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Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, and Sabrina Carpenter Dominate Joyous 2025 Grammys

By Dustin Rowles | News | February 3, 2025 |

beyonce-grammys.jpg
Header Image Source: Getty Images

Five years ago, I would’ve had absolutely no idea who most of the performers and the nominees at the Grammys were. Now I have teenage daughters, so I know them all, I am familiar with most of their music, and I’ve even seen a couple in concert (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan). Turns out, the Grammys are a lot of fun. A big reason for that is because the Grammys aren’t really about the awards — they probably hand out only 10 or so awards the whole night — but an excuse to showcase some of the industry’s best musicians. It’s a blast.

I’m not sure I can say that any one performer completely blew me away, but everyone who performed last night was fantastic. I was a particular fan of the Best New Artist series of performances — Teddy Swims, Doechii, Shaboozey, and Raye — as well as those of Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX, who put on a rave with her friends. It was an outstanding night of performances, and now I know what Benson Boone — omnipresent on the radio airwaves — looks like: Paul Mescal, but with the ability to do backflips.

There were also several performances dedicated to Los Angeles in the wake of the wildfires, a terrific Quincy Jones tribute that featured Janelle Monae going full Michael Jackson, and a credit card commercial slash Lady Gaga music video that was wild.

As for the awards themselves? They were mostly afterthoughts, although Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, and Chappell Roan were the night’s big winners. Roan gave a great speech, but it was poorly delivered.

Beyoncé won Best Country Album, which felt like a much bigger surprise than when she won Album of the Year later in the night. You can see how shocked even Beyoncé is when Taylor Swift announces her name. It must have been a nice feeling after the CMAs ignored what was clearly the year’s best country album.

Here are the winners. I will note only that I used to tune in just to see the rock categories, but they seem to be as oblivious in those categories as they always were. Meanwhile, Dave Chappelle won Best Comedy Album, which goes to show you how little Grammy voters know about comedy.

Album of the year
“New Blue Sun,” André 3000
“Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé
“Short n’ Sweet,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Brat,” Charli XCX
“Djesse Vol. 4,” Jacob Collier
“Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Billie Eilish
“The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” Chappell Roan
“The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift

Record of the year
“Now and Then,” The Beatles
“Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé
“Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter
“360,” Charli XCX
“Birds of a Feather,” Billie Eilish
“Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar
“Good Luck, Babe!,” Chappell Roan
“Fortnight,” Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone

Song of the year
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” written by Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry and Mark Williams, performed by Shaboozey
“Birds of a Feather,” written by Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, performed by Billie Eilish
“Die With a Smile,” written by Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Andrew Watt, performed by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
“Fortnight,” written by Jack Antonoff, Austin Post and Taylor Swift, performed by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone
“Good Luck, Babe!,” written by Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter, performed by Chappell Roan
“Not Like Us,” written and performed by Kendrick Lamar
“Please Please Please,” written by Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff and Sabrina Carpenter, performed by Sabrina Carpenter
“Texas Hold ‘Em,” written by Brian Bates, Atia Boggs, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro and Raphael Saadiq, performed by Beyoncé

Best new artist
Benson Boone
Sabrina Carpenter
Doechii
Khruangbin
Raye
Chappell Roan
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims

Best pop vocal album
“Short n’ Sweet,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Billie Eilish
“Eternal Sunshine,” Ariana Grande
“The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” Chappell Roan
“The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift

Best pop duo/group performance
“Us,” Gracie Abrams featuring Taylor Swift
“Levii’s Jeans,” Beyoncé featuring Post Malone
“Guess,” Charli XCX and Billie Eilish
“The Boy Is Mine,” Ariana Grande, Brandy and Monica
“Die With a Smile,” Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars

Best R&B song
“After Hours,” written by Diovanna Frazier, Alex Goldblatt, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes and Daniel Upchurch, performed by Kehlani
“Burning,” written by Ronald Banful and Temilade Openiyi, performed by Tems
“Here We Go (Uh Oh),” written by Sara Diamond, Sydney Floyd, Marisela Jackson, Courtney Jones, Carl McCormick and Kelvin Wooten, performed by Coco Jones
“Ruined Me,” written by Jeff Gitelman, Kareen Lomax, Priscilla Renea and Kevin Theodore, performed by Muni Long
“Saturn,” written by Rob Bisel, Cian Ducrot, Carter Lang, Solána Rowe, Jared Solomon and Scott Zhang, performed by SZA

Best country album
“Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé
“F-1 Trillion,” Post Malone
“Deeper Well,” Kacey Musgraves
“Higher,” Chris Stapleton
“Whirlwind,” Lainey Wilson

