Grammys 2025: Beyoncé Wins Big, Taylor Swift’s Night and More!

Okay, let’s be real.
The 2025 Grammys landed on Groundhog Day, which, on paper, felt like the universe was setting up a predictable punchline about the music awards being stuck in an endless loop of repeating past mistakes.
But hold on to your hats, folks, because this year’s ceremony decided to flip the script like a DJ dropping a surprise remix.
Instead of another predictable night, it felt more like the happy ending of a certain Bill Murray flick – the hero finally breaking free from his never-ending nightmare into a brand new dawn.

Was it too much to make a big deal about Beyoncé finally snagging Album of the Year for *Cowboy Carter*, after what felt like an eternity of her groundbreaking works being overlooked for, well, arguably lesser ones by white artists?
Maybe a smidge.
I mean, she’s already the most nominated *and* most awarded artist in Grammy history.
But the symbolism is hard to ignore, isn’t it?

Now, *Cowboy Carter*, while having some absolute bangers, is probably the least consistently transporting of her albums in the past decade.
Some have even likened it to Martin Scorsese finally nabbing a Best Director Oscar in 2007, and *not* for any of his iconic works from the 70s and 80s.
You could even throw in that *Cowboy Carter* kinda dumbed itself down with spoken-word interludes laying out its thesis explicitly, as Beyoncé stated herself upon accepting the Best Country Album award, saying that sometimes ‘genre’ is just a code word to keep artists ‘in their place.’ It’s almost like she had to guide the Grammy voters to her point by the hand.
But honestly, does it even matter?
The biggest pop artist of the century being shut out from the Recording Academy’s most prestigious award became a symbol, a form of protest even, because, let’s face it, her record beat *Lemonade*.
Ever since, it has represented the Grammys’ stubbornness to downgrade the biggest developments in popular music, especially Black music—particularly that tied to the aesthetic and generational schism around hip-hop—and to fall back instead on what felt comfortable to a voting body skewed heavily towards older, white men in the music industry.
That’s probably why all the other, mostly deserving album nominees were likely clenching their teeth hoping *they didn’t* win.

Speaking of winners and losers, Taylor Swift, who has *four* Album of the Year awards, and Billie Eilish, with one to her name, both went home empty-handed despite multiple nominations.
And then there was Kendrick Lamar.
Him taking home both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for *Not Like Us* was just as significant as Beyoncé breaking her losing streak.
It’s the first time a rap song has won in either of those categories – aside from Childish Gambino’s *This Is America* back in 2019.
Typically, hip-hop gets relegated to its own genre categories.
See Beyoncé’s statement above.

*Not Like Us* was also an outlier, being the culminating shot in a beef, packed with accusations of pedophilia against another top rap star, who has now taken their label to court for promoting it.
The better Lamar’s night got – he ended up with five Grammys, cleaning up all the categories he was nominated in – the worse Drake’s night went.

And when a good portion of the Grammy crowd sang along to the songs’ meanest and catchiest lyric (“A minooo-or”), it felt a bit like salt in the wound, especially since, as a fellow Canadian, that landed on the day Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs on our country.
And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t usually feel defensive of Drake.
If this year’s Grammys had a downside, it was mostly in that matter of timing.

It would’ve been easier to celebrate progress had other sectors of reality not felt like they were rapidly speeding in reverse.
Naturally, a big part of the night was focused on the devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires.
Beyoncé’s Album of the Year award was even presented by L.A.
firefighters.
The show kicked off with an all-star band playing a slightly tweaked version of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” , which was…
well, the Grammys’ ability to suck the irony and subtlety out of art remains intact.

You see, the fires had to double as a metaphor for bad times, covering various current problems in the US and globally that went unmentioned.
For instance, there wasn’t a peep about the fires’ link to climate change, even while the US government has withdrawn from the Paris agreements.
But hey, at least we had some tearaway outfits to distract us!

Lots of artists did speak on social issues.
Chappell Roan, the Best New Artist winner—who also delivered the night’s most fabulously queer performance— gave a brave speech, in front of *that* crowd, about the need for labels to provide a living wage and healthcare benefits, reading her notes with a sweet awkwardness.
Lady Gaga spoke for queer and trans folks.
Shakira dedicated her award to her immigrant community.
Stevie Wonder, recalling USA for Africa, said we need to celebrate cultures, and Doechii, the third woman to win Best Rap Album, urged young Black women not to let themselves be stereotyped.

Alicia Keys delivered the most pointed speech of the night, receiving her Global Impact award and saying, “This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices…
the more voices, the more powerful the sound.” And yet, not one of them explicitly pointed out that their statements were necessary *because* of the current administration’s policies.

In that gap, you could hear fear.
It’s become so rare for music to tackle political issues in anything but an individualized, emotional context, addressing representation and mental health, but not the power structures themselves.
You could almost hear the pressure from the top, maybe under the guise of not distracting from the fundraising effort for fire victims.
It feels like we are avoiding “the fires next time,” if we borrow a phrase from James Baldwin.

So, has the Grammys reformed enough?
Not sure about that.
But hey, on a lighter note, aside from the L.A.
fires, the other big theme was tearaway outfits.
Sabrina Carpenter started the trend, teasing us with a sparkly tux-skirt combo before ripping it away to reveal a baby blue bustier.
After that, we had tearaway moves by Doechii, Charli XCX, and even the soulful Benson Boone, along with that *overwrought* suit that we all wished Teddy Swims would tear off, and it became a bit of a running gag.
Boone, Doechii, Swims, Shaboozey, and Raye’s performances were a highlight and definitely a template for future Grammys shows.
Doechii got the crowd on their feet and had the most ‘star is born’ moment of the night, practically oozing Beyoncé-like power and precision.

Boone’s backflip off a piano was hilarious, turning him into a bro-culture icon – in a *good* way.
Honestly, I was kind of rooting for Sabrina Carpenter for either Song or Record of the Year, but hey, she rightfully snagged Best Pop Vocal Album.
Her medley of “Espresso” and “Please Please, Please” suffered a bit, musically though; she was pushing her limits, dancing so much, even with choreography designed to be witty.

Charli XCX’s performance, kicking off in a back alley and culminating in a 00s indie rave, testified why people love her.
It even had a cameo from Billie Eilish, who was singing so feverishly it was shocking she didn’t rush the stage.

During the first half of the Quincy Jones tribute, we all wondered how the Grammys would handle the Michael Jackson issue, since you can’t talk about Quincy’s legacy without him.
Stevie Wonder initially credited Jackson for co-writing “We Are the World,” then, a couple of minutes later, Janelle Monáe emerged in full M.J.
drag, moonwalking through “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” So, everyone basically decided, “Hell with it!”

And who was *really* getting reputation-washed during that segment?
Will Smith, who’s still blackballed from the Oscars but apparently is still the reigning Fresh Prince of Grammyland.
What a night, folks, what a night.

So, amidst all the tearaway outfits, political speeches, and musical mashups, one thing was clear: the 2025 Grammys weren’t just another award show.
Did they get everything right?
Absolutely not.
But did they provide some jaw-dropping moments and raise money for a great cause?
Definitely.
And that, my friends, is worth talking about.
So, what are your big takeaways from the night?
Were you team Beyoncé or team Kendrick?
Or are you still trying to decide which tearaway outfit was the best?
The conversation is just getting started.