Oddsmakers gave her virtually no shot of winning (+3000), but Esperanza Spalding shocked the world with a Grammy win for Best New Artist.
In the process, Spalding upset mainstream successes like Justin Bieber and Drake, as well as trendy critical darlings Florence + The Machine and Mumford and Sons. While it was obvious betting lines inflated Justin Bieber’s chances (as Headline Planet noted earlier, youth-skewing pop acts almost never win the award, making his positioning as an odds-on favorite curious), most assumed the “upset” victory would instead belong to Drake or Florence and the Machine. Few were giving Spalding a shot.
But much to the surprise of the live crowd (and, undoubtedly, millions of Bieber fans), it was a gracious Esperanza Spalding on stage accepting the award.