FEB 6, 2025 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | By Rachel Weissman
The 67th Annual Grammy Awards fall right in the middle of awards season and sometimes get lost in the mix of the Golden Globes and the Oscars, but in the music industry, there is no bigger night.
As explained by host Trevor Noah, this year the Grammy Awards were dedicated to raising funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders — the Grammys created a fund for the cause and are still accepting donations on their website.
The nine categories broadcasted during the main ceremony were: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Best Latin Pop Album, Best R&B Album, Best Rap Album, Best Country Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and coveted Album of the year, and while the 94 categories announced earlier in the day did not receive a large viewership, those awards are of equal prestige and importance.
One of the highlights before the ceremony was seven-time nominee, Charlie XCX, taking home three wins with Best Dance Pop Recording (“Von Dutch”), Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Recording Package. She did not receive any awards during the main ceremony. Her album “Brat” was a major breakthrough moment, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200, making it her highest-charting and most-awarded album.
The Grammy’s four most prestigious categories were awarded as follows.
Best New Artist: Chappell Roan
Despite the other nominees in the category, this award was really between the two leading ladies of pop music this year, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Both artists had explosive success on the stage and Hot 100 charts, and the award could’ve gone either way.
Last year, Carpenter had three top-five hits from her album “Short n’ Sweet,” her first number one album on the Billboard 200, and her single “Please Please Please” hit number one on the Billboard 100 in June 2024. Carpenter joined The Beatles and Justin Bieber as these artists are the only to sustain three songs in the top 10 for more than eight weeks as solo artists.
Roan released her hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” in April 2024 and the song reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Roan’s first top 10 on the chart. Last year, Roan also set an attendance record with her performance at Lollapalooza — 110,000 people, the biggest crowd in the festival’s history.
Some Grammy viewers had a problem with Carpenter’s nomination in the category, as she released her first album in 2014, somewhat disqualifying her as a new artist. However, the Grammys describes the accreditations as an artist who “achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and impacted the musical landscape during the year’s eligibility period,” thus defining “new” as a relative term in the category. Whether it was her tenured music career that ultimately lost Carpenter the award, comes down to the 13,000 voters in the Recording Academy
Song of the Year: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Contrary to popular opinion, this award is for the songwriter, not necessarily the song as a whole. “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar is chock-full of witty double entendres, making it a likely contender to win SOTY. Most famously at the end of the first verse, Lamar says, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
“Not Like Us” is allegedly a diss track towards fellow rapper Drake. The five-time Grammy winner released a response song that was not nominated.
Lamar’s win caused some upset as another major name in the category, Taylor Swift, 14-time Grammy winner and eight-time nominee in this category, has never taken home the award. Her hit single “Fortnight” was in discussion to win, but “Not Like Us” instantly became a fan favorite from Lamar, while “Fortnight” did not hold the same esteem within Swift’s discography. No matter who won, some corner of the internet would’ve been up in arms as this category was stacked with big names including Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga.
Record of the Year: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
Contrary to Song of the Year, Record of the Year relies on the performance and production, rather than lyrics. Produced by Mustard, Sounwave and Sean Momberger, “Not Like Us” samples “I Believe to My Soul” by Monk Higgins.
The last artist to take home both SOTY and ROTY was Billie Eilish in 2020 with “Bad Guy,” an unusual feat as the awards celebrate different aspects of the song. Receiving both awards is basically the Recording Academy declaring the song perfect, which seems appropriate for 20-time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar.
Album of the Year: “COWBOY CARTER” by Beyonce
The last category presented, and the most distinguished award of the evening, went to Beyonce. Many were shocked to see a country album take AOTY as the last time a country album won was “Golden Hour” by Kacey Musgraves in 2019, and “Fearless” by Taylor Swift in 2010.
Bringing her Grammy count to an impressive 35, this is Beyonce’s first time winning AOTY. At the event last year, her husband Jay-Z slammed the Recording Academy for never awarding her AOTY. Although Jay-Z received backlash for speaking out and implying that previous winners didn’t deserve the award last year, the couple is facing even more so this year as her win comes at an odd time amongst Jay-Z’s qualms with the award show, their infamous friendship with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Jay-Z’s sexual assault on a child charge.
Although Beyonce’s marriage and adjacent legal troubles might seem unrelated to her Grammy wins, AOTY considers societal impact as a major factor in who is nominated and wins the category, and this year Beyonce’s was not great.
Beyonce was not the favorite to win the award on Sunday night as nine-time Grammy winner Billie Eilish was the center of speculation to take the honor with “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT.” In 2020, Eilish took home awards from all four major categories, along with Best Pop Vocal Album, yet had a very different experience this year as she won none of her seven nominations.
Though these categories were tough battles to win, being nominated amongst the steep competition this year is a tremendous accomplishment for all the artists.