Back for his fifth year, Trevor Noah expertly hosted music’s biggest night while also honoring reliance, creativity, and community in Los Angeles as the Grammys raised awareness and funds to rebuild after the recent devastating wildfires. In support of the fires, they shared some of their CBS screen time with ads for local small business that have been displaced, raised money via a partnership between The Recording Academy and MusiCares that shared funds between Direct Relief, The Pasadena Community Foundation and the California Community Foundation, and invited the Los Angeles Fire Department to present the Grammy for the highly sought after Album of the Year.
When it came to live performances, this was the year of the multi artist medleys. While Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan performed earlier in the show, the rest of the nominees for Best New Artist performed in a fast paced medley of Benson Boone singing “Beautiful Things,” Doechii performing several songs from her album “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” Teddy Swims singing in a floor length multidimensional blazer, Shaboozey singing “A Bar Song (tipsy),” and Raye closing it out. All of these artists proved why they were performing on the Grammy stage and were nominated for Best New Artist.
The other notable medley of the night was a tribute to the late Quincy Jones who passed away on November 3, 2024. It opened with Cynthia Erivo singing “Fly Me to the Moon” accompanied by Herbie Hancock on piano, before bouncing to a brief story from Will Smith. Back at the mainstage Laniey Wilson sang, “Let the Good Times Roll” accompanied by Jacob Collier on piano. Herbie Hancock came back to the piano to accompany Stevie Wonder, before Janelle Monáe closed it out with “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
It was a night for multiple names who have been on the rise lately and have been in the industry for around a decade to be recognized with their first Grammy ushering in a new generation of stars including Sabria Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charlie XCX. Notably, during her acceptance speech for Best New Artist, Chappell Roan called attention to the issues of labels in the music industry – especially for new and upcoming artists. After sharing her experience of being dropped from the label who signed her as a minor with no work experience and unable to afford healthcare, she asked the question, “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Kendrick Lamar took home the most wins at five after having received seven nominations. While Beyoncé came in with the most nominations at eleven, she left with just three wins. However, her wins in Best Country Album and Album of the Year are receiving backlash from music fans. Some fans believe Beyoncé winning Best Country Album for “Cowboy Carter” undermines the dedicated work of the other nominees who have been in the country genre for much longer. However, during her acceptance speech Beyoncé argued that genre can be a confining word. Album of the Year had numerous strong contenders, but fans argue that it was wrong for “Cowboy Carter” to win as they claim it had too many collaborations and covers and a lack of personal sentiment. However, others counter that Beyoncé’s journey into country music is sentiment enough as it reclaims the genre’s black heritage roots.
Despite being nominated a total of four times for Album of the Year, “Cowboy Carter” is Beyoncé’s first Album of the Year win. While many thought she should have won for her self-titled album, “I Am…Sasha Fierce” back in 2010, which included the hit track “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” she was beat out by Taylor Swift’s second album “Fearless.”
With Album of the Year’s presentation to Beyoncé, it was confirmed that “Hit me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish and “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift had won zero Grammys. Cameras cut to Billie Eilish, who appeared to be on the verge of tears, and Taylor Swift, who seemed to be focused on congratulating the success of her fellow artists.
Overall, the streaming production of this Grammys was one of the best, including strong comedic hosting from Trevor Noah. Despite some disappointments for amazing albums and artists, the night was overall successful at both acknowledging the power of music, and supporting Los Angeles in its rebuilding efforts raising 7 million dollars.
