The Highs and Hypocrisies of the 2025 Grammys

It was no surprise that this year’s Grammy Awards was a very L.A.-centric one. Not in the sense of location—though, of course, the ceremony is always there—but rather, in the sense of showing love and support for a city that’s been razed in many places due to the unprecedented wildfires that kicked off the year. From the outset of the show, the host for the night, Trevor Noah, made it clear that this would be an affair all about honoring Los Angeles and the ways that it has served as a bedrock of the music industry, in addition to being a source of inspiration to the many creatives who have flocked there to make it big (with Chappell Roan, of course, being called out, as her story and hit song, “Pink Pony Club,” serve as the freshest examples of L.A. as a place of feeling liberated and going from nobody to somebody). 

So “pro-L.A.” was the night that not only did the opening performance kick off with a rendition of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” with Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes backed by John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent, but there were also the (many, many) commercials shown in between that specifically promoted/puffed up at least one local business affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires. Elsewhere, during a tribute to Quincy Jones, high school students from the burned down Pasadena Waldorf School and Palisades Charter School joined in for Stevie Wonder’s rendition of “We Are the World” (always cringe-y, but slightly passable under the well-intentioned circumstances). Unfortunately, the veering-on-cringe element went into full-stop cringe territory when Janelle Monáe took the stage for her portion of the tribute (serving as the finale of it): a re-creation of Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” in both sartorial style and music video reference.

While there’s no denying that some of Jones’ biggest, most influential hits were made with Jackson, the fact that the latter continues to shirk the brief “cancellation” that befell him in the wake of Leaving Neverland remains a classic case of Hollywood hypocrisy when it comes to picking and choosing who gets fully barred and who doesn’t. Jackson, being both dead and considered “pop royalty” (along with his 1958 contemporaries, Madonna and Prince), has managed to evade the ephemeral black mark that cropped up in 2019 with the abovementioned documentary. The truth about Jackson remaining untouchable (no sick molestation pun intended), alas, is that there’s far more money to be made off him now that he’s dead—and those profiting refuse to lose that cash cow for the sake of indulging “slanderous” “hearsay.” 

The music industry is only too happy to oblige the protection of Jackson’s legacy through Jones. In addition to Jay-Z’s through Beyoncé, for with the latter continuing to “stand by her man” in the midst of his rape allegations, it’s further proof that he can do pretty much whatever he wants (including cheat on her) and she’s willing to forgive it (de facto, the rest of the business and the Beyhive is willing to as well). Hence, everyone from Kendrick to Taylor showing him love at the ceremony; the former by calling him out onstage and the latter by gleefully toasting him after Beyoncé’s win for Album of the Year. Which, while a joy for many to see, was a clear wrong choice as usual. For everyone knows that the only album that captured the zeitgeist in 2024 was Charli XCX’s Brat.

But, obviously fearing the wrath that could be invoked by another year spent both “snubbing” Beyoncé in the category and/or selecting Taylor Swift yet again, the Recording Academy made their safest choice of the night. Along with also giving Beyoncé Best Country Album because to do otherwise would risk being branded as a white supremacist—which is something that Hollywood liberals especially don’t want to be associated with at this time due to the Orange One’s fuckery. As for “making it up to Charli” for the snub of her rightful award, the Academy opted to decorate her with wins in the categories of Best Dance Pop Recording for “Von Dutch,” Best Dance/Electronic Album for Brat and Best Recording Package for Brat (because at least the Academy couldn’t deny the chokehold the Brat green backdrop and font had/has over the world). 

When taking into account how much Charli loves the marketing/world-building aspect of making records, perhaps the Best Recording Package award meant more to her anyway. Not so for Taylor Swift, who, as many are aware by now, has something of a fetish for winning a.k.a. “being the best” (by old school standards of what that means—which is to say, acknowledgement by the Establishment). Alas, for once, Swift went home completely empty-handed. Almost as part of the proof that the current CEO of the Grammys, Harvey Mason Jr., wanted to make about the organization really changing (a.k.a. not always preferring artists that reinforce white hegemony) after The Weeknd publicly boycotted the Grammys in 2021 upon learning that After Hours wasn’t nominated in any category despite its success and critical acclaim. So it was that he tweeted, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.” He even went so far as to give a statement to The New York Times that proclaimed he wouldn’t bother submitting his music anymore because the Recording Academy’s voting process was ultimately ruled by “secret committees.” Of course, it’s rather convenient that he should choose the exact moment he wants to promote a new album (that was already pushed back out of “respect” for the L.A. wildfires), Hurry Up Tomorrow, to make peace with the ceremony. 

