The 67th annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, February 2, 2025. This year there were 94 categories, nine of which were on the main televised program along with musical performances. Many of the biggest names in music were in attendance, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, and many more, making it an unforgettable night. The most significant awards at the Grammys have been dubbed “the big four,” including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist.
The night opened with the announcement of the Best Rap Album Grammy. The nominees in this category were J. Cole’s Might Delete Later, Common & Pete Rock’s The Auditorium, Vol. 1, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal, Eminem’s The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce), and Future & Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You. These five nominees included many notable hits such as “Houdini,” “Like That,” and “Denial is a River,” and with many big names, it was a competitive category. Presenter Cardi B opened the first envelope of the night and crowned Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii the Best Rap Album. The moment was very emotional for Doechii, as it was her first year being nominated by the Recording Academy and her first Grammy win. In her acceptance speech, she notes how only two, and now three, women have ever won this award since its introduction in 1995, her predecessors being The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Ms. Lauryn Hill and Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B. The win was historic for Doechii and women in the rap industry.
The next award presented was Best Pop Vocal Album, and those nominated for this category were Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft, Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. Every album nominated had huge mainstream hits and outstanding performances on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Despite the major success of eternal sunshine, this was the only big four category Grande was nominated in, unlike other Best Pop Vocal Album artists. Nevertheless, Best Pop Vocal Album was awarded to Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter. Like Doechii, this was Carpenter’s first time being recognized by the Recording Academy as a breakthrough mainstream artist in 2024, although Carpenter had also received one untelevised award earlier in the night as her hit single “Espresso” won Best Pop Solo Performance. Since its release last year on August 23, Short n’ Sweet has amassed over 5.8 billion streams on Spotify and spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200 album chart. Because of this stellar performance, Short n’ Sweet was undoubtedly a fan favorite to win the Grammy.
The first big four category of the night was Best New Artist, and it was arguably one of the award’s most competitive years in recent history, with many artists going mainstream in 2024. The nominees for this award consisted of Benson Boone, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims. Benson Boone had an incredible year with his album Fireworks & Rollerblades and hit single “Beautiful Things,” which was named the #1 best selling single worldwide in 2024 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. “Beautiful Things” has spent 55 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #2, with a notable portion of its run spent within the top ten. Next, Sabrina Carpenter, although releasing her first album in 2015, was a frontrunner for this award due to her major rise to fame last year. Chappell Roan’s 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” saw many of its tracks climb the charts for the first time throughout 2024, and her new release “Good Luck, Babe!” has amassed 1.2 billion Spotify streams and a peak of #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Roan is unique in the way that “Chappell Roan” is a drag queen stage persona, and her commitment to not losing her character after fame sets her apart from many other current pop stars. Doechii, Khruangbin, and Raye all made immense strides in their respective genres, meanwhile Shaboozey and Teddy Swims each had one big hit single that earned them a Best New Artist nomination. Regardless of the competition, the award ended up being presented to Chappell Roan. Roan used her platform on the Grammys stage to criticize the music industry and talk about her experience being suddenly dropped from her former record label with no job experience and no access to healthcare.
“Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage and health insurance and protection,” Roan said. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Presented by Jennifer Lopez, the nominees for Best Latin Pop Album were Funk Generation by Anitta, El Viaje by Luis Fonsi, GARCĺA by Kany García, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran by Shakira, and ORQUĺDEAS by Kali Uchis. The award went to Shakira, being her fourth Grammy win and third win in this category. The album was worked on for over two years before releasing in 2024. It featured a variety of artists and genre explorations to contribute to the motifs of heartbreak and change within her life after separating from ex-husband Gerard Pique. Shakira dedicated the award to her children and hard-working women and immigrants in a hopeful acceptance speech.
“In this country you’re loved, you’re worth it, and I will always fight with you,” said Shakira.
