The 67th GRAMMY Awards

Music's biggest night in review

The Grammys, considered the #scammies by some, are the Olympics of music. THE award to strive for if you are a musician. Chosen by its 13,000 members, this award is an honor by musicians for musicians. The road to music’s biggest night is a long one, and the Academy so graciously explained the whole thing: here! Basically, there are around 20,000 submitted entries, of which there will only be around 5 nominees per category. I am a big fan of the GRAMMYs. I spent most my Sunday watching both the Premiere Ceremony and the GRAMMY Award Ceremony. Here’s the rundown, split into my personal favorites, performances, and the Big Four—a.k.a Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

My Fave Wins, and a Snub or Two

My absolute favorite win of the night was Kacey Musgraves’ “The Architect” winning country song of the year. I have no technical reasoning behind this, just a fond memory of listening to it for the first time with one of my closest friends and bursting into tears. While I love Musgraves’ “Deeper Well”, I can’t bring myself to call the loss a snub if the award went to “Cowboy Carter”.

Of course one can’t talk about snubs without mentioning Billie Eilish’s 0-7 record this year. Personally I don’t think there were any awards she definitely, without a doubt should’ve won, it was just a great year in music.

Performances

To me, Sabrina Carpenter’s performance was the one to really kick-off the show. One thing has been clear through her whole career: the girl has pipes. This performance made good use of them, mixing her strong vocals and mesmerizing stage presence. Her set, as do her shows, include an element of physical comedy that make it so fun to watch. She is also just having a good time, which makes it all the more amusing.

I am so obsessed with how committed Chappell Roan is to having any audience sing the lyrics to “Pink Pony Club” back to her. This performance, in front of the biggest people in music was no different. The whole show circled around the LA wildfires, so there was a certain fondness with which the song, inspired by The City of Angels, was performed; while still keeping the signature Chappell Roan camp-y charm.

After winning the first award of the night for Rap Album of the Year for “Alligator Bites Never Heal” (amazing album, very deserved win btw), Doechii set the bar high for the rest of the night with her performance. The Tampa native, who calls herself The Swamp Princess, is in touch with her artistry like very few artists are. To me, the performance was reminiscent of Tyler, The Creator while still being true to her essence. Plus, I love subtle lyric changes ad hoc to the performance.

Best New Artist

She’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist. Chappell Roan, who saw herself involved in a whole lot of internet discourse this year, joins Olivia Rodrigo, Adele, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles and others in receiving the coveted award for Best New Artist. Out of the List of Nominees, Chappell totally seems like the artist that the academy would vote as BNA, as she has crafted an entire look, sound and persona with one singular studio album. Plus, her acceptance speech calling for health insurance and just treatment for artist from music labels proves how much power music has in the right hands.

Song of the Year

Song of the year, as the name suggests, is an award for SONGWRITING. The award focuses on lyrics so it goes to a songwriter. It is truly memorable that this year, it went to a diss track on Drake. An award that had gone to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, Childish Gambino’s “This is America”, Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For”, has gone to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”. As a part of the Kdots and the KenFolk, I am very happy with this win.

You can get a rundown on the lore behind the song here:

The Drake x Kendrick Lamar Lore

Record of the Year

While Song of the year goes to the songwriter, Record of the Year goes to the whole team that brings the song to life (performers, producers, & engineers). It also went to “Not Like Us”. I was fully convinced it was going to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”, given it was EVERYWHERE from the time of its release. Plus, Record of the Year, even if explicitly denied by The Academy, is given to the track with the most comercial success, so “Espresso” or Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather”. But it was Not Like Us that joined Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”, Adele’s “Hello”, Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”, etc. It is also SO funny to me that a man that has a true talent for writing, gave the blandest speeches for both awards.

Album of the Year

Listen, I am the biggest #swiftie, I have been since the day I discovered music (literally, but that’s a story for another time), I know nothing else. But I will go to my grave defending Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter winning the 67th Album of the Year Award. Beyonce is an artist, an entertainer, these are facts I had no idea were debatable. I’ve liked her since “Single Ladies”, I’ve been in awe of her since “Lemonade”. While I love “The Tortured Poets Department”, I can’t say it was a complete snub because if it was gonna lose to any album, I’m glad it was “Cowboy Carter”. I can say the same for “Short n’ Sweet” and “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, my other two favorites.

The album takes you through a journey, exploring the genre of Country, it’s roots in Black culture, and her own roots as southern, country, H-town, Texas girl. This isn’t the first time Bey has dipped her toes into the country folksy blues sound, “Cowboy Carter” is the daughter of “Lemonade"-s “Daddy Lessons”. With references to past artists from The Beach Boys to The Beatles, and collaborations with Country royalty like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, Beyonce went all in with the Americana sound. Any music lover should give this album a genuine listen.

But I am easily influenced, so take this with a grain of salt.

As for the Tortured Poet inside of me, I will mourn the fact that what might be my favorite Taylor song, “Fresh out the Slammer”, won’t be a grammy winner. But as a Real #swiftie I know, TTPD is exactly the type of album to not win album of the year but gain more recognition and acclaim through the years, Red 2.0 if you will. So, YAY Beyonce! Stay tuned for this next year in music. Me, I am already campaigning for Kendrick Lamar’s GNX for AOTY.

I leave you with my favorite songs from this graduating class of 2025, in a Spotify playlist, even though I am an Apple Music girl, for your convenience.