On February 2nd, 2025, the Staples Center hosted the 67th Annual Grammy Award where we celebrated both this past year of music and the resilience of the Los Angeles community.
It’s safe to say that 2024 was the year for pop music—from Beyoncè’s first stride into country music, Cowboy Carter to Charli XCX’s takeover of both the summer and American politics with her hit album brat, making the 2025 Grammys all the more of an event. Additionally, in 2024, several rising artists were able to make their way onto the centerstage of music: Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and, my personal favorite, Doechii. The Grammys have also reevaluated their approach to voting and voting committees, a decision that was reflected in this year’s award winners.
While the Grammys are the most prestigious music award one could win, the award show has been repeatedly accused of racial prejudice and discriminatory practices. For those reasons, artists like the Weeknd, Sinead O’Connor, and Jay Z have boycotted the show by not submitting their records for the awards, even if they’re records may have been deserving. However, this year, the Grammys seem to have changed their approach—a change marked by the Weeknd’s return to the Grammys, with a special performance of “Cry for Me” and “Timeless” by the Weeknd and featuring Playboi Carti.
I’m happy to report that most of my Grammy predictions were correct—including one of the most far-fetched ones, that being Doechii for Best Rap Album. As Doechii noted in her speech, in the 36 years after its establishment in 1989, Doechii is the third woman to ever win the award for her phenomenal album, Alligator Bites Never Heal—her name coming after rap legends like Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. In that same speech, she explained how Alligator Bites Never Heal, was heavily inspired by her hometown (my hometown too, actually), Tampa, Florida. urged labels and executives to seek out the plentiful talent in Tampa (which is chock full of artistic talent, believe me).
As most of us guessed, Doechii was not awarded Best New Artist, as that award went to Chappell Roan. Chappell Roan, born and raised in Missouri, has been making music since she was a teenager, having even attended “Grammy Camp” as a high schooler. At seventeen, Roan was signed to Atlantic Records, but was dropped in 2020 due to her lack of commercial viability during her pandemic debut. Regardless, Roan continued to release music independently and work odd jobs here and there and would go on to sign with Dan Nigro’s imprint of Island Records, Amusement Records. In 2024, with her energetic performances, exciting music, and drag-inspired costuming, Chappell Roan would rise to become one of the foremost stars of pop music, writing unabashedly of the young queer experience—most notably, in her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which radically applied the mainstream pop sound to queer stories.
For Best New Artist, Roan was up against Sabrina Carpenter, who released Grammy Best Pop Vocal Album, Short ‘n Sweet in fall of 2024. Short ‘n Sweet brought back the 80s sound, with jukebox style production on songs like Don’t Smile and Good Graces and Jack Antonoff’s bonafide synth-y pop perfection on songs like Lie to Girls and Please Please Please. Additionally, the album tested genre boundaries, with songs like Slim Pickins veering into country, a testament to Carpenter’s rural Pennsylvania roots.
Speaking of country music, Taylor Swift, having won Best Country Album in 2010, was given the opportunity to announce the award—specifically to announce Beyoncè’s win for her album Cowboy Carter—more on which, later.
Another standout album, brat by Charli XCX,won Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Dance Pop Recording, and Best Recording Package. brat, if you spent July of 2024 under a large rock, was the “album of the summer,” considering the success of songs like “Apple” on TikTok and the creation and embrace of “brat summer.”
Now, for Album of the Year, by far the most competitive and compelling award yet. Amongst the nominated was The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan, Short ‘n Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter, brat by Charli XCX, Cowboy Carter by Beyoncè, and Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish. Now, unfortunately, I was wrong about this one. Considering the commercial and critical acclaim of Billie Eilish’s junior album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, I, like most everyone else, expected her to win Album of the Year. But, as a miraculous surprise, ever-snubbed Beyoncè won Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter.
Beyoncè, though the most nominated and awarded artist in Grammy history, had never before won Album of the Year. Some attribute this repeated snub to Academy racism and others attribute it to poor committee judgment, who for the most part were older music professionals who might not have been fully aware of Beyoncè’s cultural impact and genius. This win, contrary to popular opinion, was well-deserved. Cowboy Carter was groundbreaking—a boulder hurled at the stagnancy of the country genre. Though, sonically, it may have not been traditionally “country,” it laid tribute to the greats and up-and-comers of the genre, featuring artists like Dolly Parton and Shaboozey, and forced audiences to reevaluate their idea of country music.
Announcing Album of the Year were members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, one of the many tributes to Los Angeles and the city’s first responders that evening. Los Angeles, the city of angels and dreams, is very pertinent to the Grammy awards and their mission—honoring music and artists. Throughout the award show, Grammys host, Trevor Noah, urged audience members to donate to Los Angeles’ restoration and the show paid tribute to the city by free advertisements for local businesses and musical tributes by artists like St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow, and John Legend.
This year, the Grammys were not just a tribute to music or the success of rising artists but a tribute to the city it is hosted in, to the people and art of Los Angeles. The Grammys have responded to their faults and reevaluated their awarding and committee choices, taking immense accountability, in a way unheard of for such a revered award show. The stories of Chappell Roan, Doechii, and the people of Los Angeles are something to be inspired by—something the Grammys took note of and embraced in their 2025 award show.
