A night of performances, awards and high fashion red carpets, fans and artists alike eagerly await the Grammy Awards each year, the music industry’s best and brightest gathering to celebrate one another’s accomplishments.
The 2025 Grammy Awards, held on Sunday, Feb. 2, awards artists for their contributions to music over the past year in nearly 100 categories. Saved for the very end of the night are the most prestigious awards that garner the most attention from viewers — album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best new artist — but there are exciting awards given out throughout the day in categories ranging from best children’s music album to best comedy album to best rock performance and everything in between.
Nominated for the “Big Four” awards this season are some of music’s biggest names both new to the list and frequent nominees — Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Beyoncé and Sabrina Carpenter were among some of the immensely talented artists on this year’s nominees list, many of them nominated for several awards.
Beyoncé, who has amassed 99 nominations over her decades-long career, made history several times over at this year’s Grammys. She holds the record for most Grammy nominations and wins, with a collection of 99 and 35, respectively. This year, she was nominated for three out of the “big four” — album of the year, song of the year and record of the year — among several others for a total number of 11 nominations.
Out of her record collection of nominations and trophies, the iconic “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer won her first album of the year at this year’s ceremony for her album “Cowboy Carter.” This win was not only iconic as her first album of the year recognition, but it also makes Beyoncé the fourth black woman to ever win album of the year and the first since Lauryn Hill in 1999.
Nominated for a total of five awards, the coveted best new artist went to Chappell Roan. Roan has undeniably taken the pop music scene by storm this past year, and I was definitely not surprised to see her win this award. While the category was absolutely stacked with incredible artists this year, I think Roan unequivocally deserved this win. Her rise to unparalleled stardom was unlike any other this past year, and I think this win is a well-deserved recognition of that.
In her best new artist speech, Roan made a commentary on unfairness and greed in the music industry: “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 living wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists.”
Sabrina Carpenter, who also took the pop music world by storm this summer with her album “Short ‘N Sweet,” was nominated for six awards and took home two for best pop vocal album and best pop solo performance for “Espresso” which has amassed nearly two billion Spotify streams since its release in April of 2024.
Kendrick Lamar’s top charting diss track “Not Like Us” swept all five categories it was nominated for, including record and song of the year as well as best rap performance, best rap song and best music video. Bringing home these five wins, the rapper has now amassed a total 22 Grammy awards, and is slated to perform at the 2025 Super Bowl on Feb. 9.
In addition to prestigious awards and high-scale performances, the Grammys is also a time for artists to show off their red carpet style. Some of my favorite looks include Sabrina Carpenter in an elegant custom blue JW Anderson floor-length gown, adorned with pearls, feathers and an open back. Nominated for her song “Can’t Catch Me Now” featured in “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Olivia Rodrigo donned a simple yet stunning black vintage Versace gown.
Rapper Doechii, who became the third woman to ever win Best Rap Album for her album “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” wore a signature Thom Browne pinstripe corset dress and matching tie with a collared shirt underneath, which I thought was interesting and looked amazing on her.
While the Grammys always come with a bit of controversy over who did and did not win, as a huge music lover myself, it is always so fun to see all of the most popular names in music together and witnessing history be made with nominations and awards given.
mkane10@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @MTV, Instagram
