The 2025 Grammys made up for past mistakes

We’re well into awards season, ladies and gentlemen, and though the Oscars always garner the most attention, and the Emmys cover the streaming entertainment Americans actually watch, the Grammys have always been among the most controversial awards shows.  

The National Recording Academy hasn’t always been up to speed on what musicians are the most influential and deserving. With the Grammys, it seems the mood isn’t excitement about who will win, but anticipatory annoyance at who will be snubbed.  

This year’s show was a little different though. Rising stars got the stage, for performances and trophies, and the biggest awards were apologies for the previously snubbed. 

And so we get the Best Album of the Year, handed to Beyoncé for her country record, Cowboy Carter. It was neither the year’s best country album, nor Beyoncé ’s best album, nor the most important album of the year — which was Charli XCX’s coke-sniffing, rave-fueling brat. But Beyoncé has never won a Best Album Grammy, despite four previous nominations — including for her career-best Lemonade — so this made up for past errors.  

Charli did get her flowers too, with brat winning Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Recording Package and Best Dance Pop Recording. Her incredible remix album was robbed of Best Remixed Recording, however.

Cowboy Carter cleared the board for the country category, taking both the Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance awards in a year filled with phenomenal country records. To hear what the Grammys missed, try Taylor McCall’s Mellow War, Ella Langley’s still hungover, Zach Top’s Cold Beer & Country Music, 49 Winchester’s Leavin’ This Holler and the Twisters soundtrack, which were incredible. 

Unlike the Best Album award, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was undoubtedly the most significant single of 2024 and more than deserved its wins for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Music Video. For the unfamiliar, Kendrick Lamar had already handily won his rap battle with Drake after releasing the eerie, horrifying “Meet the Grahams,” but released “Not Like Us” a day later to crip walk on the Canadian’s grave. It’s the first diss track ever to win a Grammy; how would Drake cope with seeing an entire room of the industry’s most influential people sing along to a song calling him a pedophile? Doubtless he’ll be giving Kendrick’s Super Bowl half-time show a miss on Sunday. 

“Not Like Us” deserved its wins, but these trophies were also in apology for the Grammy’s previous snubs. Namely, Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly lost Best Album at the 2016 Grammys to Taylor Swift’s 1989; and, even more scandalously, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City lost Best Rap Album in 2014 to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s The Heist. Yes, the “Thrift Shop” album. 

These top picks were good, but a few other lifetime achievement selections were pretty stupid. It’s 2025, so how on earth did the Rolling Stones and the Beatles bag Grammys this year? Half of the Beatles are long dead, yet this didn’t stop them from winning Best Rock Performance for the AI-enhanced Now and Then. The Stones won Best Rock Album for Hackney Diamonds, which is not a good Stones album, nor anywhere close to the year’s best rock records. But perhaps Grammy voters didn’t ’et a chance to listen to pink balloons by Ekko Astral, I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy, Wild God by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds or the untitled album by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  

Along with praising dead and almost dead rockers, the Grammys did award some of the newest stars, with Chappell Roan scoring Best New Artist, Doechii winning Best Rap Album for Alligator Bites Never Heal and Sabrina Carpenter winning Best Pop Solo Performance for “Espresso” and Best Pop Vocal Album for Short n’ Sweet.  

Also, Dave Chappelle got another Best Comedy Album Grammy, and Chris Brown got another Best R&B Album, showing talent still beats cancelation. 2024’s actual best R&B album was Why Lawd by NxWorries (Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge), but at least that went home with Best Progressive R&B Album. Also, Hans Zimmer won Best Score Soundtrack for Dune: Part Two. 

Perhaps more important than the awards were the live performances, which were some of the best in recent memory for the Grammys. Doechii gave killer renditions of “catfish” and “denial is a river,” with her and her dance crew dressed suit-to-bra in Thom Brown; and Raye belted out “Oscar Winning Tears” in the best vocal showcase of the night. 

The best performance of the night, though, clearly came courtesy of Sabrina Carpenter. She cleverly reinterpreted “Espresso” to lean into its retro vibe, mixing Monroe glamour with Fred Astaire slapstick as she walked down a giant staircase and then was joined by a dance troupe against her lavish set. There was even tap dancing! The whole thing was a somewhat clichéd throwback, but done with so much showmanship that you can only cheer. 

At a close number two was the kinetic, impromptu rave courtesy of a Canadian-bikini-clad Charli XCX, walking from a black Escalade into an underground, strobe-lit concrete garage, and then bringing the party to the main stage. It was electric in all senses of the word and helped by “von dutch” and “guess” both being incredible songs.  

In contrast, the worst act came courtesy of Benson Boone, whose attempts at being sexy couldn’t distract from his strained vocals as he pushed through his (befuddling) hit “Beautiful Things.”  

The second worst showing, though, was (surprisingly) from Chappell Roan. She sang great, and “Pink Pony Club” deserves all its praise and airtime, but her clown-influenced, grinding, leathery rock get-up felt like a forced attempt at making a super queer, super camp act rather than something authentic and well done. Also, it was hilarious to see terminally online leftists praise her speech, where she mentioned healthcare, given those same people were convinced her “deafening silence” caused Kamala Harris to lose the election. If you’re confused about how Chappell Roan, of all people, is responsible for Trump’s win, then you are in the right; it made no sense. 

Though not an official award, Best Attendee clearly goes to the Champagne-sloshed Taylor Swift, who was singing along to Kendrick Lamar and dancing to Charli XCX with bottle in hand. 

As for the red carpet: Kelsea Ballerini looked incredible in a beaded little black dress accented with her blonde curls. Doechii rocked her on-stage Thom Brown outfits but looked like a bellboy before the ceremony. Cardi B is the queen of grand, theatrical gowns and continued that with a stunning sequin tiger print look from Roberto Cavalli, ending in a long feather hem. And Jaden Smith — with a house-shaped headpiece affixed to his head — looked as stupid as he is. 

Oh, and then Kanye arrived; probably the most brilliant creative mind alive, whose self-destructive collapse means he hasn’t released a good album in four years and has become an antisemitic social pariah. He turned up, walked the red carpet with his near-naked wife, then got in his car and left.