Every year, the Grammys try to up their game and put on a show for the world to see, love and discuss, and every year, people complain about it. Whether they thought “COWBOY CARTER” was overrated or “Not Like Us” didn’t deserve Record Of The Year, it is nearly impossible to satisfy everyone at a show while putting some artists above others through awards. The 2025 Grammys certainly had some unexpected picks, but were they as unreasonable as many think?
When looking at an award show this mainstream, you have to take into account the level of popularity necessary for something to even get nominated, much less win its category. This automatically eliminates smaller artists to win anything such as Clairo or Magdalena Bay, who are both undoubtedly mainstream but not mainstream enough to be widely recognized at the Grammys. Taking all of this into account, the picks this year were still disappointing. With a discography spanning two decades and containing albums like “Lemonade” that would have been great picks for Album Of The Year, it is disrespectful to the industry to not only give Beyoncé the award for her worst album, but for an album in the country category, a genre that has music with far more authenticity and emotion than the poorly written and performed album that won.
The other awards weren’t quite as disrespectful as Album Of The Year, but it would have been nice to see Billie Eilish pick up either Song or Record Of The Year if she couldn’t win for her album, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”. The Grammys usually award her healthily, but this year was her first not winning anything she was nominated for. This came as a particular let down to me due to this album in Eilish’s discography being a strong evolution for her sound, taking her to a much more mature point in her career from a writing and production standpoint.
The Grammys went as expected, which means they barely satisfied myself or many others in the slightest. But there were some highlights, such as Chappelle Roan taking home her first trophy and preaching better artist treatment from labels, or the impressive performances from nearly every artist that stepped onstage. One of the only things people predicted right about the 2025 Grammys was the level of controversy that would come with it, but it still made for a memorable show.
