By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Megan Thee Stallion has won best new artist at the Grammy Awards.

The 26-year-old became just the fifth rapper to win the award, which she accepted in person on the outdoor stage Sunday night, tearing up before she even began talking.

The award was the first one handed out during the telecast, but Megan Thee Stallion had already won a Grammy earlier Sunday for “Savage,” her hit that features Beyoncé.

The song is also nominated for best rap song and record of the year.

She beat out fellow nominees Ingrid Andress, Phoebe Bridgers, Chika, Noah Cyrus, D Smoke, Doja Cat and Kaytranada.

Megan Thee Stallion had a monster musical year that also brought unwanted attention when she was shot in the foot. Rapper Tory Lanez has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the shooting.

“It’s been a hell of a year, but we made it,” she said.

Trevor Noah opened the pandemic-altered 63rd annual Grammy Awards on an outdoor stage in front of a sparse crowd outside the Los Angeles Convention Center, with the Grammy’s usual home, the Staples Center, as a backdrop.

“We have made the decision to socially distance from the Staples Center,” the host said. “This is not a Zoom background.”

Noah walked inside the Convention Center during his presentation, where the show’s performances, many of them pre-recorded, were broadcast from.

On four stages that face one other in the audience-free room, he introduced Black Pumas, HAIM, Billie Eillish and Harry Styles, who began the night’s music with a rendition of his “Watermelon Sugar.”

The song is among the nominees for best pop vocal performance, one of three nominations for the ex-One Direction singer.

He performed with a full band wearing a black leather sports coat with no shirt underneath, and a green feather boa.

Eillish, who dominated last year’s Grammys, immediately followed with a performance of “Everything I Wanted.”

The three sisters of HAIM played after Eillish.

Jacob Collier says he recorded his Grammy-nominated album in the same North London home “where I learned to walk as a 1-year-old.”

Before Sunday’s Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Collier told The Associated Press that “Djesse Vol. 3,” which is nominated for album of the year, is the fourth he has recorded in his music room there.

Collier said: “I produced it by myself and I played the instruments on the album and I wrote the songs and arranged it and mixed it and stuff. But I mean, really it was just an experiment.”

He says the acclaim for the album and the nomination came “completely out of the blue” and it’s surreal to “be among these giants, these legends of the industry.

Justin Bieber is a Grammy winner in the country genre for his “10,000 Hours” collaboration with Dan + Shay.

Dan + Shay accepted the best country duo/group performance Grammy virtually. Bieber did not appear during the Grammys Premiere Ceremony.

It is Bieber’s second Grammy. He previously won for best dance recording for “Where Are U Now” with Diplo and Skrillex.

Dan + Shay have won two previous Grammys, for “Speechless” and “Tequila.”

Late singer songwriter John Prine won two posthumous Grammys for best American roots song and best American roots performance for his last recorded song, “I Remember Everything,” a song about loss and memory.

Prine died last year at the age of 73 of complications due to COVID-19. His wife, Fiona Whelan, told reporters during a virtual press conference on Sunday that the song spoke to the importance of memories and really connected with people this past year.

“John had a way of pointing out the most simple everyday things that sometimes we overlook,” said Whelan.

Prine, a two-time Grammy winner who wrote songs like “Angel from Montgomery” and “Sam Stone,” also received a lifetime achievement award last year.