The 67th Grammys, hosted by Trevor Noah for the fifth time at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, took place on Sunday, Feb. 2. The award show focused on the wildfires that devastated southern California, celebrating the city and its frontline workers while raising over $7 million for fire relief charities. Although rushed at times, the three-and-a-half-hour show was filled with theatrical performances, revolutionary speeches and deserved wins.
The Grammys shined a light on their highly contested Best New Artist nominees, having each nominee perform at the ceremony, starting with an electrifying and humorous performance by Sabrina Carpenter. The “Short n’ Sweet” starlet did a jazz-inspired medley of her hit songs “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please,” complete with a tap dance solo, an outfit change and a classic Beyoncé reference. Shortly after, Carpenter accepted the Best Pop Vocal Album award, on top of winning Best Remixed Recording and Pop Solo Performance.
The biggest winner of the night was Kendrick Lamar’s anti-Drake track “Not Like Us.” The no-holds-barred song earned the Compton rapper five awards–the same amount of Grammys Drake currently holds–including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Beyoncé also won big this year, finally winning Album of the Year after being nominated five times in the category. Cowboy Carter also earned herself Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Album, becoming the first Black artist to win in the ladder category.
Tampa rapper Doechii won Best Rap Album for her mixtape, “Alligator Bites Never Heal.” This win makes Doechii the third female artist to ever win in the category, which she acknowledged in her acceptance speech, stating, “So many Black women out there that are watching me right now, and I want to tell you you can do it… Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be to be right where you are, and I am a testimony.” The Swamp Princess later performed “CATFISH” with an army of background dancers before having her clothes ripped off for a Broadway-like rendition of “DENIAL IS A RIVER.”
Chappell Roan, who had arguably the biggest rise to fame in 2024, performed “Pink Pony Club,” a song that is a love letter to Los Angeles. Fully in her signature drag-styled makeup, the Missouri diva performed on top of a large pink horse with a dance crew of clowns. Roan ended up winning the heated Best New Artist category and gave a powerful acceptance speech, demanding record labels provide more for their artists and sharing her troubles of being dropped by her record label at a young age. The pop star read from a notebook, “I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off artists would offer a liveable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists… Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Similar to Roan and Doechii, other winners used their time to discuss real-world issues being implemented in the United States. When accepting the award for Best Latin Pop Album, Shakira dedicated the Grammy “to all my immigrant brothers and sisters. In this country, you’re loved, you’re worth it and I will always fight with you.” Alicia Keys, who won the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, stated during her speech, “This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices… DEI is not a threat; it’s a gift.”
Lady Gaga won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Bruno Mars for their duet track, “Die With a Smile,” and earned the 14th win of her career and the 16th for Mars. Gaga finished her speech by telling the audience, “Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love; the queer community deserves to be lifted up.”
At the part of the night where the Grammys (not so) graciously applaud themselves, Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. spoke on modernizing the event by including younger and diverse voting members and listening to constructive criticism. “I remember waking up to the headlines that The Weeknd called out the academy for lack of transparency in our awards… But you know what, criticism is ok. I heard them. I felt his conviction,” Mason Jr. said before introducing The Weeknd to the stage. After a five-year boycott of the ceremony, the Canadian singer performed “Cry For Me” off his latest album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” with rapper Playboi Carti.
The final performance of the night came from Charli xcx. Starting outside, Charli performed “Von dutch” with an entourage of “it” girls and producer A.G. Cook. On the main stage, underwear fell from the sky as she performed “Guess,” joined by Julia Fox and The Dare–a sentence that’s incredibly important to any Brooklyn resident and no one else. The “brat” star won three awards for the album, including Best Dance/Electronic Music Album and Best Dance Pop Recording.
This year’s Grammys was dominated by the minority. Of the nine categories presented during the live event, six of the winners were women, and five were people of color. If the Grammys continue to include younger generations in the voting process, the award show could pull itself out of the fatigued slump it had seemingly fallen into.
A full list of winners can be found here.
