By: Dahlia Deener
15.4 million Americans watched the 3.5 hour long 2025 Grammy awards and all of the drama that came with it. So, what made this immense number of people tune into the 67th annual Grammy Awards Ceremony?
The lead-up to the Gramms was significantly impacted by the L.A. wildfires, forcing the cancellation of numerous pre-event activities. In an attempt to salvage their beloved performance, the Grammys opened with the Los Angeles band Dawes, led by two brothers whose homes were destroyed in the fires. Later, the Grammys invited legends and former winners Sheryl Crow, John Legend, Brad Paisley, and Brittany Howard in singing I Love LA as a tribute to the city they are currently occupying.
Aside from these tributes, many more jaw-dropping events occurred, setting the scene for the rest of the night. Beyoncé, who some may argue won the category, album of the year for her arguably fake country album, Cowboy Carter. This came as a relief to many as no matter how famous she became, Beyoncé couldn’t manage to secure an award for album of the year no matter the amount of nominations and respect she has been given in the past few years. Furthermore, Kanye West’s infamous interruption during Taylor Swift’s winning speech for Best Female Video in 2009, noted that “Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time”. This may seem ironic as Swift won this award for her song You Belong With Me, in one of her most famous country albums, exactly the genre Beyoncé won her award in. In addition, Swift presented this award to Beyoncé, some may say which cleared the air between the two artists. Aside from the drama, Beyoncé held the title of first Black woman to win the Country Album of the Year award since the Pointer Sisters in 1974.
In addition to Beyoncé’s revolutionary win, many were shocked as the rap album of the year was awarded to relatively new artist, Doechii for her album Alligator Bites Never Heal. With this win, Doechi became one of the three women to win Best Rap Album of the Year alongside Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. Her most famous song soon became Denial is a River, highlighting her unique sense of storytelling rhythm throughout her raps. Soon after, she became viral on numerous social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram as influencers were dancing to her songs and recreating her style and makeup choices.
Before winning Best Pop Vocal for her Short n’ Sweet album, Sabrina Carpenter continued her signature tour traditions and entered the stage in a bedazzled tuxedo dress which was soon ripped off in a blue, glitter corset. Many more pop awards were given out like Best New Artist awarded to Chappel Roan, Song Written for Visual Media to Olivia Rodrigo, and multiple Grammys given out to Charli XCX.
Aside from pop, rapper Kendrick Lamar swept five straight Grammys, most notably song of the year which he won for his infamous diss track Not Like Us. “A Minor, one of the most famous lines from Not Like Us, and most widely interpreted as a direct criticism of Drake was chanted by the whole crowd and soon, the media. Lamar continued this rivalry at the Super Bowl not long after where he made several negative connotations in his performance that alluded to Drake’s past..
Lastly, and possibly most talked about was Kanye West and Bianca Censori’s uninvited appearance at the Grammy’s which generated significant attention from the paparazzi and social media. West and Censori were seen taking pictures on the red carpet with Censori wearing a large fur coat which she soon took off and revealed a completely sheer, transparent mini dress. The dress showed… absolutely everything, and America was unfortunately not so shocked to see such a stunt pulled at the Grammys. The irony continues as Censori wasn’t really censoring anything at her big outfit reveal.
The 67th annual Grammys brought upset, history, and drama as America gathered once again to see their favorite celebrities live under pressure.