As for the other performances of the night, among the “pop girl darlings” of 2024 other than Charli XCX (who provided audiences with bratty versions of “Von Dutch” and “Guess” sans Eilish [though Julia Fox, who shares a Feb. 2nd birthday with Shakira, was among several onstage cameos]) to take the stage were Billie Eilish (and her honorary “pop girl” brother, Finneas), Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan—all performing in back-to-back order. As usual, it was Roan who stole the show between those three, with Eilish keeping her performance of “Birds of a Feather” simple and stripped down…nothing more than a desert screen backdrop as her “frill.”

Carpenter, meanwhile, engaged in her usual Old Hollywood, sequined costume shtick as she interspersed “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” her two biggest hits of 2024 (both from Short n’ Sweet). Roan, in contrast, offered a bevy of backup dancers sporting clown makeup (there’s always a reason for her clown aesthetic, of course) and cowboy attire as she straddled a giant pink pony (not real, of course) in the center of the stage. After all, she was doing the whole cowboy thing in 2023 before Cowboy Carter came along. In fact, the nomination of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess in the category of Album of the Year just barely made it by the skin of its teeth for consideration, released on September 22, 2023. The Academy considers the time span between September 16, 2023 and August 30, 2024 to be applicable to nominations for the 2025 ceremony. 

In the end, though, Roan would only win in the category for Best New Artist, taking the opportunity to advocate for musicians who are not nurtured by their labels early on in their career. Instead, they’re often talked into bad contracts while still underage and then cast aside if the artist in question doesn’t yield any monetary results quickly enough. As Roan told the audience at the erstwhile Staples Center, when she was dropped by her label, Atlantic Records, at the age of twenty-two, she had no job experience other than what she had invested in her music career, time and energy-wise. So it was that she urged “the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists [to] offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists.” She further added, “It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanizing not to have health care. And if my label prioritized artists’ health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to.”

While it was a strong message that got plenty of applause and even some standing ovations, it was a far cry from what fans of Roan might have expected: an open plea/support for the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly trans people, who are summarily being erased by the current administration. After all, Roan has gotten most of her “bit” from those communities, thus, for her to miss this opportunity to advocate for them when it matters most was a bit odd. But perhaps she had Luigi Mangione on the brain when she wrote out the speech. She finally concluded her appeal for an overhaul of the music business with the direct question, “Labels, we got you. But do you got us?”

The answer is still likely to be no. But, in any case, it seemed the slack regarding trans allyship was loosely picked up by Lady Gaga, who took the opportunity to say during her acceptance speech with Bruno Mars for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (though “Die With a Smile” hardly warrants such praise), “I just want to say tonight that trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love, the queer community deserves to be lifted up.” It was a sentiment that even got Charli XCX to stand up, even though, up until that point, she had been firmly ensconced in her Brat “persona” of being too cool to react in such an overt way. She might have even stood up when Shakira took the stage to perform, throwing it back to 1998 with a rendition of “Ojos Así” before then leaning into her 2023 smash, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”—though it seemed odd she wouldn’t perform something more recent like “Te Felicito,” “Copa Vacía” or “Puntería” (Cardi B was even in attendance to make an appearance for that one).

This show-stopping performance occurred after Shakira won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album with Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, presented by none other than her Super Bowl Halftime Show cohort, Jennifer Lopez (side note: Shakira’s birthday and the date of this year’s Grammys, February 2nd, also marked the date when they would perform together for that momentous occasion during yet another Trump presidency that required advocacy for immigrants). Shakira, too, didn’t waste time in making a statement with her own speech by dedicating it to “all my immigrant brothers and sisters in this country. You’re loved, you’re worth it and I will always fight with you” (though “fight for you” might have been the better phrase). The night was filled with just such shade directed at the Cheeto in the White House. 

Indeed, it was hard to tell what was truly at the top of the Hollywood music elites’ minds: the current darkness being cast by Trump or the L.A. wildfires. Either way, the usual amount of hypocrisy was in full swing amid the highlights of the evening…including a Grammy win for yet another perpetrator of violence and sexual assault, Chris Brown (in the category of Best R&B Album for 11:11 [Deluxe]).