. 

Even before the first award was announced, right after Silk Sonic's performance, Rodrigo followed, singing her highly emotive hit of teenage love and loss, "drivers license."

Host Trevor Noah didn't point out the Filipino American angle to the two opening acts, but every Filipino and Filipino American watching the show, and a good number of AANHPI viewers knew what just happened and the significance of having the Asian American artists open a show honoring musicians and singers.

The second Grammy award was presented to Olivia Rodrigo who won the highly coveted  Best New Artist category. Upon receiving the award, she said "This is my biggest dream come true," thanking her collaborators for their help in launching her recording career.

BTS, whose hit "Butter" was nominated in Best Pop Group or Duo Performance, was the third musical act, further stamping an Asian impact on the awards show.  The K-pop group wowed the audience with their choreography and singing and drew gasps from fans and a Twitter explosion when V, who began the BTS performance in the audience, playfully flirted with  Rodrigo.

What was BTS member V whispering to Olivia Rodrigo?

Another milestone was achieved when H.E.R., aka Gabrielle Sarmiento Wilson, was the third Filipino American act to perform at the Grammy's highlighted by a scintillating rocking guitar duet with Lenny Kravitz.

Mars and Paak, as Silk Sonic won the first night's Grammy for Record of the Year for their hit "Leave the Door Open," which also won three more  Grammys for Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song.

When Silk Sonic won their fourth Grammy for the night, .Paak couldn't contain himself. “We are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point,” .Paak effused. “But in the industry, we call that a clean sweep.”

Nineteen-year old Rodrigo, as many predicted, won the prestigious Best New Artist Grammy after breaking into the recording business in January of 2021 with her chart-topper "drivers license," the first of her several Top 10 hits.

Rodrigo, who prefers to be known for her song writing, also won Best Pop Solo Performance and her debut album, "Sour" won Best Pop Vocal Album. 

Filipino Americans won Grammys Sunday. From left, Olivia Rodrigo, Bruno Mars and H.E.R.

"I really wanna dedicate this award to my parents," Olivia said while accepting the  Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy. "When I was 9 years old, I told my mom I wanted to be a gymnast even though I could barely do a cartwheel. She thought I was joking, but I was super defensive. So the next week when I told her I was going to win a Grammy, she was very supportive even though she probably thought it was just a little kid pipe dream. But I want to thank my mom for being supportive of my dreams no matter how crazy. And I want to thank my mom and dad for being equally as proud of me for winning a Grammy as they were when I learned how to do a back walkover."

In an interview prior to the Grammy broadcast, H.E.R.,who earlier was awarded the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for her song "Fight For You," gave a shoutout to "fellow Filipino" Rodrigo.

"She's one of those authentic artist who writes what she feels," said H.E.R. about Rodrigo, "I love that about her."

Besides the Filipino American winners, other AANHPI Grammy winners include:

• The Best Regional Roots Music Album Grammy went to Native Hawaiian artist Kalani Pe'a for "Kau Ka Pe'a."

• Pakistani American vocalist Arooj Aftab scored a Grammy, for her song "Mohabbat" in the Best Global Performance category.

The TV cameras kept drifting to the artists sitting in the front row and the viewers got a heavy dose of Rodrigo, H.E.R. and Silk Sonic reacting to their awards and the performances of other artists. They were sitting near each other, perhaps a table apart and could be seen in the background cheering as the others were being interviewed or when the cameras zoomed in on a winner.

Filipino American rapper Saweetie was interviewed on the Red Carpet by E's Laverne Cox. Saweetie, 28, reflected on the whirlwind success she's had in recent months and got emotional as Cox reminded her that in 2020, Saweetie said her career goal was to make it to music's biggest night.

"Girl, don't make me cry," Saweetie, who was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rap Song, a collaboration with Doja Cat. "Don't make me cry! Yes [I imagined I'd find success] but I didn't know it would happen this quick."

BTS, Saweetie, Nora Jones, Elle King and Japanese Breakfast were the other AANHPI artists nominated in various Grammy categories.

Filipinos, perhaps the most plugged-in ethnic group in the world, were all atwitter for the Grammys:

Mars' four Grammys give him 15 trophies that he has won making him the winningest Filipino American recording artist. The Hawaii-raised Mars tied Paul Simon as the only artist to win record of the year three times. Mars won with his own “24K Magic” in 2018 and in duet with Mark Ronson on “Uptown Funk” in 2016.

The first Filipino American to win a Grammy was Larry Ramos, who was one of the leaders of the folk group, the New Christy Minstrels in 1962.

The big winner for the night was Jon Batiste, walking away with five Grammys. He  for Album of the Year for "We Are."  

Click here for a complete list of Grammy winners.

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