SZA, a former Best Pop Duo/Group Performance winner for “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat, presented the award for this year’s winners. Five songs are nominated in this category and they are as follows: “us.” by Gracie Abrams featuring Taylor Swift, “LEVII’S JEANS” by Beyoncé featuring Post Malone, “Guess” by Charli xcx featuring Billie Eilish, “the boy is mine” by Ariana Grande with Brandy & Monica, and “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. “Guess” and “Die With A Smile” were the biggest hits of this category compared to competitors like “the boy is mine,” whose standard version performed better than the nominated remixed version, and “us.” and “LEVII’S JEANS,” which had big names behind them, but not the same impact as other contenders. As a result, “Guess” and “Die With A Smile” were the fan-favorites to win. Alas, “Die With A Smile” ended up taking home the award. The song has dominated streaming platforms since release and recently became the longest-running #1 song on the global Spotify chart, finally dethroning “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I with over 120 days at #1. In total, “Die With A Smile” has received 1.9 billion streams on Spotify since release, making it the fastest to ever do so on the platform. Gaga and Mars went on to thank and congratulate each other while accepting the award, Gaga additionally utilizing her time on stage to make a stand for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Trans people are not invisible, trans people deserve love, the queer community deserves to be lifted up, music is love, thank you,” Gaga said.
Near the end of the night, the Song of the Year and Record of the Year categories were announced, both of which contributed to the Grammy sweep made by “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar. Lamar took home three other non-televised Grammy awards, including Best Music Video, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance, totaling five awards in one momentous night. Lamar’s fellow nominees for Song of the Year included “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, “Birds Of A Feather” by Billie Eilish, “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan, “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter, and “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé. Winning this category is no small feat, as it was stacked full of smash-hit songs that defined the year. To not only beat out all of the Song of the Year nominees, but to then win Record of the Year is extremely impressive, as the other Record of the Year nominees were “Now and Then” by The Beatles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “360” by Charli xcx, “Birds Of A Feather” by Billie Eilish, and “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan. “Not Like Us” peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnered 1.1 billion Spotify streams since release, making it undoubtedly one of the biggest hits of the year and among the most Grammy-awarded songs in history. Lamar has now received a total of 22 Grammys throughout his entire career, making him the third most-awarded rapper and 13th most-awarded artist in Grammy history.
The final award of the night completing the big four was Album of the Year, which made for tough competition, as many of the albums contained singles that performed exceptionally. In the end, Beyoncé ended up winning for her first country album Cowboy Carter, which also won Best Country Album earlier in the ceremony. Despite having won the most Grammy awards of all time, this was Beyoncé’s first time winning AOTY. While the award was long overdue, some were surprised to see Cowboy Carter win over albums like Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft or Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, seeing as both had several billion more streams on Spotify. Cowboy Carter debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with just over 400k units sold, making it one of the highest debuts of the year, although Swift seemed to dominate album units sold, debuting with 2.6M units and spending 17 weeks atop the chart. Even Charli xcx held the top spot when it came to critical acclaim with brat, receiving a metacritic score of 95 based on 23 reviews, making it the most acclaimed album of the year. While from some of the statistics it may seem Cowboy Carter didn’t have as impressive of a performance, the album still made huge strides for Black artists in country music and showcased a new creative direction for Beyoncé—perhaps unlike the other nominees. Beyoncé made history as the first Black artist to win Best Country Album, and Cowboy Carter also winning AOTY further highlights the impact that’s been made on the country genre and what is possible for it in the future.
Aside from Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, there were a few other artists who had many wins, although untelevised. Charli xcx released her critically acclaimed album brat last year which won her three awards which were Best Dance Pop Recording for “Von Dutch,” Best Electronic/Dance Album for brat, and Best Recording Package for brat as well. Xcx had received two nominations prior to the 67th Annual Grammys in 2015 for her collaboration in the track “Fancy” with Iggy Azalea, but this was her first ceremony being recognized for solely her work. St. Vincent was also acknowledged for her work as an alternative musician. Vincent, along with Charli xcx, won three awards: Best Alternative Music Album award for All Born Screaming, Best Alternative Music Performance for “Flea,” and Best Rock Song for “Broken Man.” Vincent has had much success in the alternative genre, with three previous wins in the categories over the years. Additionally, Sierra Ferrell released her first album in 2021 with no Grammy success, but this award season her 2024 album Trail Of Flowers saw extraordinary success, winning every category she was nominated in. Ferrell won Best Americana Album, Best Americana Roots Song, Best Americana Performance, and Best Americana Roots Performance. On the flip side, many household names went home empty-handed this year while still reaching major achievements with their 2024 albums. Some of these artists included Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft and “Birds of a Feather,” Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and “Fortnight,” and Grande’s eternal sunshine and “Yes, And?” This came as a shock, as these talented women were expected to have some of the best nights out of all in attendance. Despite these losses, the night still proved a success for many and contained many milestones that could signify a shift in the future of the music industry.