Best música urbana album
“Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana,” Bad Bunny
“Rayo,” J Balvin
“Ferxxocalipsis,” Feid
“Las Letras Ya No Importan,” Residente
“Att.,” Young Miko

Producer of the year, nonclassical
Alissia
Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II
Ian Fitchuk
Mustard
Daniel Nigro

Best pop solo performance
“Bodyguard,” Beyoncé
“Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter
“Apple,” Charli XCX
“Birds of a Feather,” Billie Eilish
“Good Luck, Babe!,” Chappell Roan

Best rock performance
“Now and Then,” The Beatles
“Beautiful People (Stay High),” The Black Keys
“The American Dream Is Killing Me,” Green Day
“Gift Horse,” Idles
“Dark Matter,” Pearl Jam
“Broken Man,” St. Vincent

Best rock album
“Happiness Bastards,” The Black Crowes
“Romance,” Fontaines D.C.
“Saviors,” Green Day
“Tangk,” Idles
“Dark Matter,” Pearl Jam
“Hackney Diamonds,” The Rolling Stones
“No Name,” Jack White

Best alternative music performance
“Neon Pill,” Cage the Elephant
“Song of the Lake,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“Starburster,” Fontaines D.C.
“Bye Bye,” Kim Gordon
“Flea,” St. Vincent

Best alternative music album
“Wild God,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“Charm,” Clairo
“The Collective,” Kim Gordon
“What Now,” Brittany Howard
“All Born Screaming,” St. Vincent

Best R&B performance
“Guidance,” Jhené Aiko
“Residuals,” Chris Brown
“Here We Go (Uh Oh),” Coco Jones
“Made for Me (Live on BET),” Muni Long
“Saturn,” SZA

Best progressive R&B album
“So Glad to Know You,” Avery*Sunshine
“En Route,” Durand Bernarr
“Bando Stone and the New World,” Childish Gambino
“Crash,” Kehlani
“Why Lawd?,” NxWorries (Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge)

Best R&B album
“11:11 (Deluxe),” Chris Brown
“Vantablack,” Lalah Hathaway
“Revenge,” Muni Long
“Algorithm,” Lucky Daye
“Coming Home,” Usher

Best rap performance
“Enough (Miami),” Cardi B
“When the Sun Shines Again,” Common and Pete Rock featuring Posdnuos
“Nissan Altima,” Doechii
“Houdini,” Eminem
“Like That,” Future and Metro Boomin featuring Kendrick Lamar
“Yeah Glo!,” GloRilla
“Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar

Best melodic rap performance
“Kehlani,” Jordan Adetunji featuring Kehlani
“Spaghettii,” Beyoncé featuring Linda Martell and Shaboozey
“We Still Don’t Trust You,” Future and Metro Boomin featuring the Weeknd
“Big Mama,” Latto
“3,” Rapsody featuring Erykah Badu

Best rap album
“Might Delete Later,” J. Cole
“The Auditorium, Vol. 1,” Common and Pete Rock
“Alligator Bites Never Heal,” Doechii
“The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce),” Eminem
“We Don’t Trust You,” Future and Metro Boomin

Best country solo performance
“16 Carriages,” Beyoncé
“I Am Not Okay,” Jelly Roll
“The Architect,” Kacey Musgraves
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey
“It Takes a Woman,” Chris Stapleton

Best Latin pop album
“Funk Generation,” Anitta
“El Viaje,” Luis Fonsi
“García,” Kany García
“Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” Shakira
“Orquídeas,” Kali Uchis
Best música Mexicana album (including Tejano)
“Diamantes,” Chiquis
“Boca Chueca, Vol. 1,” Carín León
“Éxodo,” Peso Pluma
“De Lejitos,” Jessi Uribe

Best comedy album
“Armageddon,” Ricky Gervais
“The Dreamer,” Dave Chappelle
“The Prisoner,” Jim Gaffigan
“Someday You’ll Die,” Nikki Glaser
“Where Was I,” Trevor Noah

Best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording
“All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words,” various artists, produced by Guy Oldfield
“… And Your Ass Will Follow,” George Clinton
“Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones,” Dolly Parton
“Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration,” Jimmy Carter
“My Name Is Barbra,” Barbra Streisand

Best compilation soundtrack for visual media
“The Color Purple”
“Deadpool & Wolverine”
“Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein”
“Saltburn”
“Twisters: The Album”

Best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television)
“American Fiction”
“Challengers”
“The Color Purple”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Shōgun”

Best song written for visual media
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from “Twisters: The Album”
“Better Place” from “Trolls Band Together”
“Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”
“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
“Love Will Survive” from “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”

Best music video
“Tailor Swif,” A$AP Rocky
“360,” Charli XCX
“Houdini,” Eminem
“Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar
“Fortnight,” Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone