Based on purely anecdotal evidence is the usual consensus after the show that 2025 Grammys were the best in many years At almost all levels: the freshness of the performances, the winners’ interior and to an unresponsive degree, the right of any long -lasting errors, especially the Board Academy’s checkered history with BeyonceThe Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd.
While almost every presenter on the show referred to the “13,000 voters” who decided the winners-pre-highlights to highlight the huge number of opinions taken into account, and also as a way to publicly expel perceptions of smoke-filled rooms and self-interested mechanicals-it’s small question About that we see a recording academy that has changed dramatically from the courty, out-of-touch one of two decades ago.
All awards of this type are subjective, so it is difficult to use the word Right In this context, but upset about the fact that Beyonce had never won the album of the year, was such a common hold that even Adele called it after her “25” best Beyoncces “Lemonade” 2017. And although Beyonce became the top Grammy winner Through time 2023 – and now have 35 wins in the middle of 99 nominations, including her two wins with Destiny’s Child – she had still won a top category only once: Best song for “Single Ladies” in 2009.
So it is both appropriate and ironic that “cowboy carter” – certainly the strangest, most experimental and least commercial album she has ever released – finally broke drought. It is an hour-plus-long, landing album with just a couple of bangers and lots of outside moments, but the victory also suggests that the academy’s updated membership end result of a Long campaign by CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and the organization’s board to diversify and youth-igle membership In the hope of increasing relevance and more accurately reflecting the musical and cultural Zeitgeist – really takes hold. Sure, debt was a factor, but to suggest that it was the primary factor is ridiculous: Beyonce is not only a formative artist for younger members, they probably also reward her experiment.
On a similar note, Kendrick Lamar’s winnings for “Not Like Us” in the best song and the best disc category repaired a long -lasting guy not only by itself but hip -hop recordings in the main categories. A rap artist has only won the best album twice, and both of these albums, “The Miseeducation of Lauryn Hill” and Outkasts “Speakerboxxx/ The Love below”, is really just partial hip-hop album.
A rap song has only won song or record of the year once before: Childish Gambinos “This is America” 2019, which also won both categories. Yes, it is a rap song, but one that was also a statement about protest from a well -known face (Hello, Donald Glover was in “Star Wars”) released deep into the first Trump administration and unlocked two feelings in voters Which may have run away beyond beyond the song itself. But not only is “not like us” a tough hip-hop song, it’s a blowing diss track that was evil enough to inspire its goal to sue their own record label for defamation. Above all, it was undoubtedly the most culturally dominant song in 2024.
Finally, The Weeknd is a newer but equally disgusting situation: In the most unregious awards in memory, the music world was anesthetized in 2020 when The Weeknd, whose omnipotent smash single “Blinding Lights” crushed streaming discs all over the world (and remains the most streamed song in Spotify History), where nominated to zero Awards That year. Although the cause of it was never completely explained – Mason did its best to point to voters “honor excellence” – the most common speculated that revolved around the fact that Weeknd played the Super Bowl half time just a week after Grammbreak a traditional protocol. While Mason and the Board were moving quickly and reviewing the organization’s price department and process within weeks, Weeknd said he boycotted Grammys And has not submitted his recordings for awards since then, even though he was nominated for songs by other artists that he was a prominent artist. (Recordings must be officially submitted by the artist or label to be justified, and failure to do so has become a form of protest by artists against the academy.)
However, it seems likely that Los Angeles Wildfires, which led to Weeknd delaying the release of its latest album “Grain Up Tomorrow” and 2025 Grammy’s huge efforts to collect relief funds Played in his decision to make a surprise performance on the show which effectively showed that he was willing to bury the hatch.
When he introduced the performance, Mason talked about the criticism that the academy had received at that time, but “criticism is okay,” he said.
“I heard (The Weeknd) and I felt his conviction,” he continued. “What we all want is an organization that is dedicated to the well -being of all music manufacturers and one that reflects the entire music community for now and for future generations. So in recent years we have been listening. We have acted. And we have changed. We have launched initiatives such as Black Music Collective, Women in the Mix, Academy Proud and others. We have completely taken our membership and added more than 3,000 female voice members. Grammy Electorate is now younger, almost 40% color people and 66% of our members are new since we started our transformation. “
Voters for awards like this, regardless of age or background, will always give bias, consciously or not, and it is unfortunate that Beyonce’s win for this year’s Country Album has already started a wave of controversy – it is probably only a matter of time before a particular president Blame it for a natural disaster – which reveals another guy, not only for Grammys but for most land awards shows: The refusal to recognize the most popular and successful country artist in the world, Morgan Wallen.
But it is a struggle for another day. Over the past five years, Mason and Academy have made large, crucial upgrades to an organization that was previously painful out of contact and Doggedly resistant to change, and although there is still a long way to go, these upgrades seem to have positive results. Nothing and no one is flawless, not even Queen Bey herself, but this year Grammy’s good.
