
Is Hollywood ready to celebrate again? The Recording Academy sure hopes so. Just weeks after wildfires swept Los Angeles, the Grammys are going ahead with their ceremony, becoming one of the first major L.A. events in the city to take place. The show will feature tributes and fundraising, and the mood will certainly be more low-key after many of the usual Grammy-week parties were called off.
But there’ll also be a lot to celebrate, starting from the top. After becoming the most-awarded artist in Grammys history, Beyoncé is back in contention, jockeying for 11 awards for Cowboy Carter — including her first country trophies and her still-elusive first Album of the Year win. So are a slew of newer faces, including Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan. New (and new-to-the-Academy) artists seem to be the focus of the show, with those three all set to perform along with Doechii, Raye, Benson Boone, and Teddy Swims. But the show’s usual fixtures will be there too: Trevor Noah is hosting for a fifth straight year, perennial nominee Billie Eilish is also performing, and Taylor Swift is seeking a record fifth Album of the Year trophy (along with presenting another award).
On paper, it feels like this year’s Grammys are caught between the past and future, with the present weighing heavily over it all. But we should know better than to expect the Academy to make it all make sense tonight. Besides, maybe what we really need right now is just a good show.
She finally did it
One of the most surprising tidbits in the Cowboy Carter rollout was the revelation that it was actually possible to make Beyoncé feel like she needed to prove anything. The country pivot found an overachiever making a big show of branching out. That Bey’s folkiest, most traditionalist set of songs took top honors a decade after the infamous ceremony where rock fans chalked Beck’s upset over her self-titled up to a triumph for musicianship is the Grammys being the Grammys. They love a laser-guided tour of a genre or a moment in time, a bridging of musical traditions in particular. (Herbie Hancock got his on an album of Joni Mitchell covers; get in how you fit in.) Thee Beyoncé knows what excites this crowd and embodied it for a year.
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ wins Record of the Year and Song of the Year
Need a wellness check on Drake.
This show is slowing down so much
Whew this show is getting long and slow. They’ve been dangling Charli XCX in front of me for an hour now, like a gay carrot, with no actual performances. Hell’s Kitchen spon was entirely unnecessary.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra’ premieres during the commercial break
Gaga returns to her first art: beautiful, rhythmic nonsense. This song wants “Padam Padam”’s nachos.
Janelle Monáe closed out the Quincy Jones tribute in Michael Jackson cosplay.
It’s well known Janelle can perform Prince and James Brown in her sleep. Now add a mean moonwalk to her repertoire. Monáe ended the night’s Quincy Jones medley with “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough.” Taylor Swift is still wearing the blazer she tossed into the crowd.
The big surprise performer was … the Weeknd?
When the Grammys make a big deal about a special surprise performance, as they’ve been doing for weeks leading up to this year’s ceremony, it’s natural to let your mind run wild. Would Beyoncé put on a world-stopping performance? Would Kendrick Lamar give us a taste of what he has coming ahead of his Super Bowl performance next week? Well, in an anticlimax to end all anticlimaxes, 2025’s much-hyped special performer turned out to be … the Weeknd — and the reason his performance was kept under wraps was because he’d previously criticized the Recording Academy’s voting practices and vowed to boycott the ceremony going forward. He was apparently satisfied enough by the Grammys’ policy changes that he had a change of heart. That he just dropped his album Hurry Up Tomorrow two days ago, I’m sure, is just a coincidence.
Chappell Roan has a message for the record labels
“Labels, we got you, but do you got us?” After dazzling earlier with a clown-assisted “Pink Pony Club,” Roan used the occasion of winning Best New Artist to make a common-sense, personal appeal to record labels to work out health care and mentorship for rising artists. Roan was signed to Atlantic Records a decade ago as a teenager and dropped over the summer of 2020, when the industry ground to a halt. While producer Dan Nigro shed tears of joy in the audience, the Midwest Princess wondered aloud why major labels get to make and break artists without providing for life after the roller-coaster ride. Hers is a feel-good iteration of this story, a tenacious one persevered long enough to find her audience. But for every hard-won long-term pop success like that, consider the scores of gifted people having to call it a day on a dream of making a living in or around music.
Why would you not end the Best New Artist medley on Doechii?
Benson Boone flips out
Beyoncé?!
Can’t reference Shania Twain without paying a tariff now
The Swamp Princess is rap’s new Queen
Doechii just became only the third woman to win Best Rap Album, for her astounding mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal. Adding to the perfect moment: Cardi B, the last woman to receive the honor, presented it to her. And Doechii’s mom got to stand by her daughter’s side for her speech.
4 Reactions We Had to Sabrina Carpenter’s Performance of ‘Espresso’ and ‘Please Please Please’
“She’s so Disney Channel” —Zoë Haylock
“Screenshot of her next to Hugh Grant going stage to stage in Paddington 2 ASAP” —Devon Ivie
“Sabrina giving French mime” —Jason P. Frank
“Sabrina back to Broadway when” —Dee Lockett
Trevor Noah set the tone, then kept it moving
This being the fifth time he’s hosted, Trevor Noah is an old-hand Grammys host at this point. Still, this year’s ceremony — arriving after weeks of historic wildfires devastating the show’s host city of L.A. — necessitated he take a different tack. Rather than jumping straight into jokes as usual, Noah began the show with a sentimental tribute to L.A.’s music and the city’s resilience. But with that out of the way, Noah was able to get to business as usual.
Standout jokes included a joke about Beyoncé’s genre-spanning talents (“André 3000 better watch out, next year she’s coming for that flute throne”) and one about the Beatles’ nomination song being completed with AI (“Who knows? Through the power of AI, we could even get a new Rihanna album”). He even lightly referenced the political climate, joking about Trump’s new tariffs and hostility toward immigration (“I’m going to enjoy tonight, because this might be the last time I get to host anything in this country”). It was awkward at times because of the unamused looks of the people around him, but the whole thing was expedient and utilitarian, which is the best a Grammys host can hope to be.
Kanye West: (Allegedly) not kicked out of the Grammys
Chappell Roan makes her Grammys debut in Degas
Billie Joe Armstrong and the winner of his look-alike contest, Andrew Watt, on the Grammys red carpet
They let Kai Cenat loose on the Grammys
The 23-year-old Twitch megastar says he has permission to stream all night from on the ground, which means we’ve already watched him do the following:
–Lose the ability to speak in front of his biggest fan’s dad
–Yell at Playboi Carti (indirectly) to drop his album
–Beef with veteran hip-hop journalist Elliott Wilson (but also call a truce)
–Ignore Don Lemon (fair)
–Accuse the Shade Room of being the Feds (fair)
–Lose his mind in front of the newly freed Vybz Kartel
A protest around the corner
Thousands of protesters shut down the 101 freeway ahead of the Grammys Sunday afternoon. According to the L.A. Times, they were marching against the Trump administration’s draconian anti-immigration policies. Protesters gathered in DTLA in the morning and marched from noon to 4 p.m. PT. Anyone heading for the Crypto.com Arena from the Valley had to find an alternate route.
Bob Marley (sort of) gets Grammy love
One of the great Grammy gaffes of the ’70s and early ’80s was neglecting to shine a light on epochal strides in Caribbean music until the introduction of the Best Reggae Album award in 1985, four years after legendary Bob Marley died. In 2001, Marley — a political dynamo and international ambassador for reggae, dub, and ska music — finally collected a Lifetime Achievement Award. But his last shot at winning for a song was “Turn Your Lights Down Low” with Lauryn Hill, which lost to a B.B. King and Dr. John duet at the same ceremony. Tonight’s win for the soundtrack to last year’s widely panned Bob Marley: One Love is a fun silver lining. If we could get the Establishment to stop squishing so many genres into the one award, when rock and folk and country artists have flurries of splinter categories to submit to, maybe we’d be cooking.
Babyface didn’t deserve that
Mid-interview with legendary hitmaker Babyface, an Associated Press reporter appeared to completely lose all interest in talking to him after spotting Chappell Roan in the background. “Chappell! Chappell!” she cut him off to flag her down. (The hosts later apologized.) Can Chappell ever escape a red carpet without causing a stir?
Is this the first time someone has won an award while wearing the merch of another nominee?
The Rolling Stones and the Beatles are still winning Grammys in [checks notes] 2025
For Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance, respectively.
Muni Long seemed to lose her voice
Well, with the four-time nominee’s performance not deemed main-show-worthy, I’d go on strike too. The singer-songwriter performed her TikTok-viral hit “Made for Me”during the Premiere Ceremony and, as many pointed out, fumbled a few notes. When she won Best R&B Performance for that same song moments later, her voice appeared to go in and out. Sadly, that also meant no more publicly shaming Atlantic Records, with their execs likely in the room.
Marina Viotti broke through the metal ceiling
For the first time ever, a woman has won Best Metal Performance at the Grammys. Opera singer Marina Viotti shared in the win for “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ca ira!),” the song she performed with Gojira at the summer Olympics. (It’s also the first win for French titans Gojira.) The trophy has been one of the most testosterone-fueled in Academy history — a woman hadn’t even been nominated until 2021 — but this year, three women were nominated.
Kendrick Lamar wins Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video for ‘Not Like Us’
Meanwhile …
Beyoncé won her first country Grammy
Who needs the CMAs anyway? Beyoncé is officially a country Grammy winner, earning Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus. It’s now the fifth genre she’s won in, along with R&B, rap, pop, and dance/electronic. This is Bey’s only country-field recognition for Cowboy Carter so far, after losses in Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. But she’s still in contention for Best Country Album, to be presented during the main show tonight.
Chappell’s got some real competition tonight
Deborah Cox … and Yolanda Adams?
The Grammys Premiere Ceremony yielded the first spin of the Recording Academy improbability matrix: A cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1971 Record and Song of the Year winner “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by awards-show gospel-segment closers Cox and Adams; Beninese French icon Angélique Kidjo; TV and now musical theater’s Wayne Brady; blues vet Taj Mahal; and, for some reason, Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying.
Music’s biggest night afternoon
It’s hard to stuff all 94 categories into the main show, which is why each Grammys Sunday begins with the pre-telecast, a three-hour midday ceremony where most of the year’s winners are announced. The 2025 edition is being hosted by Song of the Year nominee Justin Tranter (“Good Luck, Babe!”). You can watch the event before the event below; we’ll be updating the winners list over here.
Correction: A previous version of this story listed the wrong designer of Chappell Roan’s dress.